Latest news with #Montmartre
Associated Press
5 days ago
- Health
- Associated Press
Tour de France breaks with 50-year-old tradition and raises safety concerns
PARIS (AP) — Breaking with tradition at the Tour de France is stirring controversy. Since race organizers announced plans last week to climb the iconic Montmartre hill in Paris during the final stage in July, the cycling world has been abuzz. Could the climb actually decide the Tour winner? Or disrupt the final sprint by injecting tactical uncertainty into what is usually a celebratory day? Well, that remains to be seen. But one thing seems certain: The stage will be a spectacle. At last year's Olympics, massive crowds lined the streets of Montmartre — the area in the northern part of Paris that is popular among artists and offers grand vistas of the city — to cheer on riders. Inspired by the frenetic atmosphere and willing to build on the momentum, Tour organizers said this month that riders competing in cycling's biggest race this summer would climb the Montmartre hill and pass beneath the Sacré-Coeur basilica before 'battling it out on a stage that may break from the traditions established over the past 50 years in the heart of the capital.' Traditionally, the Tour final stage is largely processional until a sprint decides the day's winner on the Champs-Élysées. Last year's final stage was held outside Paris for the first time since 1905 because of a clash with the Olympics, moving instead to Nice. The world famous avenue is back on the program this year for the conclusion of the 3,320-kilometer (2,060-mile) race. The inclusion of the steep Montmartre climb could dramatically change the dynamics of the stage. If the hill features just a few kilometers from the finish line, or is climbed several times, pure sprinters will likely be dropped before they can compete for the stage win. And if the general classification remains tight ahead of the final stage, the yellow jersey itself could be decided in Paris. Riders not happy Full details of the route will be presented at a news conference on Wednesday. With a peloton roughly twice as big as it was at the Olympics, organizers are working with Paris authorities and the Prefecture of police to ensure the security of the race on the narrow and cobbled streets of the area. But some top riders have already expressed their lack of enthusiasm about the addition. 'Montmartre was nice to do in the Olympics, it seemed good, a lot of people, a really good atmosphere,' two-time Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard told reporters this week. 'But when they came to the Montmartre, there was only 15 riders left in the bunch. And when we do the Tour de France, there will be 150 guys fighting for positions on a very narrow climb. It could end up being more stress than they want to have.' Even Remco Evenepoel, who won the Olympic men's road race in Paris last year and the gold medal in the time trial, is also opposed to the idea. 'There will be enough battle for positioning in the first week of the Tour,' he told sports media Sporza. 'With Montmartre added, that would mean we have to do the same on the last day. We will be tired enough by then.' Evenepoel also lamented the fact that sprinters would be robbed of a rare chance to claim a prestigious win on the world famous avenue. 'They get a big chance every year to sprint for a stage win on the Champs-Elysées,' he said. 'That chance is then taken away from them. In my opinion, Montmartre is an unnecessary obstacle.' Marc Madiot, who manages the Groupama-FDJ team, said bad weather on the final day could make the stage more treacherous. 'Imagine a slight rain in Paris; it's not going to be easy for the riders,' he told RMC Radio. 'Do we want a show? Do we want to visit Paris? Do we want to commemorate the Olympics? If we expect a real race, we could be disappointed. And if we do get a real race, we put everything that has happened in the last three weeks in jeopardy.' The Tour starts from the northern city of Lille on July 5, and the women's race kicks off on July 26 from the Brittany town of Vannes.
Telegraph
27-05-2025
- Telegraph
Europe's tourist cons and how to avoid them
Last month, Paris cafes were caught cheating unsuspecting tourists out of good-quality wine. The scam is simple: bistro visitors order, say, a glass of Chablis, costing around €9 (£7.65). The wine arrives, and all seems well. But sommeliers working for Le Parisien, a French newspaper, discovered that the wine being served was actually the cheapest on the menu – a €5 (£4.25) sauvignon. It's an amusing undercover mission, but reveals how cunning rip-offs target tourists in Montmartre and beyond. It pays to have your wits about you – t hese are some of the worst tourist cons, scams and rip-offs in Europe (and how to avoid them). Ice cream in Rome Similar trickery occurs in Rome 's many, many ice cream shops. No one can blame the tired tourist for wanting a treat after wandering from the Pantheon to the Spanish Steps, or exploring the vast squares of the Vatican. Gelato-sellers know this, too. And, according to locals, those tempting tubs full of fluffed-up, mountainous swirls of ice cream are not the real deal. An authentic gelato should be dense and flat – it's made of churned milk, not cream, and should not be overly aerated. It also should not be brightly coloured – if the banana option is exceedingly yellow, or the mint positively luminous, it's likely that the vendor is using artificial colouring. If you're a purist about desserts, research the best places to eat before visiting to avoid being sold an inferior snack. Pedicabs in London Since the pandemic, a certain kind of transport has become prevalent in London. Blaring loud pop hits and fringed with pink fur, the pedicab – bicycle in the front, covered bench in the back – is now unavoidable. Riders congregate around busy Soho pavements, or try to lure passengers around Green Park. While the cynical Londoner is most likely to give them a wide berth, tourists, it seems, are getting hoodwinked. Perhaps it's understandable – their ridiculousness gives them a sense of novelty, and the city centre can be hard to navigate. Most, however, probably don't anticipate the price. This is something that one Belgian tourist found to her detriment. After riding in a pedicab for all of seven minutes, she was promptly charged £450 for the pleasure. It's as a result of these sorts of incidents that Transport for London has, finally, moved to regulate the group – requiring them to be licenced as taxis are. Whether the measures will stop tourists being ripped off in the meantime remains to be seen. Flamenco outside of Andalusia It's not a scam, exactly, but whether flamenco outside of Andalusia is 'authentic' has long been a bone of contention. The origins of the popular, much-marketed dance form are fraught: most are sure that it began in the south of the country and has, in the centuries since its inception, spread northwards. It's so vital to Spain 's identity that it has been listed as an example of 'intangible cultural heritage' by Unesco. For many years, however, it was seen as a 'vulgar' form of dance, practised by ostracised members of society and far too passionate for more conservative Spaniards. Conversely, many modern iterations – particularly those outside of flamenco's Andalusian strongholds – are decried as a sanitised, tourist-friendly version of something much more vibrant. The idea of a 'true' art form is a complicated one, but Seville and Granada are the places to head to if you want to discover a scene alive for its own sake, not just for tourists. Real fans should visit Seville during the Flamenco Biennial, when a series of performances, talks and courses take over the city. Bad buskers in Athens Athens 's 'bad buskers' are almost humorous (unless you're the one getting caught out by them). The would-be musicians place clear plastic cups, full of petty cash, far in front of them. They then begin to play their instruments – often badly, as the aim of their endeavour is not to secure a record deal. In fact, there's some speculation that the musicianship is poor on purpose, to lure unsuspecting tourists into looking at them. The point is, those not-in-the-know are distracted and knock into that tiny cup. Tourists bend down, attempt to steady the flow of coins, and are told the amount is much reduced by their actions – they must pay the busker more as a sort of compensation. To avoid it, make sure you keep your wits about you (and watch where you're walking). And if you do knock over the collection, don't feel compelled to give away any cash. Cup and ball games, across Europe As old as tourism itself, the cup and ball game – or versions thereof – is a classic trap. Again, the aim is distraction. On a side street, or in a main square, a table will be set up, and visitors will be beckoned over. The particulars of the game might vary, but usually the promise is that the tourist can win money if they correctly predict which cup the ball is under. There may, or may not, be a ball. It doesn't really matter. What does matter is that accomplices of the one playing the game are often planning to pickpocket the distracted tourists, taking phones, cash or other valuables without anyone noticing. It's found across the continent (and indeed the globe). The remedy? Don't get drawn in, no matter how good the odds seem – it's not really about the game at all.
The Guardian
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I smile every time': why Amélie is my feelgood movie
The hallway leading to my boyfriend's flat features a Japanese poster of the 2001 French romcom, Amélie. Why it's there is something of a mystery to us both; none of his neighbours have laid claim to it yet and, between the ground and second floors, it's the lone decoration among a sea of teal tiles. Yet there Amélie is, reading in bed beneath two portraits of a goose and a dog in Elizabethan collar. I smile every time I see the poster, reminded of the sometimes-silly, small pleasures that make life worth living. And better yet, our miraculous capacity for being good to one another. Although Amélie was one of the first 'adult' films I ever watched, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything very serious in it at all – except, perhaps, for the brief compilation of couples in orgasm. The titular Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) is a shy but mischievous waitress in Montmartre, Paris. As a young girl, her mother was killed by a suicidal Canadian tourist who jumped from the roof of Notre Dame. Amélie's father then becomes increasingly withdrawn and devotes himself to building a miniature shrine to house his late wife's ashes. It's a lonely childhood for Amélie, but the tragicomic here skews more comic. A suicidal fish briefly offers her some company, as does her overactive imagination. When Amélie becomes a young woman and the doe-eyed archetype of the early aughts Manic Pixie Dream Girls everywhere, she decides to bring happiness to all those she can. She returns a tin of childhood treasures to a lonely man and plays matchmaker between a waitress and a customer. While escorting a blind man to the Métro, she describes the world around them so that, if only for a moment, he can see it through her eyes. Amélie asks a flight attendant friend to send her father pictures of his garden gnome travelling the world and convinces him to do the same. Nothing, I think, could sum up the film's intent better than this quote from its narrator: 'Amélie has a strange feeling of absolute harmony. It's a perfect moment. A soft light, a scent in the air, the quiet murmur of the city. A surge of love, an urge to help mankind overcomes her.' I should, ethically, issue a disclaimer here. If director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's credentials as a French man might lead you to believe that his Paris is a truthful depiction of the place, then you might be mistaken. This Paris is less Godard than it is a Technicolor lovechild of the city we see in Emily in Paris and the one from Ratatouille (the runner-up for my feelgood film of choice). It is fun, fantastical, and simply does not exist. This certainly doesn't absolve Amélie of, as per one critic's suggestion, magicking away 'the inappropriate realities of poverty and racism'. But these issues are deserving of just a sidelong glance from a feelgood film and there is, I hope, some value in choosing to escape the real world every once in a while. After completing several good deeds, Amélie falls in love with the elusive Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz), a sex shop employee who likes to collect strangers' photobooth pictures. I like that this part reminds me how deeply we can care about people we don't yet know. Living in as many cities as I have, I am always touched by the kindness of strangers: volunteers at workers' and tenants' unions who give their time to help me; bystanders who, at their own risk, have protected me when I've been alone on nights out. Although Amélie's kindness might be the apotheosis of whimsy, it's radical in its own way – a quiet protest against the indifference and self-interest that seem to rule city life. We see, too, how Amélie delights in tiny joys like cracking creme brulee with a spoon and skimming stones on Canal Saint-Martin. At the risk of being twee, I have also cultivated my own taste for small pleasures over the years. Thumbing through old postcards in antique shops and the sound of woodpigeons in the morning make me very happy, and proudly so. My relationship spawned out of a long-distance friendship fuelled by lengthy exchanges about what we love and thought the other would, too; in Amélie and that fact alone, I feel flooded with the sense that these or things like these can make for a pretty wonderful life. Amélie is available to rent digitally in the US
Washington Post
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Tour de France final stage will include Montmartre climb, three times
PARIS — Tour de France riders will climb the Montmartre hill three times during this year's final stage — a significant break from tradition that will add a dose of suspense and requires heightened security measures. There was a village atmosphere when massive crowds lined the streets of Montmartre during last year's Olympics to cheer on riders who climbed narrow cobbled streets in the northern area of Paris.
The Independent
21-05-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Tour de France unveils dramatic change to final stage of 2025 route
The traditional processional final stage of the Tour de France will be considerably tougher this year, with the race organisers introducing three climbs of Montmartre - meaning the battle for the yellow jersey could yet be decided on the last day of the race. Typically stage 21 of the Tour is an affair for the sprinters, an unofficial sprinting world championships, with several passages of a finishing circuit in the centre of Paris and the finish line on the iconic Champs-Elysees. But inspired by the brilliant reception of the Olympic Games last summer, which saw thousands of spectators cramming onto the streets of Montmartre to cheer on the riders, race organisers ASO have opted to include a circuit of Montmartre itself in the route plan for this year's final stage. The full route was revealed on Wednesday. The 132.3km stage will begin in Mantes-la-Ville before heading to Paris, 51.7km into the race, with four passes of the classic Champs-Elysees circuit ahead of a new circuit including the Montmartre district. The riders will climb the category-four hill, the 1.1km Cote de la Butte Montmartre, which averages 5.9% in gradient, and pass the Sacré-Coeur basilica three times. They will head back to the Champs-Elysees in between each passage before returning to the traditional finishing straight for the final time. The final climb is just 6.1km from the finish and could seriously alter the complexion of the race. Last year's final stage took place outside Paris for the first time since 1905, instead moving to Nice for a time-trial, due to the French capital gearing up to host the Olympics. This year's innovation will divide opinion. The three late category-four climbs will present a logistical challenge, with a large peloton moving through very narrow streets and jostling for position ahead of each ascent to avoid losing time. Both the general classification and sprinters' teams will be fighting to be at the front of the bunch. As the speeds ramp up as the race gets closer to the finish line, what is always a nerve-wracking watch could be more stressful than usual - compounded by the riders' fatigue at the end of three long weeks of racing. The climbs and cobbled roads of Montmartre could see some sprinters distanced, while they could also provide GC riders a springboard for a late attack if the overall standings are not sewn up by them. A breakaway could theoretically launch on the final climb and stay clear of the peloton for the final 6km. Traditionally the yellow jersey's lead is not challenged on what is normally a processional stage, complete with champagne en route to Paris for the victorious team, but the top 10 could feasibly change shape with minor riders battling it out on the late climbs. The change to the route could also see more sprinters drop out than usual before the race even gets to Paris, rather than fighting to stay within the time cut in the Tour's mountainous final week.
