In the lattice of streets east of place Blanche and the church of Ste-Trinité lies the once-bohemian quartier of Nouvelles-Athènes. Delacroix and Dumas lived here, as did Chopin and George Sand. They were among the frequent visitors at painter Ary Scheffer’s house on rue Chaptal. Now the Musée de la Vie Romantique, it’s a gem of a museum, with period rooms and a pleasant courtyard which doubles up as a salon-de-thé.

Nearby, on rue de Rochefoucauld, the Musée Gustave Moreau conjures up the artist’s cluttered working environment. A strange and intimate museum, it’s decked from floor to ceiling with Moreau’s symbolist visions.