My Favorite Ramble Through the Historic Streets of Montmartre

Montmartre is a lovely place for an early morning walk. I love the cobbled streets and historic old buildings. They all work together to contribute to its village feeling rather than a busy city. So different from the rest of Paris as it is untouched by the Haussmannian changes that occurred at the turn of the 20th century, it is like visiting another town.

I’ve wandered this route several times now and each time I discover something new. I decided to share my  route  as others might enjoy it just as much as me. I always start at Lamarck-Caulaincourt metro as it is a “high point”, allowing me to descend through the streets (for the most part). There are lots of stairs and inclines here in Montmartre and this walk encompasses a few of them!

We Began at Lamarck-Caulaincourt Metro

You realize  just how high Montmartre is when you take metro line 7 to Lamarck-Caulaincourt. Instead of stairs, or even an escalator, an elevator awaits to take you to the surface (yes, you can choose the stairs if you want).

Exiting at the top you then descend the steps to rue Caulaincourt. I always arrive about 8 am as the streets are quiet and fairly devoid of tourists. The locals are returning from a boulangerie run or out walking their dog(s). At the end of this post there will be a map if you want to do this walk yourself.

First, when exiting the metro, be sure to descend the stairs to rue Caulaincourt and not rue Lamarck!

Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen

Walk along side of the peaceful Square Joel le Tac, where there is a lovely fountain in memory of Théophile-Alexandre  Steinlen (1859-1923). who was a French Art Nouveau painter and artist. He was a prolific illustrator.

Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923), a French Art Nouveau painter and artist

Who hasn’t seen his work on lots of souvenir bags and other memorabilia when visiting Paris?

Chat Noir graphic by Steinlen

Next stop, Saint-Vincent Cemetery where Steinlen is buried.

Saint-Vincent Cemetery

Climbing the steps on rue Girardon, we arrived at Place Dalida. This bust of Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (Dalida) clearly feels the love of passerbys.

Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti

Allée des Brouillards is just to the right of this square so curiosity led us to follow the path once again. I keep hoping that the gate at the end of the path will be unlocked so that I can follow the path all the way round to the statue of St-Denis. No luck this time. Maybe I should start at the other end and see what happens ?

Allée des Brouillards

Coming back down the path, this lovely view greeted us as we looked down rue de l’Abreuvoir where La Maison Rose is at the end of the street and Sacre-Coeur rises majestically on the horizon.

We continued our walk down rue Girardon, turning left at rue Norvins. My hubby had never seen Le Passe-Muraille statue so that was an obligatory stop. This statue deserves a whole blog post.

Le Passe-Muraille

Rue Norvins to Place du Tertre

Continuing down rue Norvins, we arrived at the cross street of rue de Saules (passing numerous tourist shops along the way!) and this historic view of Le Consulat. I’d love to live in that apartment at the top where the window is open!

The sign on the side of the building notes that it is one of the oldest houses on the butte of Montmartre and remains symbolic of old Montmartre.

Le Consulat

Just across the street is another historic café, La Bonne Franquette. Rue Saint-Rustique is the street that runs between La Bonne Frnquette and Le Consultat. It is the oldest street in Paris.

La Bonne Franquette

La Bonne Franquette Sign

The vertical sign centered between the two sets of window flowers on LBF  reads

La Bonne Franquette
Anciennement
“Aux Billiards en Bois”
cette auberge est célèbre depuis 1890. 
Rendez-vous des artistes, elle a accueilli
Diaz,
Pissaro, Sisley, Degas,
Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec,
Renoir, Monet, Zola.
Son Jardin servi de modele à
Van Gogh
pour son tableau célèbre
‘La Guinguette’.
Peint en octobre 1886 et exposé maintenant à
Musée d’Orsay.

La Bonne Franquette
Formerly
“Aux Billiards en Bois”
this inn is famous since 1890.
A rendez-vous for artists, she welcomed
Diaz,
Pissaro, Sisley, Degas,
Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec,
Renoir, Monet, Zola.
The garden served  as model for
Van Gogh
for his famous painting “La Guingette’.
Painted in October, 1886 and displayed now at
Musée d’Orsay.

I love the detailed artistry of the signs on this building! Along with advertising it as a café, restaurant and cabaraet, it also says aimer, manger, boire et chanter (love, eat, drink and sing).

La Bonne Franquette

After patiently waiting for the rare tourist at this time of the day to move on so I could get an unobstructed photo, we continued on rue Norvins.

More Picturesque Buildings

Rue Pulbot is the next cross street where we found this charming restaurant. Nothing about the buildings here in Montmartre is ordinary. To quote (translated) their website: “A simple gastronomy where dishes compete in flavors accompanied with some great(tremendous) wines in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.”

Le Poulbot Restaurant

We managed to walk right past La Biscuiterie without purchasing one cookie! (I should note that they were not yet open, or this wouldn’t have happened.)

Reaching Place du Tertre, we arrived at this delightful boulangerie/patisserie. As we began our walk right after our petit-déjeuner (breakfast), it was the perfect time to stop for a little break.

La Galette des Moulins Patisserie

On the wall, just behind the street light, is the sign below which points out that on 24 December 1890 a gasoline (petrol) powered car driven (and built) by Louis Renault arrived at Place du Tertre, marking the commencement of the automobile industry in France.

Place du Tertre to Sacré-Coeur

Place du Tertre has changed dramatically over the past 15 years. At one time, this square was a hive of activity with artists setting up shop and easels en masse. However, the cafés have taken over the center of the square now and the artists are relegated to the edges. What a sad state of affairs, in my opinion. I miss getting to see all the various artists and their work.

Place du Tertre

As rue Norvins bends right and becomes rue du Mont-Cenis we decided turned left to check out this Château d’Eau (water tower) and discovered another set of “photogenic” stairs.

Château d’Eau

Rue du Mont-Cenis stairway leading down from the Château d’Eau, corner of rue Cortot and rue du Mont-Cenis

Eglise Saint-Pierre de Montmartre

Turning around, we returned to  Eglise Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, one of the oldest churches in Paris. It is quite lovely inside, and the lighting project that has been completed since my last visit really led to some lovely photos. Please check out that post! However,  the best  exterior view of the church building itself is from the top of Sacré-Coeur.

As I said earlier, I’m always finding something new on this walk. How have I walked right past this beautiful door before and not seen it!  This is the entrance to the church cemetery, Cimetière du Calvaire.

From here, we followed rue Azais toward the majestic Sacré-Coeur. Although already beginning to fill up with tourists, it still didn’t feel crowded. The increased police presence probably accounted for the severely diminished gypsy population which is always trying to sell something or pick your pocket.

Later in the day, these steps will be a sea of tourists!

Sacre-Coeur

The views of Paris here are magnificent and there is a lovely park, Square Louise Michel with abundant walking paths. We are saving that for our next visit!

If you’ve walked in this area and found some place dear to your heart, please share in the comments! Pictures are also welcomed.

Map of Our Walk

When opening the map, note that not every stop is marked on the map but the map passes by every point I mention in the post. I tried to avoid cluttering the map with too many points.