Living in Little Africa

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Whenever we visit Paris, we tend to stay in the Butte Montmartre area, but this time we've borrowed an apartment in Rue des Poissonnieres, which, even though we're still in the 18. arrondissement, could better be placed somewhere in the sub-Saharan Africa.

The surrounding  area, Goutte d'Or, is a multitude of exotic grocery shops, beauty stores, fabric stalls and hallal butchers and the streets are filled with stout, black men and women dressed in colorful kaftans and flat kufi hats.

We've now lived in the area for several weeks and we enjoy it a lot




At the small  market in Rue Dejean you find fishmongers selling capitaines and other exotic ciclids from Senegal - and at the green groceries you find an abundance of plantains and sweet potatoes

Some Parisians think of 'Petit Afrique' as a dangerous no-go zone, but besides meeting an occasional, heavily armed police patrol, we've in the last few weeks only encountered joy and kindness when walking the streets - and in the evening we've had some truly nice, spicy meals in small, crowded, local eateries.




If you want a Parisian experience unlike any other, we can only recommend a visit to this area - deep inside Africa and only a fifteen minute walk from Place du Tertre!





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