The Place des Vosges
Le Marais is a magical neighborhood located in the third and fourth arrondissements, packed with aristocratic stone mansions that can only really be appreciated by taking a walk around the neighbourhood. Its main point of interest is the majestic Place des Vosges. This square is the oldest in the city, built by Henry IV and inaugurated in 1612. Its central garden is for the use and enjoyment of Parisians and other visitors on sunny days, while its arcades shelter from art galleries to emblematic hotels. , going through the house-museum of Victor Hugo.
Fortunately, the Marais is much more than this perfect square. If you're looking for the gay heartbeat , you will find it here. if you track kippas and jewish orthodoxy , you'll find both in the pletz or Jewish quarter (bounded by rue des Rossiers and rue des Ecouffes, rue Pavée and rue du Roi-de-Sicile) , with its kosher food shops, falafels and other delicacies, in the Hebrew bookstores and in the Museum of Art and History of Judaism (71, rue du Temple) or at the Guimard Synagogue.
Le Marais is also the best district to visit modern art galleries and find impossible objects and even go out for a drink at dawn in bars like La Belle Hortense or the Chacha Club. At the same time, places as special and not very touristic survive as the Marché des enfants rouges, a small covered area where fresh produce is sold and with space to eat, frequented by young and handsome public or the Casa Suiza cafeteria, behind the Museum Carnivalet.
who wants a quieter Marais you can choose to explore the area already attached to the riverbank and the Île de Saint Louis, where some of the oldest houses in the city are located and preserved half timber , the last remains of the walls and the double street signs: the current ones and the traces of those prior to the Haussmanian reform. Even in the shopping complexes of lower Le Marais, such as the Village de Saint Paul, which specializes in antiques, the pulse slows.
You can also take Francs-Bourgeois street, where you can get original gifts (this neighborhood is the best to get unique models from independent designers), and visit the impressive Patio de Honor , the main courtyard of the National Archives. Next, we suggest a detour down rue Sévigné, where you'll find the Musée Carnavalet and some quirky fashion boutiques.
Map: See map
Address: Place des Vosges and surroundings See map
Guy: Neighborhoods