Montmartre

To the north of Paris this area of the city is artistically Parisian with just the right amount of tourist thrown in!

Montmartre is quite steep and has a lot of steps to climb to get to and from it. You can either walk up the steps in front of the Sacre-Coeur and go across, walk up the many sets of steps going up and through Montmartre or take the 'Funiculaire de Montmartre' which is basically a short cable car ride but it gets you to the top of the hill easily.

During our time in Paris we went to Montmartre twice it was that good. The first day we walked from our hotel and walked up the steps in front of Sacre-Coeur (taking lots of photos) and then across. The second day we went we took the metro so it got us part way up the hill and then took the 'Funiculaire de Montmartre' the rest of the way, which was a lot less tiring!

In Montmartre there are lots of galleries, restaurants, cafes, gift shops and street artists. There are also a lot of tourists which made us feel more at home as we were very obviously tourists and didn't stick out as much here.

The one gallery we went to in Montmartre was 'Espace Dali' which was a museum/gallery dedicated to the Surrealist painter Salvador Dali. One of the best parts about this place was the air conditioning as in July in Paris it gets very hot!

We found that the food here very tasty and went back to the same little bakery it was that good! As it is a touristy area we found that a lot of the staff in places could speak English (very big help!) or they could partially understand what you were asking for and didn't really mind you hadn't quite mastered the French language before your trip.

Montmartre is a great place to go and our trip to Paris wouldn't have been the same without it. It was so good we went back there a few days later. There are some great photos to take in and around Montmartre of the buildings, people and the views. If you are even slightly interested in Parisian culture, art or good food you must visit!