place de la Contrescarpe

Place de la Contrescarpe sits in the 5th arrondissement at the upper end of the Rue Mouffetard, in the heart of the Quartier Latin on the hill of Sainte-Genevieve. The small round square with its fountain and plane trees was created in 1852 as part of Haussmann's redevelopment, on the line of Philippe Auguste's medieval city wall. Ernest Hemingway lived just steps away at 74 Rue du Cardinal Lemoine in 1922-1923 and described the neighbourhood in A Moveable Feast as poor, dirty and full of life. Today cafes and bistros like Cafe Delmas line the square, and in the early evening students from the nearby Sorbonne fill the terraces. Walking down the market street of Rue Mouffetard from here captures the old Paris.