Secrets of the 20th Arrondissement: A Walking Tour of Unfamiliar Paris

To the 20th arrondissement of Paris We arrived today and will be wandering around it all day. It is a colorful, developing, interesting, delicious and diverse district.

There are immigrants here from all over the world, mainly from African countries. There are also those from Arab and Asian countries, and there are also French families who could not bear the burden of the rising rent in the heart of Paris, and moved out to the neighborhoods surrounding the heart of the city.

You can see Indians in saris, and Muslim women with veils, and Africans with dreadlocks, and golden-haired children, and classy Frenchmen with thin, gold-rimmed glasses in a block of intellectuals.

These immigrants brought with them distant cultures, new languages, and ethnic cuisines. There are Asian, North African, and Arab restaurants here, as well as many French bistros and wine bars and cafes, founded by young people who are bucking convention.

The dominant language of the neighborhood is street art. Interesting, striking, colorful, fascinating and captivating. This is the way of the artists who live here, to kick the establishment in general and the artistic establishment in particular. Here, they set the tone. Graffiti.

This neighborhood is also famous for the fact thatEdith Piaf Born here, here she began her chanson journey, carrying a difficult life and disasters on her back, but breaking into the world and becoming an icon.

The bourgeois French who live in the heart of the old, traditional city don't come here. For them, it's a dirty neighborhood, full of immigrants, and far from everything they love around them. For me, it's the exact opposite: I love going to Hardcore and seeing up close how people live here:
Without masks
Without social makeup
Or an accessory that will hide its authenticity.
Humans as they are.
A neighborhood – as it is.

The neighborhood itself is built on hills and there are ups and downs. Sometimes steep ones. We do a lot of walking but also use public transportation when necessary. It's the most fun on foot. And as much as possible.

Map of the 20th District and itinerary

The hiking route in the 20th district is approximately 7 km long, so it is recommended to wear comfortable shoes.

Marche aux Puces de Montreuil

Metro: Port De Montereuil

Avenue du Professeur André Lemierre, 75020 Paris, France

A large, chaotic market that usually takes place on weekends. Today is Sunday. It has everything from everything, but I'm here for the immigrant stalls here.
Tunisians mainly.

I push myself into line and reach out, eager to get a hot, fried fricassee. The bun came out of the boiling oil, it's not greasy, and inside they loaded tuna and a hard-boiled egg, and pickled lemon and lots of harissa, and I faint. How delicious. Then I push myself into line for the sphinx, and they're also fried, huge, hot, and coated with thousands of grains of white sugar.

Now I'm ready to get out of here.
Our next stop: Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Père Lachaise

Père-Lachaise, 75020 Paris, France

Pere Lachaise – A cemetery that is an environmental museum and one of the most beautiful and best-known cemeteries in the world.
A huge, green, elegant plot of graves of famous people, or those who could afford to build graves, that look like small mansions or small palaces.
Writers like Balzac, musicians like Jim Morrison, and composers like Chopin and Bizet are buried here. I'm here mainly for two graves:
Edith Piaf, I'm crazy about her and also about her chansons and Oscar Wilde - for his bittersweet humor, for the hard life. For the genius in the use of words. For the nuances.

The market next to Pere Lachaise

Marché Pyrénées, Rue des Pyrénées, 75020 Paris, France

From Pere Lachaise we go out to Pierna Street, across from the cemetery, directly to the market, which takes place twice a week. I'm crazy about markets and it doesn't matter at all whether I need something from there or not.
Just wandering through the stalls, the colorfulness, the sounds, the colors, and the smells fill me with joy and satisfaction.
I photograph, ask, inquire, taste, and experience everything from afar.
At the market we stock up on fruit and load it into our backpack, which is always close to us.

From the Ramus bus stop next to the market, we take a bus towards Belleville Street where we will begin the actual tour of the neighborhood. This is not a climbing route, it is steep and difficult and we still have a long day ahead of us. We arrived.
Jourdain station is our stop.

A dream in chocolate Demoncy Vergne

Pâtisserie de l'Église, 10 Rue du Jourdain, 75020 Paris, France

Demonci Vergen is a patisserie whose chef has won important awards, mainly for his millefeuille.
This is a beautiful patisserie and has cakes, macaroons, spectacular chocolates, small and delicious sandwiches, and overall the place looks beautifully decorated.

We take a crunchy mille-feuille and divine cream, a small and refreshing apricot pie, and we don't give up on a devastating chocolate creation that would be heartbreaking to destroy with a spoonful of puree, but life is short. It's delicious to die for.

Church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Belleville

Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Belleville, 139 Rue de Belleville, 75019 Paris,

Near the local church, which is beautiful, neo-Gothic, and bright, and at that very moment, as we sip coffee in front of it, a beautiful young couple swears their allegiance to each other and is escorted by a procession of bridesmaids all dressed in peach pink.

Flea market in Belleville

From Madame Monsieur, we walk down Belleville Street, and on the left side of the street there is a street market spread out on the floor, on stalls, on makeshift tables, and there's everything there: old furniture and utensils, picture frames, rugs, cool shoes, imperfect sets, copper pots, and just objects rolling around on the floor, like they should roll around in a real flea market.

I love flea markets, and the one in Belleville seems to still be authentic, even though it's in a city full of markets that, for a long time, weren't that cheap.

The house where Edith Piaf was born (or not)

72 Rue de Belleville, 75020 Paris, France

We wind our way down the street that goes down, and arrive at number 72, where we stop and look at a small sign that proclaims: Edith Piaf was born here (The Francophile's Note: Apparently this is an urban legend and Edith Piaf was not born on the sidewalks of Paris but in a hospital in the 20th arrondissement.) And here we are, turning right onto Rue Jouye Rouve, which is the street that begins the graffiti festivities of this fascinating neighborhood.

The entire street is decorated with graffiti, and even when you turn left onto Lesage Street, where the two meet, there's an amazing graffiti of two women on a bookstore. And so on all the way to Tourtille Street, which is a few minutes' walk away. Every now and then, interesting, colorful characters emerge, who blend naturally into the sights of the neighborhood and only intensify its colors and the experience.

The bar where Edith Piaf sang

Aux Folies, 8 Rue de Belleville, 75020 Paris, France

On Denoye Street at the corner of Belleville stands the old bar where she started singing. Edith Piaf. It has been recently renovated but still bears the name of the bar it has always had. A piece of history. We stop and look at it and I raise an imaginary glass to the cheek of a small, fragile bird that all it wanted was to sing and be happy.

The entire small Denoye Street, all the way down, is also painted with dizzying graffiti. We follow it down to the corner, where we enter a special and wonderful cafe.

Le Barbouquin

Le Barbouquin, 1 Rue Denoyez, 75020 Paris, France

It is a magical cafe with character. Colorful wool rugs are scattered on the old wooden floor, the walls of the cafe are crowded with bookshelves, old lamps that cast a soft light, comfortable sofas and armchairs, just to stretch out, and the vintage dishes are charming. The food here is not great and is mostly vegetarian, but the music and atmosphere are amazing.

Here we lounge on comfortable armchairs, order a ginger and honey drink, and rest from our wonderful trip. No one here is in a hurry to go anywhere. Not even us. We still have the day ahead of us.

After we soak up the charming atmosphere of the place, the great music, and the interesting characters coming and going, we start to feel hungry. We leave the cafe and turn right, and we are already on the wide avenues of Belleville, which, not surprisingly, are called Belleville Boulevard.

It's worth knowing that there is a market on Boulevard Belleville twice a week (not on Sundays) and it's a colorful and interesting market. Naturally, those behind the stalls are mostly immigrants, but the flow of shoppers is also made up of white French people from the city center, locals of all colors and types, and even Jewish families from the neighborhood. With a kippah on their heads!!
It is an exciting, vibrant market, full of life, color, and cultures.

Vietnam in Belleville

Dong Huong Restaurant, 14 Rue Louis Bonnet, 75011 Paris

We cross Belleville Boulevard and enter Rue Bonet, near which is a small and incredibly delicious Vietnamese restaurant.
We are crazy about food from the Far East and Thailand and Vietnam are our favorites.

The beautiful and soaring Belleville Park

Parc de Belleville, 47 Rue des Couronnes, 75020 Paris, France

From the restaurant we return and cross Belleville Boulevard to Rampneau Street, which leads us all the way up to one of the entrances to Belleville Park.

The park itself is beautiful and green. It has vines and trees, and agricultural beds where children grow crops. The terraces on which the park is built and the steps give it a unique look. On the way we stop to rest on one of the park benches and have a small picnic.
It's lovely and peaceful here, and on a sunny day like this, you can see the French stretching out on the grass and "sunbathing," a common sight in Paris gardens on pleasant summer days.

The charming Rue de la Mare

Rue de la Mare, 75020 Paris, France

After enjoying the panoramic views from above in the park, from where we can see all the way to the Eiffel Tower, Tour Montparnasse, and the winding river, we descend through the green terraces and fountains of the park and turn left, winding and walking, entering a charming street, Rue de mare, which is packed with small galleries and artists, most of which are closed on Sundays, but the street itself and the small square in its center are full of charm, it also leads us to our next point.

In the square on the street, we climb the famous stairs of the Rue de Cascade district, which take us up again to Rue Pyrenees.

Turn right and left to Boyer Street, number 19. Here is a magnificent institution of the French labor union, which is known for its strength to this day.

La Bellevilloise

La Bellevilloise, 19-21 Rue Boyer, 75020 Paris, France

There's history here. And a lot of it. Founded in 1877, it was the first workers' cooperative in Paris.
A cooperative that has only grown stronger over the years, and today the French trade unions are among the most powerful organizations in France, and many times, everything is decided by them.

The place is charming, spacious and has sports activities, and right next to it is a cafe-restaurant, where we relax in the cool breeze of the evening, with a glass of beer in front of us and a wonderful view of the setting sun.
Life is beautiful.

If you would like to receive an extended itinerary of the 20th District, you are welcome to visitThis article.