Political Paris by e-bike: a thousand years of power along a single axis

From the Place de la Bastille to the esplanade of the Invalides, one east-west axis where every square has seen one regime born and another collapse. Two or three hours of guided riding in a small group with a guide, on Tern electric bikes, over almost entirely flat ground. We set off from the meeting point in the 7th arrondissement and come back to it, the axis being reached from there. The stories are told from the street, the quayside, the esplanade or the forecourt: no monument admission, no interior visit and no food or drink are included in the price.

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One single axis, east to west, with a thousand years of power stacked on top of it. Along this route a royal fortress becomes a state prison and then an empty square; a city hall burns with the civil registers of the whole city inside it; a pleasure palace leaves nothing but a garden. Nothing is erased here, everything is covered over. The tour peels the layers back square by square, following one thread: who governs here, in whose name, and how long it lasts.

The ride lasts about three hours and stops at the eight places listed below, including the Palais-Royal and gives each story more room. The full route comes close to eighteen kilometres, including the transfers to and from the meeting point in the 7th arrondissement; the exact distance is confirmed to you in writing. The list of stops may be adapted on the day according to roadworks, demonstrations, ceremonies or security measures, this axis being closed several times a year.

The commentary takes no side for any regime, any political family or any present-day quarrel: we tell you what happened on these paving stones, with the dates, the names and the numbers, and we say when a source is disputed. No prior knowledge of French history is needed. The tour suits history lovers, teachers, students, and Parisians who cross these squares every day without seeing them.

The indicative price is 75 euros per person, all taxes included, on a shared tour, and 95 euros per person, all taxes included, on a private one, electric bike and helmet included. Your enquiry is not a firm booking: we confirm the final price in writing before any payment, together with the date, the duration chosen and the meeting point. Five participants maximum per guide; beyond five participants we may be able to run a second group at the same time, subject to our availability, at the same price per person, and we confirm that to you in writing.

On this ride

Political Paris by e-bike: a thousand years of power along a single axis

Place de la Bastille

We start on a square whose main monument has vanished. On the very evening of 14 July 1789 the contractor Palloy set about the fortress, and won the demolition contract two days later; around a thousand workers took it apart over the following months, the dressed stone went into the Pont de la Concorde at the far end of this route, and out of the rest Palloy carved eighty-three scale models of the Bastille to send to the newly created départements. On the day it fell the prison held only seven inmates: four forgers, two men confined for mental illness and one nobleman locked up at his family's request. As for the bronze column that dominates the square, raised in 1840 and topped by a gilded globe and a gilded Genius of Liberty, it commemorates not 1789 but the Three Glorious Days of July 1830.

Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville

Paris has governed itself here for seven centuries, and the building you see is a reconstruction: the Communards set fire to it on 24 May 1871, taking with it the parish registers going back to the sixteenth century and every Paris civil register from before 1860, some eight million records. A reconstitution launched as early as 1872 from family papers, church registers and notarial deeds recovered about a third of them; genealogists still hit that wall. The name the square carried until 1803, Place de Grève, comes from the sandy, gravelly bank that sloped down here to the Seine; it was on that shore that workers without work waited to be hired, and that is where French got its word for a strike.

Quai de l'Horloge and near Notre-Dame

On the quayside, the clock ordered by Charles V and installed by Henri de Vic in 1371 is the first public clock in Paris: a way for the monarchy to take the measure of time back from the Church. Stopped and restored several times, most recently in 2011 and 2012, it is still running. Behind these walls Marie-Antoinette spent her last seventy-six days, from 2 August to 16 October 1793, in a cramped cell. Robespierre, his jaw shattered, was only brought here on the morning of 10 Thermidor, after a night in an antechamber of the government, and was executed a few hours later. The story is told from the quay, then near Notre-Dame, where Napoleon took the crown from the Pope's hands and placed it on his own head on 2 December 1804; as the forecourt and its surroundings are being redeveloped, where exactly we stop depends on the access open that day. Neither the Conciergerie nor its cell is visited during the tour, and no admission is included in the price.

Just outside the Cour Carrée of the Louvre

A fortress built by Philippe Auguste at the end of the twelfth century, a royal residence under Charles V, a Renaissance palace under François I: the Louvre is a sum of building sites, each half erasing the last. On 10 August 1793, the first anniversary of the fall of the monarchy, the Convention installed the Muséum central des arts de la République here, with regular opening to the public following on 18 November. And on 23 January 1984, the official presentation of Ieoh Ming Pei's project to the national monuments commission set off what the press would call the battle of the pyramid: the very next day a major evening paper led on the scandal. The pyramid was inaugurated on 4 March 1988 and the new hall opened to the public on 29 March 1989. We stop just outside the courtyard, on foot with the bikes where cycling is not allowed, and subject to the opening hours of the gates.

Palais-Royal, three-hour version only

Richelieu had this palace built for himself from 1633. From 1781 a short-of-cash duke of Orléans lined it with arcades of shops, cafés and gambling dens the royal police had no right to enter, having no jurisdiction over the property of a prince of the blood: in the middle of Paris, an enclave with neither censorship nor police. It was from there that Camille Desmoulins, standing on a table in the arcades on 12 July 1789, called the crowd to arms and tore a green leaf off a garden tree to make a cockade; the Bastille fell two days later. This stop is only part of the three-hour version.

Jardin des Tuileries and Place de la Concorde

Le Nôtre's garden was the forecourt of a palace that no longer exists: some two hundred and sixty metres of façade between the two wings of the Louvre, burnt on 23 May 1871. The Republic left the ruins standing for twelve years, voted the demolition in 1882, had it carried out between February and September 1883, and by 30 September nothing was left: erasing the palace was a political decision as much as a safety measure. At the end of the central walk, the square changed its name at least five times between 1792 and 1830, from Place Louis XV to Place de la Révolution on 11 August 1792, then Place de la Concorde on 25 October 1795, then Louis XV again, then Louis XVI, then Concorde for good in 1830. One thousand one hundred and nineteen people were guillotined there between 1793 and 1795, out of the two thousand four hundred and ninety-eight executions carried out in Paris during the Revolution. And the Luxor obelisk was raised there in October 1836 in front of a huge crowd, precisely because it recalled neither the monarchy nor the Revolution.

Champs-Élysées and near the Arc de Triomphe

We ride up the avenue to the arch, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 and inaugurated in July 1836, before Haussmann sent twelve avenues radiating out around it. Under the vault lies the Unknown Soldier, buried on 28 January 1921 in front of Joffre, Foch and Pétain, beneath a slab of Vire granite; the flame of remembrance was lit on 11 November 1923 and, on the proposal of two journalists, it has been rekindled every evening since. We stop away from the roundabout, on a side lane or a wide pavement: the central island can only be reached through the pedestrian underpass, which bikes may not use. The morning of 11 November and the whole of 14 July are taken up by the ceremonies and the parade.

Esplanade des Invalides

By royal ordinance of 24 May 1670, Louis XIV created the Hôtel royal des Invalides for soldiers maimed or worn out in service, who until then had lived by begging in the streets: a considerable act of welfare, and a political calculation at the same time, since it bound his army to him. Libéral Bruant drew the quadrangle and work began in 1671; Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Robert de Cotte completed the whole. Under the dome, whose 1989 regilding campaign took about twelve kilos of gold laid in more than five hundred thousand leaves, Napoleon has lain since 1861 inside six nested coffins, at the bottom of an open crypt. Admission to the dome is charged and run by the Musée de l'Armée: it is not included in the tour, the route passes in front of the building and the story is told from the esplanade, outside.

Practical details

Duration: About 3 h, stops and transfers included
Level: Physically easy, ground almost entirely flat. The full route comes close to eighteen kilometres, including the transfers to and from the meeting point in the 7th arrondissement, and the exact distance for the format chosen is confirmed to you in writing. You need to be able to ride a bike and to be comfortable in Paris traffic: the route uses streets, quaysides and squares open to traffic, including several large star-shaped junctions. Time to get the feel of the bike and a safety briefing before we set off.
Meeting point: Paris 7th arrondissement, 26 rue Bosquet; we set off from there and come back to the same point, the axis being reached from the 7th; exact meeting point confirmed in writing before any payment
Group: Up to 5 participants per guide; beyond five we may be able to run a second group at the same time, subject to our availability, at the same price per person, confirmed to you in writing
Languages: French or English, please tell us in your request

Booking is a request, not a firm reservation: we confirm feasibility, date, meeting point and the final price in writing before any payment. Prices are indicative, per person, all taxes included, and cover the use of a pedal-assist bike and a helmet. No entrance fees and no indoor visits are included: the stories are told from the street, the forecourt or the bridge.

Frequently asked questions about this ride

Do we go inside the monuments?

No. The route passes in front of the buildings and the stories are told from the street, the quaysides, the esplanade and the forecourts. No paid admission, no interior visit and no food or drink at a third party are included in the price: neither the Conciergerie and its cell, nor the dome of the Invalides where Napoleon lies, whose admission is run by the Musée de l'Armée. Your guide will tell you how to come back to them afterwards, in your own time and at your own expense.

How long does the ride last?

The ride follows the axis of power and stops at the eight places listed, leaving quiet moments in front of each monument. The three-hour version adds the Palais-Royal and gives each story more room. Tell us which you prefer in your request: we confirm the duration and the list of stops in writing before any payment, that list being open to adaptation on the day according to roadworks, demonstrations, ceremonies or security measures.

What level of cycling does it need, and can a teenager come?

You need to be able to ride a bike and to be comfortable in Paris traffic: the route uses streets, quaysides and squares open to traffic, including several large star-shaped junctions. The full route comes close to eighteen kilometres on flat ground, transfers included, and the electric assist absorbs the effort. A teenager may take part under the responsibility of an adult present on the tour, and provided they meet the minimum age and height needed to ride the bike, which we set out and confirm before any payment.

Are there dates to avoid?

Yes. On 14 July the parade closes the western part of the axis, and the morning of 11 November is taken up by the ceremony under the Arc de Triomphe. Other closures can happen at short notice, for a demonstration, a summit, a ceremony or a security measure. In that case we offer you an adapted route or a new date, under our terms of sale. The date chosen is confirmed to you in writing before any payment.

How much does it cost and how does booking work?

The indicative price is 75 euros per person, all taxes included, on a shared tour, and 95 euros per person, all taxes included, on a private one, electric bike and helmet included; no monument admission and no food or drink are included. You send us a request with a date, a format and a number of participants. That request is not a firm booking and nothing is due at that stage: we confirm the slot, the duration, the meeting point and the final price in writing, and that written confirmation comes before any payment. Our terms of sale, the cancellation conditions and the withdrawal-right exception under article L. 221-28, 12° of the French Consumer Code are available from the form.

Other rides

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