Latin Quarter, Paris - General Information

The Latin Quarter is the medieval University area of Paris, where until 1790 Latin was the official language, spoken by scholars in the medieval colleges that huddle of the slopes of the Montaigne-Ste-Geneviève. For many years it was known as the city’s most bohemian area, where writers and painters (attracted by low rents) created a ferment of intellectual debate and dissidence. Today its denizens are more likely to be politicians and journalists ensconced in luxury flats, but something of the old anti-Establishment outlook does persist.

The Latin Quarter is defined, loosely, as being the area along the Left Bank, east of the Boulevard St-Michel. The boulevard itself stretches from the Place St-Michel into the heart of the student area. The shops that run along it used to be quirky and unique, but now the retail space has been colonised by the type of run-of-the-mill brand names that you can see anywhere else in Paris. None the less, the traffic-free Place de la Sorbonne is still a welcome place to stop and watch the world go by, with its lime trees, fountains and cafés, all infested by improbably groomed looking students most of the year.

Intimately connected to its academic and intellectual legacy are the area’s numerous second hand bookshops, many of the specialising in titles in English. Pre-eminent among them is the endearing, ramshackle “Shakespeare & Company.” Part shop, part library, it’s as far from the modern, corporate book selling ethos of Borders or Barnes & Noble as it’s possible to imagine and was once frequented by James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Today the sympathetic attitude to struggling young writers adopted by its original owner, Sylvia Beach, is still in evidence: the staff are often budding authors who sleep above the shop and work in it in lieu of paying rent.

Academic and literary associations aside, the other great attraction of the Latin Quarter is the opportunity it offers – in a city as exorbitantly expensive as Paris can be – for cheap yet tasty eating. Particularly good value are the Greek and Lebanese establishments, where you can snack on Souvlaki and salad or on Humous and Tabbouleh for a fraction of what you would pay on the other side of the Seine. These and many other ethnic eateries can be found in the crowded, aromatic lanes just off the place St-Michel.