In the first of an occasional series of travelogues for adventurous vamps, we turn out gaze towards Paris, considered the most romantic city in the world, and stuffed with gruesome history for the discerning immortal.
Paris is a truly ancient city, one whose past mingles seamlessly with its present. It is impossible to walk for long in Paris without seeing some great monument built in a former age of glory, or a solemn reminder of the excesses of the Revolution which tore the country apart at the end of the 18th century.
This great capital has somehow retained its sense of timelessness amidst the bustle of everyday commuter traffic, pollution and the tourist industry. Even in the rush hour, it is believed that nobody really rushes, and yet everybody here has a purposeful stride and a keen eye for the more unusual visitor.
For vampires this is a fabulous place to visit: a city that never truly sleeps. More cosmopolitan than London, it nevertheless exudes an air of quiet bemusement at whoever or whatever chances to pass by. For those who brave Pigalle by night, the atmosphere is as electric as you would find in the heart of any major city, yet the quiet of a winding village street is only a breath away. Whilst those who walk the river paths in the quiet hours before dawn will be rewarded by the clean, fresh sense of a city which reinvents itself every single day. Paris is truly a place of contrasts; a place where everything seems possible.
Of course the first stop for any serious vampire is likely to be one of the cemeteries, and Paris has some of the very best to offer in terms of the scale of the architecture and the sheer size of the area they cover. the three largest within the Périphérique (the Parisian equivalent of the M25) are the infamous Père Lachaise – home of Jim Morrison and more respectable bodies; Montmartre – set virtually beneath the shadow of the beautiful Sacré Coeur; and Montparnasse – nestling in shady trees a mere two minute gallop from that other miracle of the Parisian fascination with the dead, the Catacombes.
Père Lachaise requires a map all to itself, and cannot be seriously contemplated in one day, unless you're planning on flying around it! Covering an astounding 43 hectares (105 acres), it is easily the largest cemetery in Paris. The wonders of this site are endless, as is the list of famous people, especially artists and composers, to be found honoured within.
The history of Père Lachaise runs back to the 17th century, when the Jesuit order acquired the land and called it Mont Louis. They built a hospice here, and one of their most illustrious members – Louis XIV's confessor, Father La Chaise – retired here. The Jesuits fell from favour with the royal family however, when one of their number – Robert Damiens – attempted to assassinate Louis XV. They were outlawed from the whole of France and the lands of Mont Louis were handed over to their creditors. Napoléon I reacquired the land in 1804, when it became known as the Cimetière de l'Est (Eastern Cemetery). Today it is amongst the most famous of Paris' ghoulish tourist attractions.
Père Lachaise is a truly bizarre place to visit: a veritable Land of the Dead – it even has its own vampire legends! – whose winding paths intersect between the massive formal avenues, revealing strange memorials equally as well worth seeing as those of the more famous residents. Alongside the individual tombs, there are also a number of group memorials, amongst the most moving of which must be the Mur des Fédérés, which marks the very spot where members of the Paris Commune of 1871 were shot dead. The Monument des Morts is a truly spectacular piece, eerie and ostentatious in its setting of tall trees and respectful silence.
Montmartre is better known for the outrageously Moorish splendour that is Sacré Coeur than its cemetery, but this is perhaps unfair. Whilst not boasting the same gluttony of famous names this is still the second largest burial ground in Paris, and its undeniable beauty should not be overlooked. Set within a walled enclosure and dating from 1795, Montmartre has some of the most amazing funerary architecture this remarkable city has to offer. The multi-level streets of tombs suggest a veritable city of the dead even more clearly than Père Lachaise, since it lacks its larger cousin's crowds of dead celebrity hunters. If Père Lachaise is a necropolis then Montmartre is a ghost town, more eerie and atmospheric but more downright spiritual than the touristy Père.
On our trip we stayed at the smallest of the three major league Parisian cemeteries, Montparnasse. This is even more tranquil in its setting than Montmartre, shrouded by cool leafy trees and also containing some remarkable architecture. Accommodation – for those vamps who are absolute traditionalists and insist on sleeping in tombs wherever they go – ranges from the sublimely beautiful to the outrageously run-down, so palace or slum you'll be well catered for. (No on site restaurant though – you'll have to venture into the busy streets of the theatre/artisan district nearby if you fancy a snack!)
The smaller Picpus convent cemetery marks the spot where some 1300 unfortunates were guillotined in 1794 at the height of the Terror, and you can also see the grave of General Lafayette here, marked by the continually flying American flag.
Of course Paris isn't just cemeteries and you'd be wrong to think it is. There are some fantastic sights to be seen, though many of the public buildings are closed at night, so you may miss out if you don't invest in some sunblock before you go. That said, places like Notre Dame and Sacré Coeur, along with many other of the larger churches, are open late into the evening, for those who have learned to appreciate the incense-laden air and peaceful serenity of such places. What can be said about these places that hasn't already been said by a million mortals before us? Notre Dame is awe-inspiring, if somewhat crowded, and should not be missed by any culture-respecting vamp. This really is the mother of all cathedrals, and the view from the twin towers is absolutely awesome. Think of what it was in Quasimodo's day! Sacré Coeur is a modern church, built around the turn of the century, yet it manages to convey a timeless expression of Renaissance piety and ostentatious Gothic about it inside, which is utterly in keeping with this ancient city. Make sure you look up at the golden mosaics inside the massive dome – and see if you can see the inspiration for the painting on the floor of the chapel at the end of Francis Ford Coppola's 'Bram Stoker's Dracula'! Well, I thought so anyway! From outside, Sacré Coeur illuminated at night is a wonder to behold, almost Taj Mahal like in its poise and grace, though some less kind commentators have called it disjointed and unsettling. The views over Paris are awesome from here too. Also worth a look are St Eustache with its hybrid Gothic/Renaissance bulk, St Sulpice where the Marquis de Sade and Baudelaire were both baptised, and St Séverin in its quiet elegance.
It churches aren't your thing – and we appreciate that they're not every vamp's idea of a fun night out! – then you absolutely must visit one of the spookiest places I have been to anywhere in the world, the infamous Catacombes. It is estimated that the bones of 6 million mortals lie within this vast underground temple to the dead. The site was once a quarry, but when the rising water table began to swamp the old cemetery of Les Innocents – Anne Rice fans will know it well, and anyone who visited Paris in the 18th century will recall the stink! – the bones of the inhabitants were removed to the quarry site. Over the years more cemeteries were emptied to make way for Haussmann's new buildings and the Catacombes grew. There is a rare beauty in this place, though some may find it ghoulish. The walls are shin bones laid end to end and stacked floor to ceiling, interspersed with decorate patterns of skulls. It's the freakiest art show you're ever likely to see, but it works. It's a great place to meditate on the meaning of immortality. Every now and then a wall plaque offers some choice quote from the Greek philosophers or some purple prose sentiment of a suitably morose or Biblical nature. There's even a crypt and a shrine down here, and as you leave don't forget to look up into the cupola ceiling which rises termite mould like above your head. Wow!
The Catacombes are worthy of an entire article of their very own, so I shall say no more about them now, but do visit them if you get a chance. You won't be disappointed. You can also visit the Square des Innocents, where the old cemetery used to stand. These days it's a pretty spot ringed in cafés where the locals sit and chat, surrounded by leafy trees and dominated by an ornate fountain around which the young folk of Paris hang out and skateboard. On a moonlit night, when everyone else has gone to bed, it's still a wonderfully atmospheric place though.
Other 'do not misses' for the dark at heart must include the grim prison on the Île de la Cité called the Conciergerie, which once housed the fallen queen Marie Antoinette, along with other victims of the Revolution like Danton and finally Robespierre. Allegedly a few bricks remain of the city's other great prison, the Bastille, at the modern Métro station of the same name, though if you can find them you're doing better than we were. We must have wandered the maze of tunnels for an hour seeking them out, but to no avail (boo!) France's answer to the London Dungeon is Les Martyres de Paris, which uses waxworks and grisly sets to illustrate the history of torture and suffering in the great city over the centuries. Lovely!
'Les Misérables' and Victor Hugo fans should not miss the Sewers, which aren't nearly as unpleasant now as they were at the time of the Student Rebellions in the 1830s (everybody man the barricades!), and contain an absolute glut of information about the working of the underground sewerage system which keeps Paris so clean and healthy above ground these days. It might sound a bit grim – and to be fair it does smell a bit odd down there – but if you want to walk in the footsteps of Jean Valjean, you simply must do it at least once.
No visitor to Paris – living or otherwise – should miss the Louvre, formerly a royal palace and now one of the world's most famous museums. Be warned though, it justifies a month long trip all on its own! There is only one remaining wing of the original palace, but the whole place simply exudes history, even despite the heavy traffic nearby and the modern glass pyramids (which I quite liked, though they have caused controversy in the mortal world since their construction in 1989). The Cour Carrée boasts a positive who's who of French history in statuary form, and it's great to see so many familiar faces looking down on you as you walk about. Inside the museum it's an absolute rat's maze of a place, and new-borns should equip themselves with a reliable map in case the sun should catch them out suddenly. There is so much stuff here it simply cannot be done justice in an article of this brevity, and our advice must be: check it out yourself. Whether it's Egyptian, Sumerian, Greek, Roman or Islamic history that appeals, or statuary and sculpture, or painting any era or country from the 16th century onwards, the Louvre has something for you. It is an amazing summation of all that Paris is and all that it represents: packed with culture, littered with history and gorged with atmosphere.
Paris is so often reduced to a list of tourist attractions, it is often forgotten that just wandering around the streets of a city like this has its attractions. For the fascinated vampire this could hardly be more true. All night cafés, shops which stay open well into the small hours, tiny back street theatres with highly unusual repertoires – check out the pink place on Rue de la Gaîté! – and the particular attractions of Pigalle all combine to create a heady atmosphere of self-fulfilling party everywhere you look. It is impossible not to love Paris. It weaves an ineluctable spell about you from the moment you arrive, and it is easy to see how so many poets, artists and writers have driven themselves mad trying to experience all that this unique city has to offer in one mortal lifetime. Lucky some of us have a little longer than that...
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