Le Marais Free Tour

Description

Dead ends, narrow alleyways...Right in the center of Paris' 4th arrondissement, there's a very special neighborhood that recounts the city's medieval past. If you want to discover all this, our free tour of Le Marais will begin at the scheduled time from the Place Pierre-Kauffmann, next to rue des Barres.

This picturesque street not only stands out for its charm but also for its cobblestones and beautiful buildings that transport visitors back to the Middle Ages. Buildings like the old Hôtel de Barre or the nuns' house of the Daughters of the Cross.

Next up on our tour is a visit to the Shoah Memorial, Europe's first Jewish documentation center. This site played a pivotal role during the Nuremberg trials. From here, we'll enter the Jewish Quarter of Paris in Le Marais.

Once in the Jewish Quarter, we'll visit the Hôtel de Sens gardens. Here, we'll learn about the Coquette palace in which Margaret of Valois is buried. After learning about the history, we'll make our way to Square Marie Trintignant to take in the main entranceway. If you take a closer look, you'll be able to spot graffiti on its façade from the 19th century.

We'll continue the tour at Le Village Saint-Paul, a picturesque historical area that is almost like a small medieval town within the neighborhood of Le Marais. We'll discover its past, and after that, we'll face a challenge: try and leave a dead-end street without coming back the same way. How will we manage it? You'll have to wait until the day of the tour!

Then, after we've gotten past this obstacle, we'll make our way to uncover the three treasures of Le Marais. We'll give one clue as to what they may be: it's the only piece of Delacroix that is found outside of a museum. Once we solve this mystery, we're off to the imposing façade of the Hôtel de Sully, an elegant palace built in the Louis 13th style that dates back to the 17th century. We'll make our way into the patio and the interior garden of the building, but only on one condition...Once inside, we can't go back. Challenge accepted?

If we find the exit, we'll be brought out onto a large square. From there, we'll continue this tour to another iconic location. The Place de la Bastille, where we'll learn about the old fort that was seized on the 14th of July 1789, which sparked the beginning of the French Revolution. We'll see the different points at this location, which is dominated by a large obelisk, and learn about the long history of this iconic location, which stands at the gates to Le Marais.

After 2 hours, this tour will be brought to an end at Place de la Bastille.