Paris

The Ile de la Cité was the centre of political and religious Paris under the Romans and in the Middle Ages. Notre Dame cathedral (place du Parvis Notre Dame, +33 01 42 34 56 10) dominates the eastern half of the island. Bordering the river Seine on the Right Bank, the Palais du Louvre, centre of royal power since the late Middle Ages, became a museum in 1793, filled with plunder from Napoleon’s European campaigns (Place Napoléon, 99 rue de Rivoli, +33 01 40 20 50 50, www.louvre.fr, closed Tue). West of the Louvre lie the Tuileries gardens, culminating in the palatial place de la Concorde. East lies Beaubourg, transformed by the Centre Pompidou (place Georges Pompidou, +33 01 44 78 12 33, www.centrepompidou.fr, closed Tue), and home to the superb collections of the Musée National d’Art Moderne. Nearby, the Marais was a lowly swamp until Henri IV sparked a building boom in 1605 with the beautiful, arcaded place des Vosges, the city’s first planned square. The Marais is filled with fine 17th- and 18th-century hôtels particuliers which house museums. To the east of the Marais, the Bastille prison of 1789 fame has been replaced by the huge, modern Opéra Bastille. North of here, Ménilmontant and Oberkampf have been revitalised by a cool bar culture, spilling over into the colourful, ethnic bustle of Belleville. The Père Lachaise (boulevard de Ménilmontant, +33 01 55 25 82 10) cemetery is here containing the graves of Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison.

In the west, the avenue des Champs-Elysées has made a bit of a comeback with designer stores and some hip restaurants. Ahead, Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe towers over the place Charles de Gaulle. The landmark white dome of the Sacré Coeur (35 rue du Chevalier de la Barre, +33 01 53 41 89 00) tops the hill of Montmartre in the north, the old artistic quarter famed for the cancan and cabaret clubs of the 1890s. The university area since the Middle Ages, the Latin Quarter is dominated by the Sorbonne. The Left Bank’s biggest draw is the national collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist art at the Musée National d’Orsay (quai Anatole France, +33 01 40 49 48 14, www.musee-orsay.fr, closed Mon). The area west of Les Invalides contains the iconic Eiffel Tower (Champ de Mars, +33 01 44 11 23 23, www.tour-eiffel.fr).

Local history

From the Romans to the ‘Raffarindum’, Paris has seen it all. After the French Revolution, which saw Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette lose their heads, France was declared a republic. Following a landslide election victory in 2002, it is President Jacque Chirac who wields the power in Paris today. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, his Prime Minister however resigned after French voters said ‘No’ in the referendum on the European Constitution.

Local politics

The Paris Mayor has a plan to see a tramway skirting the city bordered by trees for a more eco and transport friendly city. His eco plan has the backing of 82 per cent of Parisians. His radical, more immediate, plans include reducing the speed limit in the city centre, tripling parking fines and banning cars at the weekend.