Follow their trail from Saint-Sulpice to the Pont des Arts, read the notes they left across the quarter, and put together the one letter he never dared to send.
Places you will visit
12
It will take you
84-114 mins
You will walk
3810 steps
Total distance
2.9 km
What you'll actually do
Download the Questo app and unlock the quest. Walk to Place Saint-Sulpice whenever you like · no guide, no group, no time slot.
Solve 12 puzzles hidden in the streets around you. Each one you crack unlocks the next location.
Finish at Pont des Arts and see where you land on the Paris leaderboard.
Highlights
Walk the most literary quarter in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, the Odéon, the old cafés of Saint-Germain and the booksellers by the Seine.
Read the hidden notes of two writers who loved for thirty years without saying it, collect a word at every stop, and finish over the river on the Pont des Arts.
Ratings and Reviews
1 ratings
Barbaloulou
Made by Michal Gondžár
Michal Gondžár created this quest · the route, the puzzles and the story are theirs.
Meet the makerThe mission: Your story in Paris
Paris, the 1950s. The novelist Hélène and the poet Julien often met in the cafés of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. They always brought the same book with them. In its margins, they wrote notes to each other in pencil. They slipped messages between the pages and tucked away letters they never found the courage to send. Over time, the book became a secret record of their relationship.
A lifetime later, it appears on a bookseller’s stall by the Seine. Their notes are still hidden inside. Each one leads to a place in Paris, and at every stop, a single word is waiting to be found.
Follow their trail, collect the words and piece together the letter Hélène and Julien never finished. Its final lines are now yours to write.
Beat the best: Top Paris explorers
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ABOUT THIS EXPERIENCE
What to expect from Letters from the Cafés
On a riverside stall you buy a worn 1953 book of poems. Tucked inside: café napkins, a dried violet flower, and notes in two different hands. They belonged to a novelist and a poet who spent thirty years in the cafés of Saint-Germain passing each other secret messages, and never once said the words out loud. Follow their trail from Saint-Sulpice to the Pont des Arts, read the notes they left across the quarter, and put together the one letter he never dared to send.
Walk the most literary quarter in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, the Odéon, the old cafés of Saint-Germain and the booksellers by the Seine. Read the hidden notes of two writers who loved for thirty years without saying it, collect a word at every stop, and finish over the river on the Pont des Arts.
Start: Place Saint-Sulpice. Finish: Pont des Arts. 12 challenges included.
