Rue Mouffetard Market

You are walking along a path that dates back to the Roman era, when it served as a vital road connecting ancient Paris to the south toward Italy. While much of Paris was radically transformed in the nineteenth century under Baron Haussmann, this street escaped the wholesale demolition of its medieval layout. Because the area sits on the slope of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, its narrow, winding path was simply too impractical to be straightened into one of the city's grand, modern boulevards. This preservation allows you to walk through a section of the city that retains its organic, historic footprint while remaining a bustling, living marketplace today.