manstouch travel
Notre-Dame Cathedral
Discover the soul of Historic Paris !
The Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris dates back to 1163 but was not completed until 1345. It is one of the masterpieces of Gothic art in Western Europe. Its facade, the soaring Gothic ribbed vaulting, its huge light-filled interior and awe-inspiring stained glass windows are magnificent artistic achievements. The square in front of the Cathedral is called the Place du Parvis. In the center is a plaque from which all road distances in France are measured. Of course, this is the setting for Victor Hugo’s ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’.
On the Ile de la Cité Island, King of France Saint-Louis had a magnificent chapel built as part of his palace to house Christ's Holy Relics including the Crown of Thorns The Saint Chapelle is famous for its beauty and 13th century stained glass windows.
Nearby, the Conciergerie witnessed the days when the king was living on the island and boasts an enormous gothic hall. During the French Revolution it was turned into a prison for those waiting to be guillotined and it was here that the Queen Marie-Antoinette spent her last days.
Visit Notre-Dame & Left Bank with our private and scheduled tours!
Cost: from 49 €
Check Availability
Notre-Dame & the Soul of Paris - Scheduled Tour
Departure: Summer & Winter at 9:15 am daily
Duration: 3 3/4 hrs
A fabulous way to seethe soul of Paris! Highlights include:
Notre Dame 
Place Vendôme Latin Quarter Bastille
A drive through the oldest part of the city will enable you to discover first the Marais district and its "hotels particuliers", i.e. the majestic private town-houses built by the French Nobility 3 or 4 centuries ago, the Latin Quarter with the Sorbonne, the Luxembourg gardens, Saint-Germain des Prés with its old church and its famous cafés, a guided visit to the interior of Notre-Dame Cathedral (except during massand a short cruise to approach and leave the City Island (except if the river is too high).
Before returning to our welcome office located on Pyramides Square, have a look at the geometrici design of Vendome Square and the impressive Opera Garnier.
Cost: 49€ Check Availability
This tour does not operate on French bank holidays
Notre-Dame & Left Bank Guided Tours
Visit the Soul of Paris with Your Own Guide.
Walk #1 - Lutetia
This walk takes you back 2000 years to such vestiges as the sports/theater arena, public baths, Forum, arrow-straight roads, and a trace of the third century wall around the Ile de la Cité.
Walk #2 - A Medieval Sampler
Including the famous St. Germain des Prés Abbey (built, destroyed and rebuilt from the 6th to 19th centuries), the 13th century Cordeliers monastery refectory, and the 15th century Cluny abbots' "townhouse" - now a marvelous museum on the Middle Ages - , Place Maubert where a 16th century printer was burnt alive for heresy for having re-translated one of Plato's Dialogues, and the Bernardins Monastery refectory dating from the 13th century.
Walk #3 - Learning in Paris
University and student life (not always very calm!) from the 12th through the 16th centuries, via different "colleges" frequented by students as different as St. Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits) and Protestant reformer Jean Calvin.
Walk #5 - The 13th Century City Wall
On the Left Bank, the rampart wends its way through courtyards, mews, curiously twisted buldings and streets, and even one underground parking lot.
Walk #6 - Notre Dame Cathedral
A reading of its amazing "stone comic strip" sculptures, and exploration of very curious and still unsolved mysteries - some concerning Masonic secrets - surrounding the Grand Old Lady of Paris, begun in 1163.
Walk #7 - The "Grand Century on Ile St. Louis"
An intimate round-island look at the architecture and (hi)stories of some of Paris's most impressive 17th century mansions, including one where Chopin played for and woo-ed Geroge Sand, not forgetting the home for many years of From Here to Eternity author James Jones.
Walk #8 - Cradle of the Capital: Ile de la Cité
A sampling of vestiges and major events that have shaped the history of Paris, and France, for 2,300 years of uninterrupted habitation, such as: the Royal Palace dating from the 13th century, the Exchange Bridge which gave birth in the 14th century to the Sunday bird market still extant, and the New bridge (inaugurated in 1607) with a statue of King Henry IV surrounded by enigma .
Walk #9 - Around rue de la Huchette: Heart of the Latin Quarter
Beginning on “Here Lies The Heart Street” (its original Medieval name was far less romantic!), this walk takes in architectural reminiscences of Renaissance King François Ier, 19th century poet Charles Baudelaire, a 16th century Royal Prosecutor who O-D’d here on opium, and Napoleon Bonaparte. Then: a series of antique punning shop signs, the oldest tree in Paris, the intimate 12th-13th century St. Julien le Pauvre church and other medieval memories.
Walk #10 - The Mouffetard Quarter: “Quaint” PLUS
A highway leaving Paris for Rome 2,000 years ago, Rue Mouffetard still boasts a street market that has functioned since about 1350, not to forget a public fountain erected by Marie de Medici, and church that briefly hosted a convulsionist sect (“barkers,” “meowers,” “jumpers,” etc.) in the 1700s. This tour also takes in the house where Ernest Hemingway lived in the 1930s and segments of the Medieval city rampart.
