Paris

Who knows what makes the "sacred city of seductive wonderments" constantly captivating? Is it the atmosphere, the lights, the corner bars or the motifs generating a sense of déjà vu from films and photographs? Right or left bank? The question is always raised while pondering which side of the Seine to aim for first. No doubt you pick the left bank, following in the steps of the greatest Hungarian poets, Attila József, Miklós Radnóti and Endre Ady. Going north from the fountain of Place Boul'Miche (Saint-Michel), which serves as a meeting point for the world's youth, an island of intricate small streets opens up. Here is a legendary artists' village where the spirit of existentialism, Boris Vian's trumpet or Juliette Gréco's songs from the coffee houses Flore and Les Deux Magots or on the stage of the former La Rose Rouge music hall accompany you. Here is Saint-Germain-des-Prés, made famous in thousands of songs, with its galleries, antique shops, book sellers and shopping arcades.

The centuries old cobble stones and trade signs of the Rue Saint André des Arts, Rue Dauphine and Rue Jacob recall a part of Paris of the 'well-informed'. The district was named in the 11th century after a former archbishop of Paris, Saint Germanus, who lived at the time of Merovingian kingdom. The abbot's palace, monastery chapel and many other sacred places maintain guard over the religious past of the district. The most popular sights include the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, restored from donations of Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, and the Saint-Sulpice church, which features in The Da Vinci Code.

Proceeding in the direction of the Seine along Rue Bonaparte intersecting boulevard Saint-Germain-des-Prés perhaps the smallest and most romantic square of Paris can be found - Place Fürstenberg with the former courtyard of the abbots' palace and the Delacroix Museum. Venturing in the other direction you come across one of the most beautiful examples of French garden design embedded in the Renaissance - the Luxembourg Gardens and Maria Medici's palace.

Leaving the park with its Florentine influences, it is worth continuing the walk by visiting the Panthéon and its environs. If setting off for a gastronomic tour it is best to wander around the street offering authentic French cuisine, Rue Moufftard, where it is a must to taste some steaming onion soup, Burgundy snails or a full-bodied Bordeaux of the vintage matching the beef casserole in red wine.

Strolling on the Île de la Cité it is rewarding to explore both the interior and the exterior of Notre Dame, as well as to admire the world famous rosettes and other stained glass windows in the Saint Chapelle. The construction of the intellectual and architectural centre of Paris, moreover of France, began on the initiative of Bishop Maurice de Sully in 1163. Notre Dame houses ecclesiastical treasures of two centuries. Four hundred steps lead up from the north tower to the lookout. The view offered rivals the one obtainable from the Old Lady, the Eiffel Tower, erected on the 100th anniversary of the French revolution for the 1889 World Exhibition. At Pont Neuf enticing sight seeing can begin on one of the Bateau Mouche pleasure boats. The narrow streets of Île-St-Louis offer an experience not to be missed - here the value of properties is sky high ... the lustre of the past two thousand years is priceless.

The hidden treasures of Paris with its attractive bustle of embankments and great boulevards can be found in the midst of picturesque districts such as Marais, most easily reached from the underground station Saint-Paul or the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall). History has marched by here from Charles the Great through Henry IV to the Sun King. This formerly marshy land covering 125 hectares boasts of nearly two hundred Category A listed buildings and more than five hundred others which are also protected. It saw its heyday in the 17th century. The elegant palaces with fountains and frequently with double courtyards, the churches and museums are fascinating. It is even difficult to list all who once lived here: from Marquess Sévigné to Napoleon I, from architect Francois Mansart to Beaumarchais, and from writer Alphonse Daudet to the prince of literature Victor Hugo. Passing through the 350 rooms of the Musée Carnavalet, the museum of the city's history, you experience the past of Paris come alive, such that later under the magnificent Renaissance arcades of the Place des Vosges you feel as if you were in the time of Henry IV.

Yet, the sight of homeless people stretched out in front of the art galleries throws you immediately back to the present. They are like models of their embankment fellow sufferers, the famous 'clochards'. Cats lying in the shop windows keep an eye on them. These 'sacred' animals of the French often have a lead. In the Montmartre neighbourhood the owners, with the appearance of a grande madame, sometimes 'walk' their cats balancing them on their shoulders.

If you are attracted to this provincial-like Paris, it is worthwhile ascending on foot to the Sacré Coeur, ambling by the shabby and seedy sex shops in Place Pigalle and Boulevard Clichy. Life is constant day and night on Place du Tertre, a square full of tables with checked tablecloths, kitsch painters on the look out for tourists and junk sellers. Aspiring Piafs hold out their hats, miming to the sound of a street organ, while accordion melodies waft from the panorama terraces overlooking the Parisian roofs.

Paris tuned to merry-making presents an especially magic spectacle at the start of summer, on the Day of Music (21 June) and the noted Quatorze Juillet. On 14 July, the anniversary of the French Revolution, a colourful military parade fills the Champs Elysées. In the evening the lights of the fireworks mingle with the lanterns of festive street balls.

Emerging from the underground at Défense the futuristic district of Manhattan on the Seine appears. This gigantic business quarter of the city of lights was shaped in the ambitious modernising fever of the Mitterrand era. The Neuilly and Bercy districts have also undergone changes of a similar scale.

The French capital, formed from the ensemble of a hundred villages in bygone days, attained the rank of the city of lights at the time of a certain Baron Georges Haussmann. The wide avenues and road network were shaped in the 1850s. The wealth of the belle époque radiates from the building of the Garnier Opera on Boulevard Haussmann, which is lined by large department stores (Lafayette, Printemps and Monoprix). Place Vendôme, majestic in its coldness with its famous column, the Hotel Ritz and the world's most expensive jewellers', is crossed by a regal thoroughfare, the Rue Royale. The gilded iron fence of the Tuileries Gardens can be seen from afar. At one end the historic heart of Paris is beating among the walls of the Louvre functioning as a museum since 1793. The Louvre, the city's largest ensemble of buildings has been a fortress, prison, royal palace, treasury, armoury and academy throughout the whirlpool of history. The much disputed glass Pyramid, where an escalator leads to arguably the world's oldest and richest museum, shines like a real jewel in the evening illumination.

Place des Invalides, included in the official sightseeing tours, is visited for Napoleon's tomb. Yet not far away by the bank of the Seine you can discover the unique impressionist collection of the Musée d'Orsay. In this former railway station huge, bright spaces serve as scenery for the world of Monet, Manet, Cézanne, Renoir and others. A few streets away you can experience a rare intellectual treat in the idyllic tranquility of the Rodin Museum. Seeing The Thinker and The Burghers of Calais standing in the garden you can muse over the sculptor genius of the 19th century. Inside the aristocratic mansion, which was also Rodin's residence, snow white marble miracles, including The Kiss, inseparably echo the city of love and artists.

Multifaceted Paris offers its charms like a rich and proud lover. It flirts and enchants. The breeze of liberty accompanies your steps, whether you are walking through its popular districts or its opulent citadels.

Rita Szentgyörgyi