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Place des Vosges Review
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Place des Vosges 
- Address: Off rue des Francs Bourgeois, near rue de Turenne, Le Marais, Paris | Map It
Fodor's Review:
The oldest monumental square in Paris -- and one of hypnotic beauty -- the place des Vosges's precise proportions give it a placid regularity that will inspire a feeling of calm for all those who visit. But things weren't always so calm in this nearly 400-year-old square. A royal palace -- the Palais des Tournelles -- once stood here, lived in by the Italian-born queen of France, Catherine de' Medici, and her husband Henri II. The couple held jousting tournaments, and lduring one of them, in 1559, Henri was fatally lanced in the eye. Catherine abandoned her palace afterward, and years later Henri IV commissioned the place Royal, inaugurated in 1612. Napoléon decided it ought to be named the Place des Vosges to honor the French départment Vosges, the first in the country to cough up taxes for the Revolutionary government.
At the base of the 36 redbrick- and stone houses -- nine on each side of the square -- is an arcaded, covered walkway where you can shop, stroll, and sit at a café. The formal gated garden's perimeter is lined with chestnut trees, and inside you'll find gravel paths, a children's play area, and a fountain.
Aside from hanging out in the park, people coe to the place des Vosges to see the house of the man who once lived at No. 6 -- Victor Hugo, the workaholic French famed author of Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame).
- Cost: Free
- Open: Year-round
- Metro: Bastille or St-Paul
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