Le Sabot Rouge

Looking out from inside Le Sabot Rouge

La Place du Tertre is located at the top of the hill known as La Butte de Montmartre at whose very apex stands Sacre Coeur.  La Place du Tertre is unashamedly a tourist attraction now although in the past it was the place that many of the very famous painters lived and worked. Today it is a square surrounded by restaurants ranging from excellent to dubious while in the centre of the square, in a makeshift garden setting, the restaurants cater for their overflow amidst painters, silhouette cutters and caricaturists.

In the centre of the square

Having said that, it is worth noting that it is also a small community.  Many of those who work the square know one another and at least one of the cafes, Le Sabot Rouge, is "their" cafe.  Here one can always find the "artists" having a beer or a coffee and equally important, using the toilets.  Here, too, one finds the irrepressible Adele who seems to know every one of the regulars and serves customers in an impressive number of languages.

After going to a number of the restaurants for drinks or a meal over the years, we came upon Le Sabot Rouge.  It is unpretentious with some fairly amusing and totally politically incorrect murals and a warm and comfortable atmosphere.  Over the years we have become regulars there when we are in Paris and Adele always knows by the time of day we drop in what we want to drink, be it a Chardonnay, an espresso or even a cup of tea.

Those naughty murals

The food there is no better and certainly no worse than many of the much fancier places that one could go for a meal but it is the atmosphere which always keeps drawing us back.

Oh, just an aside, prices here in cafes,restaurants and bistros are just about double what one pays in Madrid.  Paris, despite the decline in value of the Euro, is not a cheap place for the drink out or the occasional Cafe Creme.  Oddly, it is still possible to have an excellent three course lunch for less than twenty dollars - but that is only for lunch.  Dinner is more expensive.

Security here is very noticeable.  When we rode to the top of the Butte in the funicular today there were ten very heavily armed soldiers.  And this is not the holstered pistol on the hip that one may associate with Australian and American policemen.  No these guys were all carrying assault rifles and looked quite competent to use them if necessary. When they moved to the head of the cue to board the funicular, nobody complained - odd that! It is not unusual to see equally heavily armed soldiers on the Metro as well.