Searching for the Sacré-Cœur

Religion and reverence have never been high on my agenda, but staring out one of the windows at the Orsay Museum yesterday, my girlfriend and I noticed perhaps the only hill in Paris, and atop it, the most gorgeous white triple-arched portico, and just had to find out a bit more about the basilica beneath...

Keeping with the 'no maps' policy, we set off early this morning for our white-wonder, the Basilique Sacré-Cœur. The Roman Catholic church (with its first stone laid in 1875, and completed in 1914) enjoys stunning views of Paris, perched upon Montmartre Hill. But even with its massive presence, we managed to lose it from our sights... and an already long (long) walk turned mega, full of wrong-turns, and back-tracking. A number of times our eagerness faded, but we were resolute - we just knew we'd stumble across it eventually. We soon realised that asking locals for directions was a waste of time as it appears Parisians don't walk as much as is rumoured... our polite requests of, "Où est le sacre-coeur, s'il vous plaît?," were met with amused looks and replies that it was, "Tres loin!" (very far), and encouragement that we take the nearest Metro. Never!

Just over two hours after our departure we managed to find Rue du Lagat that led us up the mighty hill, past Montmartre's gorgeous cobbled streets and sandstone terrace buildings, covered in French-shutter windows overflowing with flower-boxes, and all the way to le Sacré-Cœur. And I have to say, the view was most definitely worth all the effort.

Built of Château-Landon (Seine-et-Marne) stone, that bleaches with age, the basilica is so white it takes your breath away. Add to that the crisp blue sky that graced Paris today, we could even forgive the hundreds of other tourists and the pushy portrait-painters, all we wanted to do was sigh, "C'est Paris!"