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Starting point and access: Place Gambetta.
- Metro - Line 3 or 3bis. Take Exit 1 (Mairie du 20e).
(S) Upon exiting the metro station, go straight ahead, walk past the 20th arrondissement town hall on your left and follow Rue Belgrand. Cross Rue du Japon and enter Square Édouard Vaillant.
At the first fork in the road, turn left, passing a small greenhouse on your right. At the next fork in the road, turn right and walk past the foot of the memorial to Dr Métivier. At the T-junction, turn left. Walk past a kiosk, the statue of Gambetta, a playground and finally some toilets on your left before leaving the square on your right.
Turn immediately left and cross Avenue Gambetta at the traffic lights. Follow the avenue to the left, then turn right into Rue des Gâtines. At the junction, turn right into Rue du Cambodge (note the colourful patterns on the façade of nos. 16 and 18). At the end, turn left into Rue Orfila and cross Rue des Pyrénées at the traffic lights.
(1) Follow Rue des Pyrénées to the right, cross Rue Villiers de L'Isle-Adam and turn left into Rue du Retrait (note the murals on the right-hand side). Then take thesecond left, Rue Laurence Savart. Walk down this cobbled street and, at the bottom, turn left into Rue Boyer.
At the next junction, turn sharply right into Rue de la Bidassoa. After about fifty metres, turn right into Rue Juillet. At the traffic lights, cross Rue Sorbier and go down the steps opposite leading to Rue des Plâtrières. Follow this street to the right and, at the next junction, turn right into Rue des Amandiers.
(2) Cross Rue de Ménilmontant and go round the back of the church on the right via a narrow lane. Cross a small square and take the footbridge over the old Petite Ceinture railway line.
Continue along Rue de la Mare and, at the junction, carry straight on down this street. Then take the first right, uphill, onto Rue de Savies. At the top (opposite the Saint-Martin manhole of the Belleville aqueduct), turn left into Rue des Cascades.
(3) When you reach Place Henri Krasucki, turn right onto Rue Levert, which ends in a flight of steps. At the top, cross Rue des Pyrénées, then turn left and cross Place Henri Malberg. Then turn right onto Rue du Jourdain. Just before the church, turn right, cross Rue de Belleville and continue along Rue de Palestine with the church on your left.
At the end, turn right onto Rue des Solitaires. Take thefirst left, Rue Arthur Rozier. Cross the bridge over Rue de Crimée. Pass Villa Albert Robida on your left, then cross Rue Compans and continue along Rue des Mignottes.
(4) At the next junction, turn right onto Rue de la Mouzaïa. Walk back and forth along the right-hand side of Villa d’Alsace and continue along the street. Walk up Villa Émile Loubet on the right. At the top, turn left onto Rue de Bellevue. Go down thesecond alley on the left, Villa des Lilas. At the end, cross the street and continue opposite along Villa de la Renaissance. At the end, cross another street and continue along Villa du Danube.
At the end, turn left onto Rue David d’Angers. Just before the square (metro station), turn left onto Rue de la Fraternité (note the sign for a former charity on the right-hand side). At the T-junction, turn right onto Rue de la Liberté. At the corner of No. 13, turn right into Villa Amalia. At the end, cross Rue du Général Brunet and follow it to the left.
Between nos. 23 and 21, turn right into Villa de Cronstadt. Cross a street and continue opposite Villa Claude Monet. At the end, go down a flight of steps, go straight on along Rue François Pinton and walk past a swimming pool on your left.
(5) At the junction, follow Rue David d’Angers to the left. Go round the next junction on the right, cross Rue Manin and continue along Rue d’Hautpoul (red and yellow sign). After about a hundred metres, turn left into the (pedestrian) Allée Darius Milhaud and walk past Collège Georges Brassens on your right. At the roundabout, turn right onto Rue Erik Satie. Then turn left onto Rue Georges Auric.
At the end, turn left and go under the bridge of the old Petite Ceinture railway line. Turn immediately right into Rue André Danjon, with the old railway line overhead on your right.
Cross Avenue Jean Jaurès at the traffic lights and continue straight ahead along Rue de l’Ourcq (walls heavily covered in graffiti on the right-hand side). Walk past a garden on your right, then a small sports ground. At the traffic lights, cross Rue de Thionville and turn right into Rue de la Marne to reach the quayside of the same name.
(6) Then turn right and walk along the Bassin de la Villette on your left. Go under the Petite Ceinture bridge and, immediately, climb a flight of steps on the left. Cross the basin via the footbridge running parallel to the railway bridge. Go back down and continue straight on along Quai de l’Oise.
Walk along the basin on your right and continue along Quai de la Gironde, staying on the lower level (do not stay too close to the water, as this leads to a dead end). Pass a public bathhouse and then a swimming pool on your left, and, at Rue Barbanègre, climb a flight of steps. At the top, turn right and cross the Canal Saint-Denis at its first lock.
(7) Continue straight ahead and enter the Parc de la Villette (landmark L3). Then turn left into the covered gallery with a corrugated roof and keep the large Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie building on your right. At the corner, turn right towards the metro and immediately turn left towards landmark N1.
Walk past the clock (N1) and head towards the sign for the metro, tram and bus. Go under a portico and emerge at Porte de la Villette with immediate access to public transport (E).
To get back home:
- Metro - Line 7.
- Tram - Line T3b.
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