This self-guided tour explores the historic architecture of Paris and comes with a side of tasty treats.
You don’t have to enter a single museum or art gallery in Paris to explore the city’s rich culture, history, and vibrant art scene. Walking around the City of Light, Parisians are treated to a metropolis beaming with awe-inspiring architecture. Many are well-known, like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Grand Palais, and the Arc de Triomphe, but others are unassuming, waiting to be discovered.
In a city that is home to more than 44,000 restaurants, many of these eateries come with a storied past and are housed in historical buildings. After recently reading Paris in Turmoil by Eric Hazan, I jumped on a high-speed train to Paris, curious to find out if the Paris I knew had b become unrecognizable. Can you still find pockets of surprises not frequented by tourists like myself? The short answer is: oui!
Despite its constant developments (following revolutions, urbanization, and globalization), Paris still houses historical shops and buildings, known as Maisons, which continue to operate like they once had decades prior. Whether you find yourself traipsing from one boulangerie to another, staying in a hotel where literary greats once wrote or shopping in a historical department store—these Parisian stalwarts are both historic and architectural marvels worth seeing for yourself.