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Starting point and access: Place des Fêtes.
- Metro - Lines7bis and 11. Take exit 1 Place des Fêtes.
- Bus - Lines 20, 48, 60.
The main animal representations and key points of interest are indicated in italics in the body of the description.
(S) When you exit the metro station, turn right and cross the square, leaving a fountain-maze and a sort of tall kiosk on your right. Turn right again, between a mini-market and a cheese shop, towards Rue Augustin Thierry. Cross this street at the pedestrian crossing, walk along the Regard de la Lanterne (access to a water reservoir) and follow Rue Compans.
At the end, cross Rue de Belleville and follow it to the left, slightly uphill. Note the mural with flowers and bees at ground level , signed by Elie Mora & Caillou with the children of Mom'Pelleport 2019. At the traffic lights, turn right onto Rue Pelleport and note the mural by C215 (Christian Guémy) near the bus stop. After No. 178bis, turn left under a porch and take Passage du Télégraphe.
(1) At the end, turn right onto Rue du Télégraphe (Belleville water towers on the left, Saint-Fargeau secular nursery decorated with mosaics on the right). At the crossroads (bakery with a brass door handle decorated with a small lion's head), take the first right onto Rue du Borrégo. At the next crossroads, take the second left, Rue de la Duée. Take the first left, Villa Georgina. At the end, turn left into Rue Taclet. Go through a chicane, rejoin Rue Pelleport and follow it to the right and downhill.
At the crossroads, turn right onto Rue de Ménilmontant. Take the first left, Rue Hélène Jakubowicz, and walk down past the brick buildings. At the end, turn right. Then take the first right, Rue de la Chine. Note the floral motifs on the façades of the buildings on the odd-numbered side.
(2) After No. 47bis, turn left into Passage des Soupirs (townhouses, small buildings and shared garden). Finish by going down a staircase. You will come out onto Rue des Pyrénées. Follow it to the left for about 20 metres and cross at the pedestrian crossing.
On the other side, first turn left then right onto Rue du Retrait (beautiful façade at no. 3). Note several murals: the first two on the right are predominantly plant-based; no. 13 is non-figurative; no. 14 features a cat and birds; a theatre façade and stage curtain at No. 15; a bird at No. 17; and a forest at the corner of No. 21. Directly opposite, there is a large bee on the pavement. At the end of the street, at No. 33, note the tiger and butterflies against a bamboo backdrop.
Then turn left and go down Rue Laurence Savart. At the bottom (on the right, the first Parisian cooperative, La Bellevilloise (1877), a pretty brick and metal building), turn left (Rue Boyer).
(3) At the end (public baths opposite), turn right at an acute angle into Rue de la Bidassoa. After about thirty metres, turn left into a narrow passageway with no sign (be careful to spot this turn). Go down a few steps and walk between the wall of the public baths and a public garden below on the right.
At the end, cross the street at the pedestrian crossing (mascaron at no. 28ter) and follow it to the right (Rue Sorbier). Immediately afterwards, turn left into Rue Élisa Borey. Go down a large staircase. At the bottom (dog figures on the left-hand wall and a bird of prey's head on the right-hand wall), take the second left, cross Place Henri Matisse and continue along Rue Raoul Dufy.
(4) Cross Rue des Partants, then turn right to cross Place Joseph Epstein, where you will find an unusually yellow Wallace fountain. Note the four caryatids supporting a dome topped with fish, as well as the fish and scallop shells on the surface of the base. Leave the fountain on your left, take Rue des Pruniers and walk along a square on your right (there are murals on the right-hand side, including one with a camel).
Cross Rue Fernand Léger and continue straight ahead. At the end, turn left onto Avenue Gambetta. At the traffic lights, cross Rue des Muriers, turn right to cross the avenue and follow it to the left. Note the two lion-headed mascarons on the pediment of the school at No. 29.
(5) Just after the school, turn right into Jardin Samuel de Champlin. On the right, the access to the monument to the victims of the revolutions is closed for works (until April 2024 according to the sign on site), so turn left. After about 20 metres, climb the stairs on the right. At the top, you will come to a path; follow it to the left. Walk along the wall of the Père Lachaise cemetery on your right, ignore all the paths on your left and walk gently downhill.
Leave the garden, cross Rue des Rondeaux, take the passage of the same name, then turn right onto Avenue Gambetta. At the next intersection (with the 20th arrondissement town hall and the 1992 central fountain in sight), turn right onto Rue Maité Brun. At the next intersection, turn right onto Avenue du Père Lachaise (standing lion and scallop shells at the gate of No. 14). Take the first left, Rue Ramus. Cross Rue Émile Landrin and continue straight ahead.
(6) Take the first right, a narrow private road accessible to pedestrians (Rue Achille, signposted at the other end). This leads to Rue des Rondeaux. Turn left and follow the road, walking alongside the wall of the Père Lachaise cemetery once again. Cross Rue Eugénie Legrand on the left-hand side (beautiful façade at nos. 2-4). When the street becomes a dead end, turn left onto Rue Charles Renouvier and take the bridge over Rue des Pyrénées. At no. 7, turn right into a cobbled alleyway and walk along Square des Oiseaux. Turn left with the alleyway (Passage Stendhal). You will come out onto Rue Stendhal; follow it to the right. Walk along an urban market garden on your left.
At the next crossroads, you have two options:
- If you want to avoid crossing a cemetery, continue straight ahead, go down a staircase and arrive at the foot of the Church of Charonne.
- Otherwise, as shown on the map, turn left onto Chemin du Parc de Charonne. After about 50 metres, turn right into the Charonne Cemetery (immediately on your right, you will see a statue of François Bègue, known as Magloire, a house painter and storyteller). Cross the cemetery, which slopes slightly downwards, go down a flight of steps and leave the cemetery. The entrance to the church is immediately on your left.
(7) With your back to the church door, go down a large staircase. Cross Rue de Bagnolet, follow it to the left and pass in front of the Church of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius. Immediately afterwards, at the foot of No. 128, turn right into Square Antoine Blondin. There are two paths: take the one on the left, which remains higher up. Pass a kiosk on your right, then a staircase leading down. At the next three-way intersection, turn left onto the middle path and walk alongside a small pond on your left. Pass under a plant-covered arch, climb a flight of steps and leave the square.
Cross Place Pierre Vaudrey and pass under a porch. You will come out onto Rue des Balkans; follow it to the right. Take the first right, Rue Victor Segalen. Cross Cité Leclaire, then turn left with the street. You will come out onto Rue Riblette; follow it to the right. At the end, turn left onto Rue Saint-Blaise. Continue straight ahead along this street lined with flower pots painted with various designs, including many animals: straw, ants, crows, rabbits, eagles, lions, etc. Cross Rue Vitruve.
(8) After No. 46, turn right under a porch to enter Square de la Salamandre. Immediately turn left and walk halfway around the square in a clockwise direction. Walk along a playground on your right and note a snake-shaped piece of equipment on the ground. At the end, turn left, go through a chicane and leave the square. Continue along Rue Paul-Jean Toulet.
At the end, turn right onto Rue du Clos. On the odd-numbered side, note the building façades decorated with foliage, flowers and fruit, as well as scallop shells at no. 11. At the traffic lights, cross Rue Courat and pass under the bridge of the old Petite Ceinture railway line. Cross Rue des Maraîchers and briefly take Rue des Orteaux.
(9) Then cross Rue des Pyrénées at the pedestrian crossing on the left. On the other side, first turn right then left onto Rue des Haies. Cross Passage Dieu on the right-hand side, continue straight ahead and note the villas and private passages on either side (at no. 103, there is a mural depicting the Lady and the Unicorn). At the crossroads, turn left onto Passage de la Providence. At the end, turn right onto Cité Champagne, then left onto Rue de la Réunion.
Cross Rue d'Avron (Wallace fountain, in its usual bronze-green colour) and take the second left, Rue du Volga. Further on, you will come to Rue des Pyrénées. Turn right and follow this street (there are four small lion-headed mascarons on the corner and at no. 63). At the corner of Rue des Pyrénées and Rue des Grands Champs, there is a beautiful Art Deco building with two child-atlantes. Take the next right, Rue de la Plaine (sculpture of a dromedary in the window of the Saint-Gabriel Parish, at no. 81). Then turn left into Rue Mounet-Sully.
(10) After about 50 metres, turn right into Square Sarah Bernhardt (small obelisk on the left). Quickly head to the right towards a small courtyard. On the right-hand wall, there is a painting of a wolf. On the ground, there are several mosaics with animal motifs: roosters, donkeys, horses, lions and elephants. With your back to the playground, head straight ahead and then turn right to go down a short path. Join another path and follow it to the right. Walk along the left-hand side of a playground with lots of equipment shaped like animals: pandas, lions, poisonous creatures, hedgehogs, birds, etc.
Climb a flight of steps to reach a kind of bandstand (with mosaics depicting a musician on the wall and a stave and musical instruments on the floor). Go around the bandstand on the left and immediately leave the square. Then turn left, cross Rue de Lagny at the pedestrian crossing and follow it to the left. At no. 46, there are beautiful mosaics in the entrance to the building, including one on the floor depicting a bird. Take the first right, Rue Lucien et Sacha Guitry.
(11) You will come out onto Cours de Vincennes. Follow it to the right. After about 30 metres, turn left to cross a branch of the boulevard at the pedestrian crossing. Then turn right and follow the pedestrian walkway straight ahead. Note the foliage-decorated façades at numbers41bis and 41, as well as an old mosaic sign at number 29 (Zaengerler and Roussel, 1930). At the end, cross Boulevard de Charonne in two stages and arrive at Place des Antilles, at the foot of one of the two columns of the Throne, the one topped by a statue of Saint Louis (lion's head on the column itself and, lower down, on the city's coat of arms, fish and swans).
(12) Then turn left and cross Avenue du Trône in two stages to reach Place de l'Ile de la Réunion, with the second column of the Trône, topped by a statue of Philippe-Auguste. Go around the column on the left and follow Avenue du Trône, leaving a bus stop on your right. Cross the outer lane of Place de la Nation, turn immediately left and pass a metro entrance on your left. Just before the lift to the RER station, turn right and cross the inner lane of Place de la Nation at the traffic lights.
Continue straight ahead to the Triomphe de la République monument (1899). The Republic is perched on a globe, which is itself mounted on a chariot pulled by two lions representing the strength of the people, while the Genius of Liberty lights the way with her torch. There are also two scallop shells on the south side and a beehive on the north side. Walk slightly past the monument and turn left towards a clearly visible underground station entrance. Cross the inner lane of Place de la Nation again and you will immediately reach the underground station entrance.
To return home:
- Metro - Lines 1, 2, 6, 9.
- RER - Line A. From the monument, continue straight ahead: the station entrance is on the other side of the inner lane of the square.
- Bus - Lines 26, 56, 57, 71, 86, 215, 351.
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