26 November 2014

Le Port de l'Arsenal

The next sight along my way from the Marais neighborhood, walking along the Right Bank toward the Pont d'Austerlitz and the train station, was what I would call a yacht basin. It's called Le Bassin and/or Le Port de l'Arsenal. Until recent times, it was the site of a commercial port facility serving the city of Paris.


In the 1980s, the Port de l'Arsenal was transformed into what is called a port de plaisance. Boats in this harbor have access to the Seine through a narrow channel and a lock — the water level in the basin is three meters (nearly 10 feet) higher than the level of the Seine.


To the north is the Bastille, with its tall green column, and the Canal Saint-Martin leading up to La Villette and the north suburbs of Paris.When the old Bastille château-fort still existed — it was knocked down during the French Revolution after serving for hundreds of years as a much-hated prison — the ditch that had fed water from the Seine into its moat was dug out to create today's Port and Bassin de l'Arsenal.


In the 19th and 20th centuries the new basin became an important commercial port and carried mostly péniches — barges.


There are berths for more than 175 boats in the Bassin de l'Arsenal. The péniches you see in the port are surely barges that have been converted into pleasure boats or even house boats. At least one of the two above was for sale when I was in Paris (four weeks ago today!).

5 comments:

  1. I'm certain that you are right about conversions of the barges...
    it is quite an industry "oop t'North" in the UK...
    there are even new hulls being made specifically for transformation...
    from "old barge" to houseboat.

    But my favourite craft in this marina is a 30s pleasure boat...
    the very dark boat... bottom right in the third picture... with the three white portholes.
    That would probably have cost more in its day than the more modern craft beside it...
    it looks to be a houseboat now... it has some screening planters either side of the all glass passenger room...
    but it most likely started its life as a river pleasure boat... and may well have been steam powered...
    the dark grey roof-light / hatch is in the perfect position for the funnel that still exists on a smaller, but very similar craft, on Lake Windemere...
    its shape is much more suited to a leisurely cruise with "crustless salmon sandwiches and a bottle of champers"...
    than the "go faster" lines of the more modern craft next door, "Le Merou"...
    which actually could do with a fresh coat of paint on its superstucture!!

    Judging by the number of bikes on smaller boats here, I suspect even the caravan size cruisers are houseboats...
    especially with what you wrote about apartment prices!!

    And what are the white tents above "Le Merou"....
    is it a Christmas Market of some sort?

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  2. I could see you and Walt living on a houseboat in Paris.

    I wonder if the cost varies according to where on the Seine you get to moor your houseboat. We used to see some very upmarket ones in a quiet shady neighborhood near the Bois de Boulogne and I thought, What a great place to live.

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  3. Is this the spot where they have 'Paris Plage' (not the one by the same name in Le Touquet :)) in summer? I know the concept was copied by Brussels, where in July and August tons and tons of sand and palm trees are put along the Brussels' canal, for people to enjoy the 'beach life' in the middle of the city. A very popular spot when we have a warm summer. Not in 2014 though :(.

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  4. I love seeing boats along the Seine and the same goes for boats in Beaufort, NC!

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