France Travel

    Did you know that con man Victor Lustig once “sold” the landmark to a scrap-metal dealer? Not once, but twice?

The City of Light is one of the planet’s most desired destinations. From its Haussmann-designed boulevards to the winding backstreets of the Marais and Montmartre, Paris’ history as a center of culture, ideas and arresting architecture remains undimmed.

coffee in Place des Voges; browse for books on the banks of the Seine at Shakespeare and Co.; eat classic French dishes in a bistro in St Germain; or spend an afternoon people watching in the Jardin du Luxembourg. Throw in sights from the Louvre to Notre Dame, Les Invalides to the Eiffel Tower, and you’re looking at the world’s most picture-perfect city.

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Eiffel Tower guide: What you need to know before you go

It was only supposed to be a temporary structure, but the wrought-iron icon has become as much part of the fabric as the River Seine.

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Designed as the red-painted centerpiece of the 1889 Exposition Universelle, celebrating the centennial of the French Revolution, the tower was meant to be dismantled after 20 years – much to the relief of Parisian artists and intellectuals who protested the “monstrous” blight on the elegant city skyline.

Today “La Dame de Fer” (the Iron Lady) looms large in imaginations across France and around the world.

Luckily for us, the edifice proved indispensable for scientific experiments (such as early radio transmissions) and the edifice – all 10,000 tons of it – has stood the test of time.

The structure celebrates its 130th anniversary in 2019 – the inauguration was on March 31, 1889, and it opened to the public on May 15 of the same year.

Let’s explore the lore surrounding it, which borders on travel mythology.