Although it is a very small island, you need to spend at least half a day to cover the few major sights in this small island.
The first sight that needs no introduction is the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Think most of the people get to know about Notre-Dame from the carton, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Actually Notre-Dame is a Gothic masterpiece that took 170 years to build!
170 years to build a church seems far fetched but when you see with your own eyes how massive and intricate the building is, you will believe it.
The cathedral is so huge that there are a total of 3 main entrance to the cathedral. This is the entrance on the left side of the front door and it's name 'Portal of the Virgin'. That's Virgin Mary surrounded by saints and kings.
Inside the church is impressive but its simply too dark for me to capture any beautiful shots. However, Notre Dame is famous for its stained glass and here is one of the Rose Window. Can't see in details but it apparently depicts the story of Christ.
Here's another stained glass. Unbelievably beautiful.
Side facade of the church. Now you know what I mean when I said it is massive.
Most people who go to Paris will not missed Notre-Dame but most will missed the Sainte-Chapelle. Now, I almost did too but I read about it somewhere and decided to take a look.
Sainte-Chapelle is almost hidden in between the La Conciergerie and Palace of Justice complex. If you did not take notice, you will probably missed it. In fact it is not a huge church like Notre-Dame but trust me, you do not want to missed it.
As I walked into the ground floor of the church, I gasped with awe. Its so beautiful. This is the picture at the end of the church which is what I thought was the pulpit / altar. Then I was told that we should go to the upper floor which is the main chapel. We climbed our way thru a narrow spiral staircase and cannot believe my eyes.
Suddenly I'm transported to a place I don't quite know what to called. Is this the gateway to heaven? It's 'ethereal' and 'magical'. The entire upper floor is lined with stained glass with only very narrow columns separating them. It's just simply .... (OK, I'm lost for words). Must see!
Finally, I went to the La Conciergerie. In the 6th century, La Conciergerie is the royal palace for Clovis, the first French king. In the 14th century, this place has been turned into a prison under the power of a steward called 'concierge'. Wow, the head of jail is called concierge (Hahaha!). It got to be a high-end prison perhaps since the famous Queen of France, Mary Antoinette was held in here before she faced the guillotine.
The only interesting thing to see is this impressive medieval gothic hall. If you ask me, I'll say this is something you can miss. The prison is not scary / creepy like other prison tour. It just happened to be a historical place where they held up the royalties and well-known people during the French Revolution.
La Conciergerie is meant to be admired from outside. This is the view of the building from Tuileries (or across the Seine River). Suddenly its so beautiful! It used to be a palace afterall.
Location : Île de la Cité, Paris, France
Next, Heart of Paris
