Pere Lachaise

Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise

This is purported to be the most visited cemetery in the world where graves of famous people are visited in homage to them. When it was first opened in the early 1800s many Roman Catholic locals in Paris would not bury their dead there because it was too far out of Paris and not on consecrated ground. I've talked previously about what a problem all the bodies in Paris were. After a few years the authorities adopted an advertising campaign and buried some famous people there and the locals accepted it more. Now all 44 hectares are full with over 1 million graves and not counting those whose ashes are there. You can still be buried there but it's very expensive we're told.

It is set on a hill side and a labyrinth of corridors, steps and graves of every type imaginable. A hint is to take the metro or bus to the top entrance, as we did and then you can walk mostly downhill which is more pleasant.

             This is Jim Morrison's grave - the lead singer of The Doors rock group in the 60s. He gets lots of  visitors.

Then there's Oscar Wilde above and Edith Piaf - a famous French singer who died a pauper but is now much revered - below. 

There were more famous graves we could have visited but graves don't do a lot for us and a couple of hours was enough. We went for lunch to the very nice and trendy restaurant Mama Shelter nearby.