This weekend was the Fête des Vendages de Montmartre, a festival which has taken place for hundreds of years to celebrate the vineyards that used to cover the butte of Montmartre. As the area has become more developed, however, the number of vineyards dwindled, and now there is only one left. Still, every year Parisians and tourists alike flock to the streets of the 18th arrondissement to commemorate this part of the history of the city’s most famously artistic neighborhood.
Though it is a wine festival, I knew it was going to be packed, so my main purpose was to take my camera for a spin and see what kind of images I could capture during the fireworks display on Saturday night. Fortunately, I was not disappointed- here are the results.
Though my friends and I had had prime seats for the show on the steps in front of Sacré-Cœur, we correctly assumed that the view would be that much cooler if the basilica were in the background. All the smoke from the fireworks must have made it hard to breathe up there as well, so I considered myself lucky to have avoided it!
Though many people’s familiarity with Montmartre is limited to the depiction in the films Moulin Rouge or Amélie, both manage to communicate the creative feel of the neighborhood, minus any green fairies (no, absinthe is not really hallucinogenic). The area is a tourist attraction for a reason, and a must-see for anyone visiting Paris!
No Comments