The Colours of Montreuil

Perhaps it was the warm sunny weather, or perhaps it was the contrast with ghost town that Paris had become in August, but on a recent walk around the suburb of Montreuil, it suddenly felt like the most colourful place in France. Impressions of this atypical town in photos and words.

Parc Jean Moulin les Guilands
In this urban wildnerness that dominates the east and south east of Paris, only one colour stands out; green. The grass was long and thick, the trees - before the attacks of autumn - heavy with foliage, and even the park pond was covered with an olive-tinged viscous algae. Just outside one of the entrances to the park though I was surprised to see that everything else was in similar tones too, from furniture to fences, weeds to graffiti. 

The Marché de la Croix de Chavaux

On the previous day I'd been in Boulogne to the west of Paris, a town that may as well have locked up its doors and pulled down the shutters for the summer. On a Sunday morning at the Marché de la Croix de Chavaux though, suddenly I found people, noise and odours...as well as plenty of colour! As it was the Eid festival at the end of ramadan, there was also an air of light-hearted festivity, with groups relaxing over coffee and sticky cakes, despite the swarms of wasps that these treats had attracted. With their brightly-coloured shutters, even the shops that were closed contributed to the party.

École Nationale de Musique et de Danse de Montreuil

The Croix de Chavaux shopping centre is a pretty standard 1960s concrete development, but at its heart stands the extraordinary École Nationale de Musique et de Danse de Montreuil. Looking at the vintage photos on this website, with its accompanying polychrome air vents and orange plastic benches it was clearly once an even more astonishing experience.

You can find unusual structures throughout Montreuil, a sign of the self-sufficiance and self-confidence of a place that often feels less like a suburban neighbour of a big city, and more like a provincial town.

The Terrain Habibou Sow
I was attracted here by the pitchside graffiti and murals, but also by its proximity to the centre of the town. In fact it's so close that a misplaced pass could easily send the ball through the window of the neighbouring Monoprix. This space used to be a pitch without an identity, but in 2011 it was given the name of a local man who had been murdered on a bus. A sign of the times perhaps that local heroes are the victims of territorial battles, but under the observation of surrounding blocks of flats, it at least gives kids a safe place to kick a ball. 

Rue du Capitaine Dreyfus

The Rue du Capitaine Dreyfus is a pedestrianised street that runs through the heart of Montreuil. Whereas such features have become standard and standardised in towns across the world, this street - taking its name typically for Montreuil from a hero of the French left - is somewhat eccentric and scruffy. There are few chainstores here, but rather tables spilling out of Chinese restaurants, or - as in the photo above - vestiges from another time. 

The Metro

The Metro was extended out to Montreuil in the mid 1930s, and the design and typography of this era can be clearly seen in the signage and furniture in the town such as here at the Marie de Montreuil terminus.

An Ice-Cream Van
Also next the town hall is another unusual sight - an ice-cream van. The lady selling the ice-creams was initially unsure about allowing me to take photos of the van until I explained that I'd never seen one in France before. Of course after taking the pictures I also had to sample the produce, and I'm happy to say that it was delicious - and cheap!

Having said that, I only tried one flavour (I could have had an ice-lolly made from peaches grown in the town), whereas the people in the photo had four scoops each. 'I've come all the way from the 19th arrondissement' said the lady in the wheelchair, 'so I'm going to make the trip worthwhile'.

The producer and ice-cream van operator is a Montreuil family called Martinez who have apparently been selling ice-creams in the town since 1935. Don't bother looking online for them though - if you want to find out more you'll have to head down to the Marie de Montreuil Metro stop.

The Wastelands

Like many other towns around Paris, the landscape still has the scars of a recent industrial past. This factory skeleton looks abandoned, but it is in fact currently home to a community of Roms, and a playground for their children. These people have once again been in the news and subject of debate in France this summer, but Montreuil has done more than most other communities to accommodate them. The families here can hope to find a more salubrious and safe environment soon, rather than being shifted on to another town.