Notre Dame’s Legend

Posted on by

Every famous building has a story, a legend hidden deep within it, which intrigues people. In the case of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, it is the story of the hunchback who was the inspiration for the books, movies, and cartoons known as “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”.

The Cathedral itself is the most significant aspect of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” novel, acting as both the main setting and the focus of the story’s themes. My passion for reading and my love for the hunchback story, brought me to the Notre Dame Cathedral. I had visualized its beauty and imagined the sound of Quasimodo ringing its bells; actually walking inside was like walking through the pages of my mind. 

110 thoughts on “Notre Dame’s Legend”

      • For me, it’s the second time (but the first time maybe doesn’t count, I was three-ish). For CIA, it’s the third time, or so. But it’s our first time to travel there together.

        For that trip, it’s just a run into Paris on the Thalys (at the moment we are living in the Netherlands, so it’s only three hours away…).

        But travel is always exciting!

        Like

        Reply ↓

  4. I loved visiting this cathedral too Lesley and Paris in general is such a beautiful city. Thanks for your gorgeous pics and the whole post brought back such memories.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  8. What most people don’t know is that Notre Dame was built on the site of the first Christian temple in Paris. It’s built on the Ile de la Cite (Island of the City) that was once the entirety of Paris. That church was built upon the site of a temple to Jupiter. So, the site has had religious significance for more than 2000 years. Pretty interesting things in the opinion of Bliss Travels!

    Like

    Reply ↓

  11. I was there two days ago! A great way to visit Paris is taking a boat tour (even if it’s really turistic and French people try to avoid it!!), the view of Notre Dame from the Seine is really nice. A few streets away you can also find the oldest tree of Paris. I’ll share pictures in my blog in a few days 😉

    Like

    Reply ↓

  15. I love your photographs Leslie, especially that first shot looking up. This famous Cathedral would look good from any angle, I’m sure. Very creative takes from your perspectives. 🙂

    Like

    Reply ↓

  20. I’ve never really thought about visiting this cathedral someday or looking at pictures, but I just might do so in the future! I haven’t read the books yet, but I have seen the Disney movie and I loved it.. That should count for something with my knowledge of it, right? 😉

    Like

    Reply ↓

  21. Having just read the novel, and the comments, I found that Victor Hugo absolutely hated the title, “Hunchback of Notre Dame” in the translation into English. He had named it “Notre Dame de Paris”.
    Quasimodo – the hunchback – was only one of the principle characters. The title doesn’t even mention l’Esmeralda, Fra. Frollo, and the others. They all serve an equal part of the story.
    But the cathedral IS beautiful, and is the center “character” of the story!

    Like

    Reply ↓

  24. Psst! Typo in the title. Sorry, this is such a lovely post! I really need to get there. Saw Westminster Abbey not too long ago, the Frauenkirche Cathedral in Munich, and just about every cathedral on the Camino in Spain. But still, no Notre Dame! That seem right to you?

    Like

    Reply ↓

    • I have no idea what you’re talking about with the typo 😉 Thanks; careless mistake.

      I’m sure you’ll get to Notre Dame and you’ll have experience to appreciate it more 🙂

      Like

      Reply ↓

  28. Hey Leslie, thanks for liking my Bozcaada post. If I may, having lived in Paris, I would say that Notre Dame is one of the most overrated churches of the capital. There are many less obvious and more beautiful gems that you can find if you stroll around. Enjoy your time there.
    And don’t miss a meal at “Chez Gladyne” (quartier La Butte aux Cailles) or a beer at the newly established, cosy, cheap and hype bar “Les Trois Huits”- say you come from Seb in Istanbul! (quartier Ménilmontant)
    Ciao ciao.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  40. Ah, Leslie, looking at these photos has made me nostalgic. It has been too long since I saw the Notre Dame Cathedral. I’ve been begging the Significant Other to take me to Paris and so far, he’s saying it might be possible for us to go in September. I think the next time I go, I shall remember this post and think of Quasimodo! Love the captures! 🙂

    Like

    Reply ↓

  41. Ahh, Notre Dame!..The views from the top were worth the wait as well. I hope you got a chance to get up there and enter Quasimodo’s bell tower. 🙂

    Like

    Reply ↓

  42. Your photos bring back fond memories. in 1972 I was one of 4 naive hippie girls who visited Paris. We atyed at a $5 a night fleabag on the Left Bank, no, scratch that, roach-ridden, hotel . One night as all we could take and we found a really nice clean hotel run by a vietnamese family, within walking distance, for $20 a night. That was what we meant when we inquired about lodgings at the Tourist Board office that sent us to the first disaster – $5 each, but our French was very bad, as in none of us spoke a word.
    Anyway, my point is – the hotel we ended up in was right across the Seine from Notre Dame. We had a beautiful view of the cathedral from our window. At night it was breathtaking all lit up.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  43. What a wonderful concept–that even the least attractive amonst us can participate in the beauty of this magnificent cathedral. For me, this is the finest cathedral on the face of the earth. My son and daughter also were greatly inspired when they visited here at various times in their adult travels.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  44. Fabulous post. It truly is a magical place. If you are interested in driving more traffic to your blog check our site virurl.com. We incentivize users to share content just like yours on social media platforms like facebook, twitter, stumbleupon, and other blogs.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  46. Loved Notre Dame – can’t wait to bring my boys to Paris to see it, as well as all the other sites! I have to say – I actually went to Paris only because I was on a business trip in France. I never really thought I would enjoy my time in Paris as much as I did! Your pictures turned out way better than mine, too!

    Like

    Reply ↓

  48. We went to Paris on our honeymoon..spent a significant amount of one day in Paris just walking through the cathedral. Definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

    Like

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s