Belleville, Ménilmontant and Charonne
France > Paris > East > Belleville, Ménilmontant and Charonne
The old villages of Belleville, Ménilmontant and Charonne, only incorporated into the city in 1860, are strung out along the western slopes of a ridge that rises steadily from the Seine at Bercy to an altitude of 128m near Belleville's place des Fêtes, the highest point in Paris after Montmartre. The area is fairly run-down and even a bit dodgy in places, but there are pockets of charm here and it's home to what is probably one of the most diverse populations in the city: a mix of traditional working class, various ethnic communities, and a good number of students and artists – Ménilmontant in particular hosts quite an alternative scene with some good bars. The quickest and easiest way to get out here is to take a trip on the #26 bus from the Gare du Nord, getting on and off at strategic points along the avenue de Simon-Bolivar and rue des Pyrénées, which between them run the whole length of the ridge to Porte de Vincennes.A good place to start a tour of the area is the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, north of the Belleville heights. It was constructed under Haussmann in the 1860s to camouflage what until then had been a desolate warren of disused quarries, rubbish dumps and shacks. Out of this rather unlikely setting, a fairy-tale-like park was created – there's a grotto with a cascade and artificial stalactites, and a picturesque lake from which a huge rock rises up, topped with a delicate Corinthian temple. You can cross the lake via a suspension bridge, or take the shorter Pont des Suicides. This, according to Louis Aragon, the literary grand old man of the French Communist Party, "before metal grills were erected along its sides, claimed victims even from passers-by who had had no intention whatsoever of killing themselves but were suddenly tempted by the abyss . . ." (Le Paysan de Paris). From the temple you get fine views of the Sacré-Cœur and beyond, and you can also go boating on the lake. The park stays open all night and, equally rarely for Paris, you're not cautioned off the grass.
Pages in section ‘Belleville, Ménilmontant and Charonne’: The bygone eastern villages, Belleville, La descente de la Courtille, Ménilmontant, Claude Chappe and the rue du Télégraphe, Charonne.
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