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Starting point and access: Porte de Saint-Cloud.
- Metro – Line 9. Take Exit 1 (Parc des Princes).
- Bus – Lines 22, 42, 62, 72, PC, 175, 189, 289.
The main animal depictions and key features to look out for are highlighted in italics within the body of the description.
(S) As you exit the metro station, turn right. Walk past the base of the bell tower and then the entrance to the Church of Sainte-Jeanne de Chantal (mid-20th century). Then cross Boulevard Murat at the pedestrian crossing to the left of another metro exit. Turn right back towards the square. At the corner of Rue Michel-Ange, look for a pedestrian crossing that allows you to cross the square to reach its centre and its two fountains.
You have two options here:
- If the traffic lights are not working, continue round the square and simply admire the fountains from a distance. Cross Avenue de Versailles and rejoin the main route at the corner of Boulevard Murat.
- If the traffic lights are working, cross the square as shown on the map. Walk round both fountains, created in 1936 by the sculptor Paul Landowski, which share the same design: a stone column resting on a plinth decorated with bronze medallions. The northern fountain features numerous figures, including two horses, birds at the top and a swan at the bottom, whilst the medallions depict various labour scenes. The southern fountain depicts the harvest and the grape harvest, and a cow can be seen there. Most of the medallions depict animals: fish; snakes; mice; pike (or trout) and carp; a cockerel and a hen; herons; a kingfisher holding a fish in its beak; and frogs.
Leave the centre of the square via the pedestrian crossing leading to the bus stop. Then turn left, cross Avenue Georges Lafont and then Boulevard Murat.
(1) Follow Boulevard Murat as you move away from the square (in the direction of the increasing house numbers). Note the sign of a hotel depicting Marshal Murat on horseback. At the traffic lights, cross Rue Gudin, continue straight ahead and take the next left onto Rue Claude Terrasse. On the left-hand side, look out for lizards in a shopfront between nos. 46 and 44 and, on the right-hand side, several ‘villas’ (pretty private lanes that are not accessible). Cross Rue Charles Tellier and continue straight on. At no. 12, there is a tall house adorned with two busts at the top.
At the traffic lights, turn left and cross a small square, then Avenue de Versailles. On the other side, turn right onto Rue Chardon-Lagache. Go straight on, cross Boulevard Exelmans in two stages and continue to the next junction.
(2) Then turn right into Rue de Musset, then left into Rue Jouvenet. Take the first right, Rue Lancret, and head downhill. You’ll come out onto Avenue de Versailles; follow it to the left. On the left-hand side, you’ll pass a villa, then Rue Victorien Sardou.
(3) After No. 144ter, head down a concrete path on the left. At the bottom, turn right and enter Parc Sainte-Périne. At the first junction (not shown on the map), go straight on. At the second junction, veer left and walk past the outdoor fitness equipment on your left.
At the next junction, turn left again and pass between some toilets on your left and a playground on your right. Walk up a concrete path, then turn right along it and walk alongside a lawn below on your right. Ignore a path branching off to the right and, at the next junction, turn left and walk up a flight of steps. Go through a small gate, turn left and leave the park.
(4) You’ll come out onto Rue Mirabeau; follow it to the left. At the traffic lights, veer left and walk past the entrance to the Sainte-Périne Hospital. Then turn right and cross Rue Chardon Lagache at the pedestrian crossing. Opposite is an Art Deco-style building with a bas-relief depicting work in the fields. At the top, look out for a shepherd with his dog and sheep. First turn right then left onto Rue Molitor (on the corner, there is another bas-relief depicting the grape harvest). You’ll pass Villa Molitor on your left.
At the traffic lights, turn right into Rue Boileau. Carry straight on and, at the end of the street, at No. 1, look out for a stencilled cat on a wall. Then cross Rue d’Auteuil and follow it to the left (at No. 40, there is a plaque commemorating the Auberge du Mouton Blanc, which once hosted great poets and playwrights of the 17th century). Then take the first right onto Rue Donizetti (shop sign in the shape of a swan). Cross Rue Jean de La Fontaine and continue straight on.
(5) At the end, turn left onto Rue Poussin and follow it to the end. At No. 9, there are mascarons in the shape of an unidentified animal, sticking out a very long tongue. On the corner of Rue Isabey, there is a lion’s head high up on the building. At No. 26, there is an Art Nouveau-style building dating from 1904. At Nos. 25 and 27, there are neo-Gothic-style buildings.
At the traffic lights, turn right onto Boulevard de Montmorency and walk gently uphill alongside the old Petite Ceinture railway line, on your left. Continue to No. 73, where a sculptor’s studio, built in 1925, is flanked by statues of two women from two towns in Finistère: Ploaré and Audierne. At the foot of the woman from Ploaré are bas-reliefs depicting schools of fish; at the foot of the woman from Audierne are bas-reliefs depicting boats. Bas-reliefs above the small doors: above the left-hand one, boats in a storm, with fish and birds; above the right-hand one, a rural scene bathed in sunshine.
(6) With your back to the studio, head left to quickly find the entrance to the 16th arrondissement’s Petite Ceinture on your right. Go down a flight of steps and, once at the bottom, turn left. At the Fork in the road that appears shortly afterwards, turn right. Take a concrete path bordered by a metal fence on the left-hand side and running alongside blocks of flats on the right-hand side.
You’ll emerge onto Boulevard Suchet; follow it to the right. After a good fifty metres, cross the boulevard at the traffic lights. On the other side, first turn right then left to enter Square Alfred Capus. Go round the central area on the left and exit on the other side.
(7) Follow Avenue du Maréchal Lyautey to the right; there are two options: either stay on the pavement or take a shaded dirt path situated between a cycle path on the left and the avenue on the right (the option shown on the map). Note the grandstands of the Auteuil racecourse some distance away on the left. After about 250 m, turn right into Square Tolstoï, walk past a fountain adorned with a sculpture, and rejoin the dirt path as you exit on the other side (the avenue is then named after Marshal Franchet d’Esperey).
Walk past a stadium on your right. After the stadium entrance, turn right into Square Henry Bataille. Walk round the central lawn and note a sculpture dating from 1930 depicting a gazelle. Exit the square on the other side and cross Boulevard Knoll at the pedestrian crossing.
(8) Follow the boulevard to the left (at numbers 45 and 43, there are two Art Deco-style buildings adorned with foliage). At the traffic lights, cross Avenue Ingres and follow it to the right along a parallel path. Cross Avenue Raphaël, turn left and follow a path running parallel to Allée Davia (this path is a cycle lane). Pass by a statue of Jean de La Fontaine, depicting the crow and the fox from the fable.
At the next set of traffic lights, turn right to cross the avenue and follow it to the left. Walk alongside a lawn on your right (statue from 1878 known as *La Méditation*). You’ll reach a junction with a former Petite Ceinture railway station on your right and, opposite on the left, a building with numerous balcony corbels featuring lion heads.
(9) Then turn right, cross Boulevard de Beauséjour and take Rue Largillière. At the traffic lights, cross Avenue Mozart and continue straight on into Rue des Vignes. Shortly afterwards, turn left into Rue Singer. At the junction, go straight on (on the right, a statue of René Goscinny accompanied by several of the characters he created).
Take the first left onto Rue Talma (on the corner is a post office built in 1931 in the Art Deco style). At the end, turn right onto Rue Bois-le-Vent. At the end, cross Rue Duban and reach Place de Passy. Turn right onto Rue l’Annonciation and continue straight ahead along this pedestrianised shopping street.
(10) Take the first left onto Rue Jean Bologne, on the corner of the Church of Notre-Dame de Grâce de Passy. Turn left onto this street, passing a small square on your right. At the end, cross Rue de Passy and follow it to the right. On your left, you’ll pass Rue Nicolo, Impasse des Carrières and Rue Claude Chahu.
Take the next left onto Rue Gavarni. At the end, turn left onto Rue Claude Chahu. At the end, note the corner building dating from 1903, in the Art Nouveau style, notable for its ceramics depicting thistles.
(11) Then turn right into Rue Eugène Manuel (Art Deco-style buildings dating from 1926 at nos. 5–7). You’ll pass Rue Paul Saunière on your left; continue straight on. You’ll emerge onto Avenue Paul Doumer; follow it to the left for a few dozen metres and cross at the pedestrian crossing.
Then turn right into Rue Vital. At no. 7, there is a building dating from 1892 with unidentified sea creatures on the balcony above the entrance. At the end of the street, first turn left then right onto Rue Louis David. At No. 9, there are bas-reliefs depicting babies, harvest scenes and bunches of grapes. At the end of the street, there is a spectacular Art Nouveau-style corner building on the right.
(12) Then turn right into Rue Scheffer. Take the first left, Rue Pétrarque. Turn right onto this street and note, above the door at No. 14, a bas-relief depicting a pair of birds feeding their young in the nest.
Then turn left into Rue du Commandant Schloesing. Walk past the entrance to Passy Cemetery and you’ll soon reach Place du Trocadéro (on the left, a monument by Paul Landowski in memory of the soldiers of 1914–1918; in the centre, an equestrian statue of Marshal Foch) (E).
To get back home:
- Metro – Lines 6 or 9.
- Bus – Routes 22, 30, 32, 63.
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