Paris Belle Epoque Tour

During this unique tour, you will enjoy a trip back in time until the 19th century when libertinism was set in Paris. Capital of the love and vice, the city of Lights was back then a debauchery center populated with courtesans, dancers, prostitutes and many other women living of their charms. At that time, the most famous artists regularly met these women because they were the only agreeing to pose nude. During this walking tour led by a professional guide, you will discover who were these artists and where were the different places of pleasure between cafes, restaurants, dances, concerts, theaters and operas. Your day will start in the Orsay Museum where you will enjoy a skip-the-line access allowing you to discover a selection of the 19th century best artworks creating scandal: Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas and other French painters will reveal their secrets as well as courtesans they have immortalized. You will admire among others Manet's Olympia, the Origin of the World by Courbet, Dance at the Moulin de la Galette by Renoir, and Jane Avril by Toulouse-Lautrec... You will then head to the Montmartre neighborhood to discover the former Bohemian Paris, once nicknamed the New Athens because of its sumptuous hotels of neoclassical style. Following your guide in the side roads, you will dive into a decadent and romantic atmosphere where distraction and pleasure were the watchwords in cabarets, cafes and lounges. You will also learn the stories of artists and intellectuals giving appointment to the courtesans, and all the anecdotes related to prostitution at the time. Your afternoon will end in the Pigalle district where you will go to the absinthe bar Lulu White, a mythical place dating from the Belle Epoque. On site, you will enjoy an assortment of 3 different absinthes, leaving your guide telling you some historical anecdotes.