|
Until the end of the 19th century Montmartre was more of a hilltop village on the northern outskirts of the city than a quartier proper. Once property rates started rising Montmartre’s struggling artists, composers and writers began drifting south of the river to Montparnasse. A century on and the prices are still rising. South of La Butte are the funky bars and alternative shops of Abbesses and the red-lights of Pigalle. The leafy stairways, twisting streets and cosy cafés may verge on the twee, but they retain some charm. In summer the endearing qualities can be submerged by tourists. Parisians, let alone visitors, never used to venture further east than the Bastille, unless it was to pay homage at Père Lachaise cemetery. But thanks to some canny facelifts to local bars and cafés the working-class districts of Belleville and Ménilmontant are now the hip places to be once the sun goes down. Property developers have also met with particular success introducing fashionable young media types to the canal St. Martin.
|
