Page 147 - Off The Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 2 of 2)

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CITIES

ABOVE Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in full bloom, Belleville
LEFT Elegant interior of the Passage du Grand Cerf
Belleville

Belleville has long been at odds with the polished,
prosperous Paris of elegant facades and boulevards
forged by Baron Haussmann in the 1800s. Tapering
streets, old factories, and tatty shopfronts proudly
confirm the area’s blue-collar history. Workers flocked
to Belleville in the 1860s, attracted by its factory jobs
and new housing projects, and the area became a
hotbed of opposition to Emperor Napoléon III. This
was the last part of the city to fall to government
troops during the 1871 rule of the Paris Commune.
Stroll along Passage Plantin to glimpse its neat row
of old factory-worker cottages.
By the 1900s, music halls and cabarets had
sprung up in the area, luring the mobs. The urchin-
like singer Édith Piaf was born here in a hospital in
1915, not under a gaslight at 72 Rue de Belleville,
as romantics would like us to believe. But she did
sing for her supper on these streets. Waves of
immigration from Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, and
North Africa have spiced up the mix – North African,
Chinese, and Vietnamese shops and restaurants now
line Rue de Belleville. Stop at Lao Siam for a Thai-style
duck curry, or for coffee at La Vielleuse, where you
can eavesdrop on the natterings of Armenians,
Laotians, or plain old Parisians. The area has a strong
art vibe too, with contemporary exhibitions at the
Atelier d’Artistes de Belleville. Ironically, Belleville
does owe a debt to Haussmann: he commissioned
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, an old quarry-turned-
verdant-haven with gushing waterfalls, Italian-style
villas, a Greek temple, and lodges at each entrance.

Practical Information
Atelier d’Artistes de Belleville 32 Rue de la Mare; tel. +33 1 46 36 44 09;
www.ateliers-artistes-belleville.org
Lao Siam 49 Rue de Belleville; tel. +33 1 40 40 09 68
La Vielleuse 2 Rue de Belleville; tel. +33 1 43 58 06 38
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont Entrances on Rue Manin and Rue Botzaris

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