The sound of clinking wine glasses floated through the evening air recently as throngs of patrons sipped chilled rosé and nibbled on cheese plates in front of the cafes, restaurants and épiceries bordering Place d’Aligre in the Bastille district of Paris.
Waiters threaded through the crowd, their trays loaded with Aperol spritzes and oysters, as more people hurried in to meet friends.
Paris has long been renowned for its bustling cafe culture, with 13,000 open-air terraces occupying sidewalks and squares in the years before the pandemic.
But thousands of additional outdoor spaces bloomed under an emergency program set up to relieve businesses during Covid lockdowns.
They are now permanent, after a 2021 decree by Mayor Anne Hidalgo that allows them to return every year from April through November.
Persons:
lockdowns, Anne Hidalgo
Locations:
Bastille, Paris