The Latin Quarter: Paris' Left Bank Private Half-Day Tour

Bohemian like youThe area gets its name from the Latin language, which was once widely spoken in and around the University. The district is known for its intellectual atmosphere; students fill every café and it’s common to walk down the street and overhear a snippet of Camus, Sartre or Beckett.The Latin Quarter is bisected by the Boulevard St. Germain and the Boulevard St. Michel. Hundreds of crooked alleys lead off them full of bistros and restaurants. You could wander through here for hours going from café to café, but the Cluny Museum on Boulevard St. Michel is also well worth visiting. Medieval feelSet inside ancient Roman baths, the Cluny displays artifacts and artwork from Medieval Europe - it is an underrated destination, often less visited than the other museums. Inside you will find the original heads knocked from the statues at Notre Dame Cathedral, stained glass, jewellery, early paintings, stonework, and even a medieval garden. There are good used bookstores and art stalls to browse through on Boulevard St. Michel. The Sorbonne, just a few blocks away, is worth a little detour, or stop at the pleasant Place de la Sorbonne square.West of the Boulevard St. Michel are the Luxembourg Gardens, perhaps the most beautiful green area of Paris. At the north end stands the Palais du Luxembourg, built in the 17th century for Marie de Médicis, mother of King Louis XIII of France. Today, this is where Parisians sit and read the paper around the fountain, watching their children sail toy boats.

The Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore may well be the most famous independent bookshop in the world. It is currently in its second incarnation - the original was opened by Sylvia Beach in 1922, and became a regular haunt for a number of aspiring young writers including James Joyce, Ezra Pound and Ernest Hemingway. It closed in 1940 during the German occupation of Paris, but in 1951 George Whitman brought it back to life, opening his new store on rue de la Bûcherie in the 5th arrondissement. As You Like ItApproaching the place today, it has all the dilapidated charm and easy homeliness that you would expect of a Beatnik Parisian cafe. Whitman once described it as a “socialist utopia masquerading as a bookstore”, and it was this freethinking spirit which drew the likes of Henry Miller and Allen Ginsberg through its doors. When the sun is shining, the books spill out into the street, with battered old sets of shelves placed haphazardly around the ornate city drinking fountain in the small plaza adjoining the shop. This is also the venue for regular poetry readings and other literary events, which invariably draw a crowd. Love’s Labours FoundThe weather in northern France doesn’t always oblige, however, in which case everyone piles back inside. Here you will find veritable mountains of second-hand books arranged in some semblance of order, perused avidly by literary enthusiasts of every stripe. You can browse at your leisure, or retire to the cafe for a mug of hot tea and a slice of cake. Be sure to ask about the upcoming event schedule - Shakespeare and Co. usually has something up its sleeve!

In the historic Latin Quarter of Paris stands the enormous Pantheon, a spectacular example of 18th century French architecture and an unmissable feature of the French capital. It was commissioned by Louis XV, who had been suffering from a serious disease in 1744 and feared that he would soon succumb. A religious man, he vowed that if God granted him the strength to recover, he would build a grand church to Sainte-Genevieve. His wish was granted, and he gave the job of organising the construction to the Marquis of Marigny. Grand DesignsIt took some 34 years to complete, but the finished Pantheon was universally admired and became a European wonder. The floor plan is 110m long and 85m wide, and is topped by a large dome whose tip towers 83m above the ground. The huge portico at the front is based on the 2nd century Pantheon in Rome, and is supported by an enormous set of Corinthian pillars. A Hero’s BurialBeneath the Pantheon is a vast crypt which houses the tombs of some of France’s most famous sons and daughters. Shortly after the building was completed, during the French Revolution, it was decided that it should be converted from a church into a mausoleum, and the inscription above the entrance reads “To great men, the grateful homeland”. Burial here is strictly reserved for national heroes - Voltaire, Emile Zola, Victor Hugo and Marie and Pierre Curie are all interred beneath the Pantheon.

St Julien le Pauvre is one of the oldest religious buildings in Paris. Built in the Romanesque style in the 13th century, it was actually never finished and in spite of returns to construction over the following centuries it ended up being much smaller than was intended. This humility is perhaps fitting though: after all, the church was named after Julian of Le Mans, whose dedication to helping the poor was considered exemplary. Art lovers will be charmed by its interior. The capitals of its South columns are decorated with harpies, and there is a paving stone from the original road from Paris (then Lutetia) to Orléans. Because the church is dedicated to Byzantine worship, you won’t find an organ inside, but you will see a wonderful iconostasis and many icons along the church walls. Classical concerts are still regularly held inside, and it’s a simply wonderful place for them. Dada, GagaIn 1921 the church was the venue for one of the last major Dada art performances. The event involved writers such as André Breton and the artist Francis Picabia. As they handed out leaflets inviting “friends and enemies” for what would assuredly “not be an anticlerical demonstration”, they shouted things such as "Be dirty!... One must trim his nose as one trims his hair!... One must wash her breasts like she washes facecloths…" The performance was, regrettably, a dud.

La Sorbonne was founded in the mid-13th century in medieval Paris. Over the years ‘La Sorbonne’ has actually described various different things, but now it refers to the historic University of Paris, but more specifically the building itself. Today you can walk around the university buildings, enjoying the grand façades and the irreverent student atmosphere that pervades the place. That rather more relaxed student vibe is a relatively recent development. During the 16th century La Sorbonne took a central role in the theological struggle between Catholics and Protestants. It was a stronghold for Catholic, conservative attitudes and stood against King Francis I’s relative tolerance of French Protestants. It was traditionalist then, but La Sorbonne has not always been in the good books of the ruling powers. During the French Revolution it was suppressed, but it was reopened by Napoleon in 1808. And then in 1968 it had its most famous episode. More than 20,000 teachers, students and supporters marched towards the university in protest against the heavy presence of police, and all hell broke loose. Police charged with batons and tear gas; protesters retaliated with paving stones. Street fighting went on all night when students barricaded the streets of the Latin Quarter with cars, wood and cobblestones. The students eventually occupied the university, declaring it the “people’s university!”

Le Jardin du Luxembourg was the pet project of Marie de’ Medici, the widow of King Henry IV of France, who created it in 1612 to go with her latest residence, the Luxembourg Palace. The palace and the garden were designed to imitate the Palazzo Pitti in her native Florence, as she longed for home. Today, the garden is owned by the French senate, who also hold their meetings in the Palace. The park was somewhat neglected by later monarchs, but it was rejuvenated during the 19th century when Napoleon dedicated it to the children of Paris. Nowadays, the 25 hectare gardens are split into two sections: the English gardens and the French gardens, which are, of course, very different. Between the two, there is a neatly geometric forest and a large pond. To one side you can also find an orchard nurturing all sorts of unloved apples, beyond the usual suspects of the Pink Lady and the Granny Smith. There’s also an apiary where you can learn about bee-keeping and a greenhouse that holds a stunning assortment of orchids and a rose garden, sheltering them from the surly Parisian weather. Dotted across the gardens are no fewer than 106 statues, but the finest stonework comes in the form of the Medici fountain with its ornate fish pond. There’s plenty to do besides simply wander around too: adults can play chess or tennis, and children can enjoy rides, slide and remote control boats. Moreover, the Musée de Luxembourg also holds prestigious temporary art exhibitions, such as the recent “Cézanne et Paris”.

This fountain was built during the French Second Empire, and it is fittingly monumental. It was part of a broader reconstruction project overseen by Baron Haussmann, Napoleon III’s trusted urban planner. The statue depicts St Michel vanquishing Satan, and was a political gesture to quell the obviously sinful revolutionary fervour of the neighbourhood. The final design bears a façade divided into four horizontal levels. Corinthian columns frame the central niche. It courted controversy in some pernickety circles of French society for its use of various coloured stones. Using a single colour was more the norm, but here they used red and green marble, blue and yellow stone, and bronze statuary, among others — it was outrageous. Initially the designer had planned to install a feminine central figure symbolising peace, but Napoleon III wanted it to honour his great predecessor, Napoleon Bonaparte, with a statue. His political opponents choked on their tea at this suggestion and a compromise was made: it would depict St Michel wrestling with the devil. This was also where, during the 1968 riots, students took up arms against the police. Or, if not arms, slabs of paving stone which they wedged out and tossed at the police. The police returned in kind with batons and tear gas. Students invaded the square a declared it an “independent state”. It did not stay so for long, but their actions triggered mass strikes across the country that eventually brought General de Gaulle’s government to its knees.

Considered the narrowest street in Paris with only 1.80mts wide for the whole of its 29mts.

Gallo-Roman thermal bath's ruins lying in the heart of Paris' 5th arrondissement.

It is one of the oldest churches that remains standing on the Left Bank of the Latin Quarter, and it continues in use as a place of worship.