Marais
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The Marais today comprises most of the 3^e and 4^e arrondissements. Yet until the thirteenth century, when the Knights Templar set up house in its northern section, now known as the quartier du Temple, and began to drain the land, it was an uninhabitable riverside swamp (marais). The grand and aristocratic character that has become its hallmark was not acquired until around 1600, when the area became the object of royal patronage, especially after the construction of the place des Vosges – or place Royale, as it was then known – by Henri IV in 1605.

Its apogee was relatively short-lived, for the aristocracy began to move away after the king took his court to Versailles in the latter part of the seventeenth century, leaving their mansions to the trading classes, who were in turn displaced during the Revolution. Thereafter, the masses moved in and the mansions became multi-occupied slum tenements. Their grandeur decayed and the streets degenerated into unserviced squalor – and stayed that way until the 1960s.

Since then, however, gentrification has proceeded apace, and the quarter has become known for its exclusivity, sophistication and artsy leanings and for being the neighbourhood of choice for gay Parisians, who are to be credited with bringing both business and style to the area. Renovated mansions, with their intimate courtyards and sumptuous architectural detail, have become museums, libraries, offices and chic flats, flanked by designer clothes stores, art galleries and interior design shops. Having largely escaped the depredations of modern development, as well as the heavy-handed attentions of Baron Haussmann, the Marais is one of the most seductive districts of Paris – old, secluded, as lively and lighthearted by night as it is by day, and with as many alluring shops, bars and places to eat as you could wish for.

Through the middle, dividing it roughly north and south, runs the busy rue de Rivoli and its continuation to the Bastille, rue St-Antoine. South of this line is the quartier St-Paul-St-Gervais, the riverside and the Arsenal. To the north, more heterogeneous as well as more fun to walk around, are most of the shops and museums, place des Vosges, the Jewish quarter and the quartier du Temple. Every street boasts an abundance of colour and detail: magnificent portes cochères (huge double carriage gates) with elaborate handles and knockers, stone and iron bollards that protected pedestrians from ruthless carriage drivers, cobbled courtyards, elegant iron railings and gates, sculpted house fronts, chichi boutiques, ethnic grocers – a wealth of interest.