Around Place de la Bastille - ter

I’m once more coming back to what you find around Place de la Bastille.

There is also a small port, called Port de l’Arsenal. Here was for some centuries the city limit, with fortifications and also an arsenal, where all kinds of weapons and ammunition were kept. This was then more or less a place for fishing, but it was slowly modified to become some kind of temporary port (when there was enough water) until Napoleon (again him) decided to make a real small port here (1806).

It was more particularly intended to be part of a canal system, making the connection between the Seine (there is a lock) and Canal Saint Martin, ready in 1825, partly rebuilt and covered between 1860 and 1906 and again recently modified (I may revert to this canal with another post – one day). Today the canal is covered about half way (dotted line); it's a tunnel, but the rest of it is very nice to visit - or travel on.

On the top photo, you can see the beginning of the tunnel, just below the “July Column” on Place de la Bastille. Via Canal Saint Martin you can reach other canals, but today this Paris part of the canal system is purely for pleasure; you can make a tourist boat tour on Canal Saint Martin leaving from here.

Some twenty years ago, the port was transformed to receive yachts. It’s possible to hire a place, but I guess that the waiting list may be long.

One side of the port has also been transformed into a park with a small restaurant or café. Paris is getting better every day!

The originals of some of these photos can be found on my other blog "Peter - photos".