It’s probably fair to say Paris 2024 was a bit of a triumph. After an iffy start — and a torrential downpour — that threatened to turn the Olympics opening ceremony into a damp squib, the city has mostly basked in the sunshine and a good deal of medal success over the past few months.
In some Parisians’ eyes, the closing ceremony of the Paralympics was (despite the rain) a fittingly uplifting end to the city’s great sporting summer.
For others, however, the dual games were the start of something, not just as an inspiration for potential stars of the future, but to give renewed impetus for the regeneration of Paris’ long-neglected suburbs. They include Saint-Denis, the former burial place of French kings and queens and home of the Stade de France, where the Olympic and Paralympic track and field events and closing ceremonies took place.
Unlike in certain countries where “suburb” has leafy and desirable stereotypes, in France “les banlieues” (“the suburbs”) have different connotations. There are tidy and affluent ones, for sure, but to many French living in urban areas, a banlieue is typically associated with crime, poverty, bleak housing and other socio-economic issues. They’re often post-industrial and have higher than average levels of immigration (and populations of second and third-generation immigrants).
On the northern periphery of Paris for so long, Saint-Denis was swallowed into the new Metropole du Grand Paris (or Greater Paris) in 2016, a metropolitan area of 814sqkm, comprising the 20 arrondissements of Paris and dozens of suburban communes.
Initially mooted by then president Nicolas Sarkozy a decade earlier, Grand Paris was seen by some commentators as mimicking Napoleon III, who, in 1860, had annexed villages like Montmartre and Belleville into Paris and tasked his prefect, Baron Haussmann, to expand and overhaul the cityscape with a spate of new buildings and boulevards. Grand Paris promises more joined-up governance, urban planning and transportation in a bid to reduce inequalities.
Bike paths are spiralling everywhere but the flagship project is the Grand Paris Express, an ambitious 200km transport scheme that’s adding four new rapid transit lines, extending existing ones and installing over 60 brand-new stations to the Paris Metro (a network that opened in the same year as the 1900 Paris Olympics).
Most lines will avoid the congested heart of Paris, instead providing better connectivity — and more economic opportunities — between the suburbs. For example, Line 15, a new orbital route around the capital, due for completion in 2030, will connect Saint-Denis and others with La Defense, France’s top financial district.
Another new line (17) will join Saint-Denis with Charles de Gaulle airport, while a recently completed extension of Line 14 now ventures through Paris to Orly airport in the southern suburbs. Serving these new lines is Saint-Denis-Pleyel, a vast new station designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.
Opened in June by President Macron, it was expected to receive over 40,000 passengers during peak periods of the Olympics and Paralympics, with the station south-west of the Stade de France and the Aquatics Centre (the only arena specially constructed for the 2024 Games).
To the north of these sporting venues is the historic and commercial core of Saint-Denis, which is already on Metro Line 13. Ascending the escalators at Basilique de Saint-Denis station, I’m thrust not into a holy building but a dowdy shopping mall that’s a far cry from the swish arcades of central Paris. More intriguing is the neighbouring market, open Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, in an elegant 19th-century metal building.
Numerous national flags hang above vendors selling fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, cheese and copious other produce, herbs and spices. Perhaps detecting I’m not a local, one cheerful vendor greets me with a smile and a “hello!” in English. I hear plenty of French amid the stew of languages, mostly from France’s former African and Asian colonies, both inside the market and outside where stalls are draped with rugs, bags and clothes.
It’s quieter away from the market. I stroll over to Place Victor Hugo, past the belle epoque-era town hall, towards the famous basilica. Dating from the 12th century, it grew around a royal abbey and the shrine of Saint-Denis, a bishop beheaded and martyred by the ancient Romans, later declared France’s patron saint. The basilica is free to enter. It’s a magnificent piece of early French gothic architecture, all soaring stone arches and glorious stained-glass windows. For an additional $18 you can see the royal necropolis in the crypt. For more than a millennium, French monarchs were buried here, including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. There are over 70 sculpted royal tombs and recumbents, many hewn with life-like death masks.
Outside the basilica, on the wonderfully named Rue de la Boulangerie, there are cafes with alluring terraces. On this fine sunny morning, people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s are reading newspapers, doing crosswords and nursing coffees. It’s very pleasant and relaxed.
Running south from here, and parallel to a pleasant park with lawns and play areas, Rue de la Legion d’Honneur reminds me of small-town France, lined with trees and picturesque low-rise houses. Part of the pavement has been made to look like a running track, a nod to this summer’s crowd-pulling events at the Stade de France, which was built for the 1998 soccer World Cup (a competition France won).
After a quiet 10-minute stroll, I face the stadium at a traffic intersection, where cars, buses and trams are filtering past. Close by, steps lead down to the Saint-Denis canal, once a vital artery for local industries and rejuvenated in recent years. Sightseeing boats now occasionally buzz along and eclectic artworks line the towpath all the way down to Parc de la Villette in Paris’ 19th arrondissement. Glad that I came to Saint-Denis — it’s a place of fascinating contrasts — I go for a wander by the canal and I’ll tell you about that little adventure another day.
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