The Bd de la Bastille of Paris !!

Posted in France, Paris

A passion for me once in town to walk its streets sometimes for kms ,yes !! Of course , working in Paris allow me to do so a lot in addition to drive inside of it yes !! However, came by TGV train a lot from my new neck of the woods in the Morbihan breton, One particular area dear to me for the nights and plain sightseeing was the Boulevard de la Bastille, Therefore, let my legs do the walking and soak in the architecture and history of my eternal Paris with this post on the Bd de la Bastille of Paris !! Hope you enjoy the post as I

Let me tell you about the boulevard de la Bastille, where I car parked for walks and night time entertainment! This is a street in the 12éme arrondissement or district, and the quartier Quinze-Vingts or neighborhoods following the Arsenal marina or Port de l’Arsenal. The name of Boulevard de la Bastille is due to the vicinity of Place de la Bastille. It is one of my fav spots for parking when in the city on personal visits. The Bd de la Bastille is 705 meters long, it begins at the pont de Morland bridge / Quai de la Rapée and ends at Place de la Bastille. It is divided into 52 building numbers. This boulevard is served at the start by Quai de la Rapée station, metro line 5 , and at its end by Bastille station for metro lines 1, 5 and 8. This route overlooks the port of Arsenal.  The other than nice day walks in the area my main attraction here is the night time bar hopping that is awesome and great diversity of places even foreign to get a taste of the world. The activity picks up after the Place de la Bastille and the colonne de Juillet right into boulevard Beaumarchais, be aware this is very close to Place des Vosges.

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The Place de la Bastille is a symbolic place of the French revolution, where the old fortress of the Bastille was destroyed between July 14, 1789 and July 14, 1790. You have clockwise, starting in front of the angel of the column: Rue Saint-Antoine, continuing along Rue de Rivoli, passing through the Hôtel de Ville and the Châtelet and leading to the Place de la  Concorde; the rue de la Bastille; boulevard Beaumarchais (leading to Place de la République); boulevard Richard-Lenoir extended by boulevard Jules-Ferry, then the quai de Valmy, continuing the canal Saint-Martin which leads to Stalingrad; Rue de la Roquette, passing through Place Léon-Blum ,where the 11éme arrondissement city hall is located , and leading to the Père-Lachaise cemetery; the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, leading to Place de la Nation; rue de Charenton, leading to the Porte de Charenton via the 12éme arrondissement  city hall; the passage de Cheval-Blanc, the rue de Lyon, leading to the Gare de Lyon; boulevard de la Bastille and boulevard Bourdon, both skirting the port of Arsenal to the Seine; and Boulevard Henri IV.

Nowdays ,the Place de la Bastille is very much appreciated by the young crowd especially on Fridays and Saturdays with several cafés, restaurants, cinemas and nightclubs ! Some of the things to see or enjoy here that are just my favorites amongst many are the Ma Bicoque, Chez Papa Bastille, Bofinger Chez Pradel Bastille, the Café Français ,a nice brasserie, Le Grand Bleu for seafood specialty, Of course the Opéra Bastille, by the quai de la Rapée there is a nice garden overlooking the Seine river, real Paris! the boat scenes on the Port de l’Arsenal is romantic specially at night when I am usually by there and there is another nice garden ,and there is public toilette just facing the colonne de juillet on place de la Bastille!  You have a wonderful market Bastille on Bd Richard Lenoir as well. Right on Beaumarchais you get into the Pedra Alta portuguese resto, Bistrot des Vosges, and of course my totally fav Cuba Compagnie Café corner of rue Chemin Vert! You will be glad to be back! See for the memories of always at No 10 the Maison Rouge was the exhibition space of the Antoine de Galbert Foundation, a French foundation dedicated to contemporary art, created in 2004 by the collector and patron Antoine de Galbert ; it closed in 2018.

A bit of history I like tell us that the provost of the merchants of Paris, Etienne Marcel, built a fortified gate that defended the Rue Saint-Antoine and was flanked by a small bastion, a bastille. Charles V., wishing to preserve his hotel at Saint-Paul from a sudden attack, ordered the rebuilding of these fortifications on a much larger scale. Hugues Aubriot, provost of the merchants of Paris, laid the first stone in 1370. From 9 to 14 June 1794, the guillotine was installed in the square, cleared of the remains of the fortress of the Bastille, now called Place Antoine. 75 persons were guillotined on the Place de la Bastille. Louis-Philippe decided in 1830 to build the column of July, already planned in 1792, but this time to commemorate the revolution of the Trois Glorieuses or Three Glorious days (27-30 July 1830). This road was initially called the chemin et rue de la Contrescarpe-Saint-Antoine, name which had been given to it because of the proximity of the enclosure of Charles V. This boulevard is the rectification of the rue des Portes-Saint-Antoine, which existed around 1605, which bore the name boulevard de la Contrescarpe and which was aligned by ordinance of 1844, before taking its current name in 1898. Between the Nos. 70 and 72 of the boulevard de la Contrescarpe was the cour de la Juiverie. It is indicated that the cour de la Juiverie was built around 1632 and that it was located in the old 8éme arrondissement in 1812. The numbers of the cour were in black, the last odd number was number 7, and the last even number was No. 16. This cour was named after the Jews who lived there.

Oh if  you are daring road warrior with big city experience than my parking is at Indigo Bastille ,info: https://www.indigoneo.fr/en/parkings/16604/parking-bastille

The City of Paris on the renovated place de la Bastille : https://www.paris.fr/pages/bientot-une-nouvelle-place-de-la-bastille-6093

The Paris tourist office on the Bastille district : https://parisjetaime.com/eng/convention/article/spotlight-on-the-bastille-district-a1410

There you go folks, this is a nice walkable area with plenty to see and do, especially night outs in my eternal Paris. The Bd de la Bastille and the areas around Place de la Bastille are very nice indeed. Again,hope you enjoy this post on the Bd de la Bastille of Paris as I,

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

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Published by pedmar10

I am a lover of travels to Europe , Americas , Africa and Asia as well ,who like to share my experiences of the last 53 years with the world, visiting so far 81 countries; living in 6, working in 5, and Citizen of 4, speaking fluently 4 languages. I can deal with sports especially football/soccer and love music, arts, wine collector/drinker, and go out to restaurants, and just visit the world. My background comes all the way from Candelaria and Pajara in Tenerife, Spain where my grandparents came from ;not knowing each other then, to Punta Brava, west of Havana, Cuba. There , my parents born in Cuba met and later on I was born there too. 100% guanche (annexed Tenerife to Spain on April 10 ,1496). I left Cuba as many have to Madrid, Spain where I lived for 4 years. Then, move to Perth Amboy ,New Jersey USA (living there 13 yrs) ; where I completed high school, became a US Citizen, learned to drive a car, and learned English. Afterward, went to the university in Florida, ERAU, and upon graduation decided to moved there to Ormond by the Sea, near Daytona Beach, finally moving North Miami, then Hialeah, then another moved to Silver Lakes division in Miramar, Broward county, Florida; in Florida I lived a total of 18 years. Finally , moved to France in 2003 ,Versailles call me for its royalty, and working in Paris was great. It was time to seek frontiers again and moved to Brech near Auray, Morbihan in Brittany , and later move to not too far Pluvigner. Total so far in France has been 20 years, and counting. Moving average a home every 5.5 years hopefully this will be my last. Cheers All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of the copyright holder, me. No part of this work may be modified, without the written permission of the holder, me.No part of this work may be exposed to public view in any form or by any means, without identifying the holder as the author, and with the before mentioned permission.

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