The Banks of the Seine

In 1991, Paris, Banks of the Seine was added to Unesco's World Heritage List, joining such famous sites as the Great Wall of China or the Taj Mahal in India. The area in Paris extends from Notre Dame in the east to the Eiffel Tower in the west. Along this longs route you can find many of the main treasures of the French capital. Notre Dame, the city's cathedral, is one of the oldest monuments and dates from the 12th century.
It is located on the Ile de la Cité, a little island on the Seine that is linked with the rest of the city via many bridges, of which the Pont Neuf is the most famous and oldest. In the middle of the route there are two major museums: the Louvre and the Gare d'Orsay, a former train station but now a museum of 19th and 20th century art.

The Louvre was originally built to defend the city from the Saxons in the 12th century and has even been a residence for the kings of France.

This is also the part of the route where Place de la Concorde is situated, with the Egyptian Obelisk in the centre. The square was originally designed in the 18th century and its centre held a guillotine during the French Revolution, responsible for the death of the king and queen, among others. The Egyptian Obelisk comes originally from the temple of Luxor and has hieroglyphics describing the achiviements of the Pharaoh Rameses II.

The end of the Banks of the Seine route is marked by the Eiffel Tower. Built in 1889 for the World Fair, it is still the number one symbol for Paris.