Traversee 2 - part 2

...from Republique via Temple and the islands to the Panthéon...

We continue our walk from metro station Oberkampf near Place de la Repubique. We cross the Boulevard du Temple and enter the Temple neighbourhood.

During the Middle Ages the Order of the Knights of theTemple controled this area. This crusader order, that was formed in Jerusalem had its own territory here, just outside Paris city limits. The power of the knights was growing constantly and threatened to become a state in itself. until Philip le Bel put an end to this in 1313. Today nothing of this era is left, except in some street names. The Quartier du Temple forms the northern part of the Marais, the (partly former) worker area taking up most of the 3rd and 4th districts. the Quartier du Temple is somewhat simpler than the southern part of the Marais and has lots of workshops and small café's.

We walk trhoug the rue de Saintonge (former address of Robbespierre), cross the rue Vieille du Temple and through rue Debelleyme we get to rue de rue de Thorigny.

We pass the Picasso Museum, the biggest collection of Picassos in the world. These are mainly pieces owned by the artist until his death. The collection gives a good impression of live and work of the painter, although these are not his best pieces..

Continuing along rue Payenne and rue Pavee, we pass the Rosiers, the centre of the Jewish quarter of Paris.

The Jewish quarter is one of the last working class areas in this part of Paris. It is mainly inhabited by North African sefardic Jews, who visibly give the area a Jewish character. If walk into the Rue des Rosiers (leaving the route for a while) you'll find on your right hand on the corner with rue des Hospitallieres de St Gervais, the small restaurant Chez Marianne, where they serve delicious Jewish lunch dishes.

We continue southbound, cross the Rue Rivoli and after a while we arrive at the Hotel du Sens

This palace, built in 1475 by the Archbishop of Sens (at a time when Paris did not have its own bishop yet) and is one of the oldest civil structures of importance..

We walk around the palace, look into its gardens and cross the Pont Marie (bridge) to the St Louis island.

In contrast to the Ile de la Cité there are not that many sights here. It is,however a good example of intact 17th century architecture.

We follow the quai de Bourbon and via the Pont St Louis we arrive at the Ile de la Cité, famous because of the well known Nôtre Dame de Paris. We walk around the cathedral, admire the magnificents rosary windows and continue on our way over the pont au Double bridge in direction of the 5th district. In the 5th district we pass the Saint-Sévérin church, judged to be Paris' finest and built from the 13th century and finished in 1530. In this neighbourhood with narrow streets we find lots of eateries. We cross Bd St Germain and arrive in a beautiful area for walking. From the Place Maubert we go uphill on the rue de la Montagne de la St Genevieve. We cross the rue des Ecoles and continue uphill to a small square. Here we have lunch enjoying the tranquility of the area.

La Montagne St Genevieve is one of the most important hills on the left bank. We find ourselves in the Latin Quarter, where the university was founded and where, until the French revolution Latin was the main language spoken.

To round off this stage of the walk we visit the Panthéon, once built by Louis XV after an illnes and made into a mausoleum for great men of the Republic after the revolution, like Jean Jaurès (socialist) and Jean Moulin (leader of the French resistance in WW II).

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