Situated on Ile de la Cité, Notre Dame
Cathedral is surrounded by beautiful hotels, many of which charge some of
Paris’ highest rates. About one hundred metres away, Le Notre Dame Hotel is a
sumptuous hotel with individually decorated rooms, each with its own unique
style. Boasting a similar title, Hotel De Notre Dame has contemporary
accommodation with a slightly more minimalist style. If your budget is somewhat
more reserved than this, easytobook.com has a couple of good choices of cheaper
accommodation near Notre Dame Cathedral. Hotel Europe Saint Severin Notre Dame
is a three star hotel with lots of charm thanks to its rustic influence. Henri
IV Rive Gauche is more classical French and is located just on the other side
of Petit Pont.
Neighboured by some of the city’s most
exclusive hotels and restaurants, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris is perhaps one
of the most amazing structures that you can ever behold in Paris. Though this
structure isn’t the largest cathedral in the world, it is perhaps the most
famous. Notre Dame was one of the first Gothic cathedrals ever built, and
stands proudly on the Ile de la Cité, close to Sainte-Chapelle and Hôtel de
Ville. This is the site upon which the Romans built a temple dedicated to
Jupiter, and to which the Celts before them allocated sacred importance. The
construction of Notre Dame was begun in 1163 and was finally completed almost
two centuries later, in 1345.
Amongst its many attractive features,
Cathédral de Notre Dame is noted for its splendid views over Paris. Though not
a match for those enjoyed from the top of the Eiffel Tower, the views from
Notre Dame look over both Seine islands and reach beyond the nearby Louvre,
Hôtel de Ville and Palais de Justice, covering much of the city’s popular
areas. 387 steps lead up to the pinnacle of the cathedral; each tower is 69m
high and the spire reaches an even taller 90m. The decoration of the cathedral
suffered a lot of damage during the French revolution. Following the
publication of Victor Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris in 1831, which
features the infamous Hunchback of Notre Dame, Parisian attitude toward the
cathedral changed and large-scale restoration efforts began.