Paris 2010: Montmartre

I stayed at the delightful Plug Inn Hostel in Montmartre. It's clean, comes with breakfast and free wifi, which is more than enough for me.

Montmartre is a large hill in Paris's 18th arrondissement. It is said the name Montmartre originated from Mont des Martyrs (Mount of Martyrs). There was once an abbot called Saint-Denis who went around preaching the Christian faith to the Gallo-Romans. He was decapitated for that, on the hilltop in 250 AD. He didn't died immediately, as one would expect, but went on to collect his head and carried it all the way to the fontaine Saint-Denis, descended the north slope, and fell down dead! A church was then built in the place formerly called Mont de Mars, which name was then changed to Mont des Martyrs.

Frankly, I didn't do a lot of research before coming here. I just wanted to pop by Paris for a bit since I'm in London, and someone said Montmartre is a nice place. There's a famous Basilica of Sacre-Coeur, one of the must-see in Paris. I decided to walk there and it was a nice surprise when I saw this...


#1. Cobbled streets and a quaint flight of stairs all the way up the hill! Feels so Paris, you know what I mean?


#2. Basilica Sacre-Coeur, about 10-15 minutes walk from the hostel.






#3. Panoramic view of Paris from Sacre-Coeur.

At the bottom of the hill is Boulevard de Clichy, full of kebab shops (cheapest thing to eat around here, as I discovered) and bars and sex shops. Well, it's not all that surprising if you remember that Moulin Rouge is just around the corner. Quartier Pigalle is actually a red light district area; imagine peep shows and pimps. In the day time though, the area looks like a charming village in the olden days and doesn't feel unsafe. You can also find tourist-centric products, like magnets, chopping boards and mugs, all printed with the landmarks in Paris if you're interested in those kind of knick knacks.


#4. Candy store.


#5. So mind boggling. I don't even know what some of them are.


#6. Such beautiful blooms at a florist on the walk to the Metro. There's a Chinese takeaway shop nearby, and I'm starting to miss eating rice.

The rest of my day was spent shopping. There's no need for me to tell you what I bought or how much I spent, but one thing I have to tell you is that VAT refund in Paris is not as good compared to other European countries.