43. Sacré-Couer and Montmartre

One day the sun shone - so we ran out of the door and jumped on a bus to Pigalle.

At Pigalle we transferred to the little electric bus that winds its way up the steep, tight streets to the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city of Paris, and to the Basilica de Sacré-Couer.

We alight the electric bus before the summit and walk the final stage.

It's warm.  It's Sunday.  And the tourists are everywhere.   

At the major tourist sites like the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, Versailles, Arc de Triomphe, Louvre and all along the expensive shopping streets you'd be forgiven for thinking that the whole world has an American accent.  But Americans are no more frequent at other sites than any other groups of travellers.

Many of the narrow streets winding up to the Basilica are pedestrian only.

There always has to be one!  The epitome of kitsch.  I wonder if anyone ever buys anything?  I suppose they must or she wouldn't bother.

The basilica is built of travertine stone which constantly exudes calcite, keeping it white, despite weathering and pollution.

A nice little house for the staff.

The blackness that results from acidic pollution is greater on sections of this side.

The bell tower at the rear. 

Some nice cloud effects from this side.

This is the area where all of the artists create and sell their works.  It was packed, as usual, with plenty of sales.  We had a very late lunch at a lovely little cafe under a grapevine, just at the rear of this area, but I forgot to take a photo.  We met two men - Josef from Prague who was in Paris selling fine specialist papers, and lunching with his friend Thomas who was German but had lived for 11 years in Prague and has just relocated to Paris.  He was a commercial banker.

An artist with his canvas tied to a wall.

We walked down the hill, following the bus route .......

... and the tourist train ........

..... to the only remaining working vineyard in the city of Paris. 

The Clos Montmartre is 1600m2 of Pinot Noir and Gamay grapes.  Vineyards once covered the Butte Montmartre and in Roman times there was a temple to Bacchus, the God of wine, where the Basilica now stands.  Benedictine monks cultivated the vines for centuries until the early 1800's when the vines were wiped out by disease.  However, in 1933 this particular plot was saved from developement and replanted.  The wines produced are not sold but auctioned for charity every year.

A view downhill, towards Pigalle and our bus homewards.  There are many, many streets with steps like this.