Is it strange, when visiting a vibrant city, to seek out the local dead? Why do cemeteries – full of old stones and ancient history - attract so many modern travelers? Momondo asked our city bloggers to unearth an explanation and give us the low-down on the neighborhood necropolis. You'll read about the best burials in Berlin, the most entertaining interments in Prague, the graves of American heroes in New York and a cemetery with a magnificant view of Istanbul plus tips on what JP Sartre likes on his Paris grave and about Soeren Kierkegaard's and Karl Marx's last resting places in Copenhagen and London. Are you ready to go beneath the surface?
Montparnasse Cemetery
Photo: localsurfer
The daddy of all Paris cemeteries is Père-Lachaise, a sprawling estate of more than 100 acres near the city’s eastern edge. A real tourist mecca, Père-Lachaise draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year...mostly to see Jim Morrison. By comparison, the Montparnasse cemetery feels like a quiet little backwater. And that’s exactly why I like it.
Photo: mufoo
I work a few blocks away from this, the city’s “second cemetery.” In the shadow of the modern (and rather ugly) Tour Montparnasse, this cemetery is the city's most literary. Home to hundreds of dead writers and publishers, it's also literary in a more personal sense - this is where I often go to read my book during breaks from the office. Over the years, the cemetery has served me well, providing a quiet place to read, a pretty walk after a big lunch, and a good reminder (after particularly stressful days) that life is short.
Photo: mufoo
I've probably walked through here fifty times, and I always start with a visit to Simone (de Beauvoir) and JP (Sartre).
Their grave is right off the main entrance and always decorated with
devotional objects. Flowers and Métro tickets (where did that come
from?) are consistently part of the mix, along with letters, notes and
postcards. Occasionally for JP, these letters are overwhelming left for
Simone by other women. I used to worry about the etiquette of
intercepting and reading these notes, but now I do so without shame. I
sometimes retrieve the wind-strewn missives from less popular
neighboring graves, and occasionally leave a word for JP when he’s not
getting any love.
Photo: dimworld
Another popular grave belongs to the singer Serge Gainsbourg. Serge receives quite a few letters, but here you'll find more references to "awesomeness" and sex than on the grave of JP Sartre. Again... poor Sartre. Serge also receives quite a few drawings - sometimes of him, sometimes of things (women) that the artist thinks he might appreciate.
These three are the main attractions, but there are of course many other writers (Charles Baudelaire, Samuel Beckett, Susan Sontag), artists (Man Ray), intellecutals (Jean Baudrillard, Emile Durkheim) and other luminaries buried at Montparnasse. A good list can be found here.
Photo: mufoo
If contemplations of mortality make you hungry, there are two excellent options nearby. The first is Josselin, which makes (I am laying down the gauntlet) the best crêpe in Paris. A menu including the complète (a buckwheat crêpe filled with melted gruyere, ham, and egg), a drink, and a dessert crêpe is 10€. It's consistently great, owing in no small part to the copious Breton butter that slickens their griddle.
A more elaborate feast can be had at La Cerisaie, a pocket-sized bistrot just a few blocks west. The menu features hearty dishes from the southwestern region of France, and lots of wild game during the season. There's hardly any decoration and it's not exactly cheap - count on €30 per person without wine. Nonetheless, it's hugely popular among the gastronomic set. You'll need to book in advance to snag one of the few tables, even at lunch.
