Today we’re going on a foodie tour. We’ll meet up with a guide and a handful of other “foodiphiles,” then walk to wherever our guide takes us, tasting what Paris has to offer along the way. Guides on these tours usually know their stuff, so we’ll probably learn a lot, too. We opted for a tour that takes place in one of our favorite Parisian neighborhoods: “Le Marais.”
Trying to say, “Le Marais,” correctly is a good way to practice your french, if you’re so inclined. Try to put a little roll that “r.” In fact, roll it so much that the “r” just kind of goes away. Think of Sergeant Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes saying “RRRRousse! RRRRRousse!” Then put that “r” sound into “Marais.” Now, when that taxi driver asks, “Où allez-vous?” You can say, “Le Marrrrais, s’il vous plait!”
The Swamp
“Le Marais” means “The Swamp”. The area was swampland until it was drained for a new development project that was in the works. That “new development project” was happening way back in the 12th century. The developers were the Knights Templar. Maybe you’ve heard of them?
At the turn of the first century, European Christians had crusade fever. Huge armies marched in waves to the Holy Land, and in the year, 1099, took Jerusalem. They settled in the area over the years, but it was an extremely dangerous place to be a Christian.
Then one day, nine knights showed up in Jerusalem. Kind of like “The Magnificent Seven”, except there were nine of ‘em. Each of the nine knights had taken an oath of chastity, obedience, and poverty. Their mission was to protect Christians traveling in the Holy Land.
The Knights Templar
The knights took up residence in Jerusalem, exactly where Solomon’s Temple is believed to have existed 1,000 years earlier. They excavated that site for three years, and are believed to have taken some of what they discovered back to Europe. No one knows exactly what they brought back. (Or if they do, they’re not talking).
The Knights Templar grew by recruiting the best knights around to join their cause. As their numbers increased, they’d join in fights on the side of good guys wherever they were fighting bad guys.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux wrote a code of conduct for them, along with a famous letter to the pope saying how great they were. With that, the pope declared them to be a sovereign entity, just like any recognized country was at the time.
Even though they were poor as individuals, collectively the Knights Templar amassed huge amounts of land and riches. That’s when they drained the swamp to build a huge compound near Paris, and a castle called the “Palace du Temple.” The street that the palace was on, Rue du Temple, still runs through Le Marais.
Trouble Brewing
Eventually, the king of France felt threatened by the wealth and growing power of the Knights Templar. He had it in for them. He schemed with the (new) pope to declare the Knights to be “officially evil.” Long story short, the king wiped out most of the Knights Templar, then burned their leader at the stake in Paris, at a spot not far from here.
And… the story goes that as the fire was heating up, the Knights Templar leader declared loudly, for all spectators to hear, that he would meet up with both the king and the pope within the year. And within that year, both the king and the pope died.
The Palace du Temple
How cool would it be to visit the “Palace du Temple?” Unfortunately, the palace is no longer here. Napoleon had it destroyed 200 years ago. Why destroy a perfectly good castle? Well, since you asked…
During the French revolution, revolutionaries held the king, Marie Antoinette, and other members of the royal family as prisoners in the Palace du Temple. After the revolution was over, a lot of people decided that they liked the whole royalty thing better than the new government. The Palace du Temple became their favorite place to go and raise a ruckus. It used to drive Napoleon nuts, so he had the palace destroyed.
By that time, Le Marais had become a fashionable neighborhood where French aristocrats liked to build elegant mansions for themselves. The French Revolution put an end to that era, but a lot of buildings from that time have been refurbished and turned into apartments or museums.
A large Jewish community eventually settled in Le Marais, followed by a Chinese community, followed in the 1980’s by an LGBT community. They’re all at home in Le Marais today, along with numerous trendy boutiques, galleries, and restaurants.
OK. Now that you know where we are, let’s get this foodie tour started…
To be continued…
