The canal Saint-Martin is not too well-known to tourists, but extremely picturesque waterway of Paris. Its distinguishing characteristic is that by going on a boat trip from the North-East of Paris, the boat with travelers magically emerges in the heart of the city on the Seine, half a kilometer from the island of Saint-Louis.

The channel is part of the water system, the construction of which began Napoleon. The fact is that in the early nineteenth century Paris was experiencing a terrible shortage of water. In the hot summer Hay sometimes dry up, and then the townspeople had tight. Bonaparte decided to implement the idea even Leonardo da Vinci on the construction of the channel connecting the inflow of affluent of the Marne, the river Ourcq, with Cena.

Project and supervision of works were entrusted to the engineer Pierre Simon Girard, who accompanied the Emperor in the Egyptian campaign. The end had already at the time of the Emperor Charles X, to Finance the construction had to be introduced in Paris special liquor tax. As a result, the zucchini Montmartre and Montparnasse, which was then located outside the city, has gained a competitive advantage due to the rapid development of these areas.

The channel not only supplied water to the capital, but also became a new shipping route. Saint-Martin is finishing four and a half miles of canal de l'ourcq, stretching nearly a hundred kilometers. However, it is in line with the short Saint-Martin, between the Seine and the place de La Bastille, is the port of the Arsenal, which can accommodate vessels up to 180.

When already in the XX century, Saint-Martin has lost its economic importance, it would generally fill up and hold speed line, but the public was outraged, the channel survived.

Today in Saint-Martin walk only pleasure craft. The journey from the outskirts to the centre starts from the square in Stalingrad, from the rotunda de La Villette, where was the gate at the entrance to Paris. The banks quickly converge to almost the width of the boat. Over the water hanging humped pedestrian bridges. The neighborhood is not a tourist, almost rustic atmosphere around: small bars, grassy slopes, embankments, softly and sleepily.

The waterway nine times interrupted the old gateways. The Boulevard Jules ferry channel dive into the tunnel. Two kilometers along the echoing trumpet – and the boats-emerges into the sunlight at the place de La Bastille. And here comes Cena!