Seine river cruise. Dinner cruise in Paris

Seine River cruise and bridges

One of the top attraction of a Seine River cruise are the thirty seven bridges across the river, most of them beautiful, some very old and spectacular. As most rivers in Europe, it took time to build bridges acrosse the river. At the time of Gauls and Romans, and until the ninth century, there were only two, which linked Ile de la Cité to the two banks of the River. They occupied the site of Petit Pont on the left bank and Pont Notre-Dame on the right bank. In the ninth century, another bridge was built going from Ile de la Cité to the right bank and defended at its end by the fortress of Châtelet; Pont au Change was rebuilt in the place it occupied. In 1378, what is now Pont Saint-Michel was thrown over the small arm of the Seine River, between the Palace of Justice and Place Saint-Michel. It has been rebuilt several times. The four bridges of Ile de la Cité were sufficient for Paris until the sixteenth century; it was only under Henry III that Pont Neuf rose, which brought the two banks into direct contact. The bridges of Paris from east to west, visible on a cruise:

Most cruises go as far as Ile Saint-Louis to the east. Ile Saint-Louis divides the Seine River into two arms. Pont Sully links the left bank to Bastille on the right bank. On the right arm are Pont Marie, built in 1635, and Pont Louis-Philippe, built in 1834. The left arm is crossed by Pont de la Tournelle, whose masonry dates from the seventeenth century. 1970 pedestrian Pont Saint-Louis brings together Ile Saint-Louis and Ile de la Cité. The Seine is again divided into two arms by Ile de la Cité. Over the right arm pass Pont d'Arcole, completed in 1866, Pont Notre-Dame, Pont au Change, built under Charles-le-Chauve, rebuilt several times since. This bridge takes its name from the merchants, money changers and goldsmiths who settled there in the middle ages.

On the left bank are Pont de l'Archevêché, built in 1836, whose name recalls the old Archbishopric, destroyed in the riot of 1831, Pont au Double, le Petit Pont, the smallest in the city rebuilt many times since the Gauls, last in 1853, Pont Saint-Michel, which already existed in 1380 and was rebuilt several times. Pont-Neuf, was built in 1607. During the last two centuries of the old regime, the Pont-Neuf was, so to speak, the center of Paris: it was there that riots started and the crowd was harangued; there were always a lot of charlatans and fairground merchants who attracted a large audience and clever thieves to profit from it.

Then come the pedestrian Pont des Arts, which connects the Louvre to the left bank, dating back from 1801, Pont du Carrousel, built in 1832, Pont Royal, dating from 1685, the 1999 pedestrian Passerelle Léopold Senghor, connecting the Tuileries Gardens with Musée d'Orsay, Pont de la Concorde, started in 1786 and completed four years later with materials from the demolition of the Bastille Prison, Pont Alexandre III, inaugurated in 1900, Pont des Invalides, built in 1855, Pont de l'Alma, built in 1856, which bears the name of a Crimean War battle (September 14, 1854), pedestrian Passerelle Debilly, built in 1900, Pont d'Iéna, completed in 1813, connecting the Eiffel Tower to Palais de Chaillot, whose name recalls a victory of the first Empire. That is where most cruises stop to the west.