Like Cité Durmar or Villa Santos-Dumont, rue des Thermopyles is one of those little-known corners of Paris that you could travel miles to discover. Quiet, unspoilt and colorful, this bucolic cobbled alley nestles in the Plaisance district and bears witness to its past as a village bordering the big city. Follow us as we discover this hidden treasure of the 14th arrondissement.
A haven of peace in the 14th arrondissement
Along its 280-meter length, you’ll be able to take in the lush greenery. On the walls, along the sidewalks and at the window sills, vegetation is everywhere. Between the climbing ivy, the invasive wisteria and the many plants carefully placed in the window boxes, it’s a veritable urban jungle that we’re gradually entering. Between rue Raymond-Losserand and rue Didot, the alleyway enchants strollers and offers photographers a truly sumptuous subject.
As with many picturesque country lanes, rue des Thermopyles still shows traces of its working-class, modest past. Here, the typical houses of the old village of Plaisance are still standing, and the ambient charm of the place is still intact.
Small cottages, old workshops and mini-gardens form an eclectic and aesthetically pleasing ensemble. But what really makes us fall in love with this unusual passageway are the details and the colors. A completely turquoise facade, a tiny yellow door, a delightfully retro sign or a work of street art: there are many curiosities hidden along the cobblestones of rue des Thermopyles.
And who can fail to appreciate the Olympian calm that reigns in this little open-air paradise? Olympian, like the heroism of Leonidas and his 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae against the invading Persians in 480 BC. This courage inspired Alexandre Chauvelot, the developer who opened the passageway in 1859, and named it after himself.
Rue des Thermopyles – 75014