What do you know about the catacombs of Paris? You surely have heard about the bones that are neatly stacked in the underground museum, where you pay to enter and exit through the gift shop.
But what about the other 300 kilometres of tunnels, deep below the streets of Paris? The parts where only the experts – the cataphiles – know how to get in, and know how to get out.
The tunnels that are home to wild parties, the bones of millions of Parisians, and prowling cataflics (catacops)…
Well, this week I tagged along for a five-and-a-half hour descent into these illegal catacombs, with two guides, two headlamps (luckily!), thigh-high boots, and my microphone.
Below is the audio story of our journey. I was quite surprised by the deep water, the lack of claustrophobia I felt, and the cunning of my two guides.
Have a listen, follow The Earful Tower podcast, and share it around if you enjoy it.
If you’re not a podcast person, become one – give it a go. These “on the go” episodes are really fun. Otherwise, wait for my next book to come out, because I will definitely be getting a little deeper into this experience.
Also, I took a LOT of footage down there, which I turned into a YouTube video. Subscribe to The Earful Tower on YouTube for more like this.
And lastly, here are some photos from my trip!
Here’s the audio one last time, enjoy the ride 🙂
Lastly, to find the audio tours of Paris by Comte de Saint-Germain, click here.
And for the in-person tours by Codex, click here.
And if you want to go deeper into the world of The Earful Tower, become a Patreon member here.
Great episode!
There is a wonderful article entitled “Under Paris” in the February, 2011, issue of National Geographic magazine.
We also enjoyed yesterday’s walk show.
Truly amazing experience, thank you for sharing it! I LOVE seeing all the street art down there, very curious about how/when some of those pieces went up on the wall. The tiny town on the wall is SO cool.