Never skipped a Montmartre visit whenever in Paris. Thick tourist crowd, yes, but beyond Place du Tertre, Sacre Ceour, Moulin Rouge there are still pockets of tranquility and beauty. Soon after rounding up the public square taken over by artists cum portraitists, an assortment of souvenir shops, cafes, creperies and gelato bars, the side streets and winding alleys are both interesting and challenging. Not exactly under the tourist radar, but we found these spots less crowded and somehow devoid of scammers and pickpockets.
Moulin de la Galette offers outside seating where we enjoyed traditional French cuisine while passersby took photos of the historic windmill immortalized in Van Gogh’s The Guingette, A Cafe Terrace in Montmartre and The Moulin de la Galette. Other artists likewise painted these historical monuments including the cabaret crowd — A. Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Latrec, Picasso. At the time, Montmartre was a village of wine growers, millers and cabaret owners. It is claimed the dance halls aka cabarets gave birth to the French cancan whose prominent stars allegedly had their debuts here. Since the 1900’s, many famous actors similarly frequented the area to enjoy their galettes with muscat wine. As for us, we enjoyed the landmark restaurant under a windmill’s moules fritte, French onion soup and Beouf with Bernaise Sauce.
Not too far from this corner is Place Dalida named after a famous French-Egyptian singer who once lived in the area. Dalida’s bust and square featured in some movies and tv series like Emily in Paris. The story goes that Dalida once had a brief romantic alliance with the famous French actor Alain Delon. At the time, both were unknown artists when they first met as struggling neighbors. While both gained prominence in their respective arts, Dalida became a musical icon, selling millions of records but unfortunately committed suicide in 1987 at age 54. Several of her former partners earlier committed suicide, including one ex-husband. What a sad life for beautiful and talented Dalida. Off some corner here is the interesting bronze sculpture of Marcel Ayme, a French short story writer, playwright, and essayist. Among his works is The Man Who Could Walk Through Walls. You can find this sculpture by Jean Marais at the intersection of Rue Girardon and Rue Norvins.
If you have watched and liked the classic French movie Amelie, you’d likely be interested to dine in Cafe des Deux Moulins along Rue Lepic on a downhill slope towards Moulin Rouge. Obviously, the cafe was named after Montmartre’s two famous and historical windmills — the Moulin Rouge and Moulin de la Galette. The character Amelie worked in this cafe, serving that very French creme brûlée with hot chocolate chaud. The movie’s massive international success featuring Audrey Taotou made this cafe very famous. She is the same French actress who appeared in Da Vinci Code (2006) and Coco Before Chanel (2009).
The La Maison Rose or Pink House is further up, nearer Sacre Coeur along the beautiful street Rue de Abreuvoir. Many tourists find this cafe very “instagrammable” as it sits in a corner serving classic French and Italian country cuisine. I’ve only had cafe allongé and a lemon tart here but they do serve a classic but limited menu. If you’re around this corner, do take an outside table across the Pink House and enjoy watching people passing, posing and snapping photos of the Maison. Quite an experience. You’d likely even be requested to take some of their pictures. 🤫
