By Lakshmi: (Updated September 20, 2014)
Who? I can’t say anyone who likes cemeteries, but surely if you are someone who is inclined to authors, poets, politicians, etc., you would appreciate some time here.
What? Père Lachaise Cemetery located in the 20th arrondissement in Paris is said to be the most visited cemetery in the world.
How? The cemetery is located at Boulevard de Menilmontant near the Père Lachaise metro. The entrance is free.
Telephone : +33 1 55 25 82 10
Why? When I mentioned to a dear friend that I was going to Paris, instead of telling me the obvious things to do, he pressed me to spend a morning at Père Lachaise. I did not say anything to my husband immediately, but when we got to Paris, I gently mentioned that I wanted to spend a morning at a cemetery. He gave me this strange look, but was a sport and decided to accompany me.
Inaugurated by Napoleon Bonaparte, this is the final resting place of over 300,000 people. The cemetery is indeed a tranquil place and if you ignore the fact that it is a little spooky to walk amongst all these graves and at times feels like a surreal movie set, you actually are in a pretty lovely part of Paris with some amazing views from the top of the hill. I came prepared with a list of people whose graves I wanted to visit….Victor Hugo, Balzac, Delacroix and Oscar Wilde. Finding the graves was part of the interesting journey. As we looked for these, we found several others. We spent the entire morning as the sole visitors there and while I would have never sought the place out myself, I was glad to have experienced this “off-beat” Parisian excursion.
To learn more about visiting, click here.
http://www.pere-lachaise.com/perelachaise.php?lang=en
You can also get more information and a quick video tour here:
a global affair 