Evil Streets of the World

By Roadjunky, Posted May 30, 2007

Evil streets of the world paris

Something rotten on the Rue du Faubourg Montmartre - Paris ?

There are streets in the world’s cities that leave you with the impression that something more is hidden behind one of the doorways.

There are streets in the world’s cities that leave you with the impression that something more is hidden behind one of the doorways. Whether they be forgotten troves of shipping goods or swarthy men with jaded imaginations and unrighteous intentions, as you pass through for some unexplained reason you sense it and shudder. Yet you spend time there again and again, drawn to the cafes or bars, malingering despite your better judgment.

These evil boulevards are not necessarily dangerous or crime-plagued, the rot is not so easily cleared away by an extra police patrol or two. The malaise has sunk into the cracks, hovels and alleys and it broods there as the decades pass by. And it’s not that the residents of the city even avoid these places – but one of the telling indicators of one of these places will be that something will always feel off about the people you meet there.

These roads are places at which goodbyes are best said.

For Henry Miller it was the Rue du Faubourg Montmartre in Paris. For me it was the walk along La Calzada in Granada, Nicaragua in blearily sunny afternoons. Does this sound familiar to you? If so, we want to know where.


Want to meet other road junkies?
Come to the Road Junky Sahara Retreat Feb 6-11 2012 to hang out with 30 other travelers to meditate, make yoga, tell stories and dance under the full moon in the desert.

Follow Road Junky on Twitter for live updates @roadjunky

Read More

Spain Travel Hippie Village

I trekked up the stony path beside the tumbling river and the almond trees in flower accompanied me to either side. I reached the carpark where there were stationed trucks ...

Continue reading >>

Five Rules of Cuban Attraction

Eventually the restless Italian on the bus from Cienfuegos to Havana slumped into the seat across from mine. There he sprawled out and fell asleep, unaware that one pink testicle ...

Continue reading >>

Overland Through the Ex-Soviet Republics in an Old Army Truck?

Neither had we. Then we bumped into the guys at Soviet Truck and they got us thinking about this vast tract of land which for most travelers is an unknown ...

Continue reading >>