Enter Street Art London, a small operation run by some incredibly passionate guides who seem to know all there is to know about the city’s best street art. Tours are currently running on Saturdays and Sundays and cost £15.

Street Art London

I decided to give it a go and went along to one of the Saturday tours which start at Old Street station in East London at 11 a.m. I was surprised to find another 25 people shivering away and waiting for the tour to start, a testament to the fact that London’s street art really is worth seeing.

James Cochrane paints those he’s met along the way.

The tour changes, of course, depending on whether new pieces of art have gone up, if works have been buffed over by the council or even painted over by other artists.

A sticky start

I must admit, our tour didn’t start as I’d imagined. Our guides herded us across the road and we huddled around to squint at a new piece by Ben Wilson, a street artist who solely focuses on painting miniature artworks on chewing gum stuck to the pavement. Even if you needed a magnifying glass to see the minute detail, it was pretty incredible.

The tour wound its way around Hoxton and into Brick Lane, stopping at pieces by some of the UK’s biggest street artists like Stik, who’s simple yet strangely emotive “stik” people hover in doorways and high up on billboards all over the city. We even caught a glimpse of a few perspex-covered artworks by Banksy.

Roa’s monochromatic animals lord over abandoned buildings.

We were left open-mouthed as our guides explained that while the legendary Banksy has the support of the council, he has ruffled a few feathers with other graffiti artists who set out to deface his work as soon as a new piece goes up. It was these stories that really added color – finding out where an artist is from, what their background is and what their work stands for really brought it to life.

Bastardilla’s lively pieces really stood out, but more so when our guides explained they were a commentary on the diamond trade in her native Colombia. Australian-born James Cochrane’s multi-layered portraits of locals and people he has met on his travels perfectly illustrated the high quality of the art you can find on the street.

We were also treated to numerous pieces of awe-inspiring artwork by Belgian artist, Roa. Roa’s somewhat fantastical and larger-than-life monochrome animals grace the sides of derelict buildings and peer out of forgotten corners of the city, as though London’s underworld was being run by oversized storks and snoozing warthogs.

It’s easy to pass Pablo Delgado’s tiny works without noticing.

Making the streets fun (and fun of the streets)

Beyond these big statement pieces, the tour also opened my eyes to previously unnoticed humorous ideas that make walking the streets of London a lot more fun. Pablo Delgado’s miniature characters that reside on the very bottom of walls, Christiaan Negal’s mushrooms that sit on top of buildings, and the mysterious ceramic pigs that have started to appear in the city… They all seem to be smirking at the busy pedestrians, who mostly pass by without noticing. They brighten up the streets and, if you spot one, will make you smile.

In the end the tour lasted five hours instead of four, giving us our money’s worth. This was largely because the guides kept thinking of more things to show us. (It might be worth taking a snack with you as there is no break for lunch.)

Most importantly, the tour lets you in on a secret. It opens your eyes to what’s right before you in the streets of London.

For more information visit Street Art London.

Also in our guide: If you’re wandering the streets of London looking for a great affordable place to sleep, check out our London guide. All of our recommended hotels have been visited, inspected and reviewed by our editors.

The post London: A street art walking tour, from Banksy to Bastardilla appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

History first

Belleville was actually a wine-growing town outside of the Paris city limits. Incorporated into the city during a geographic growth spurt in 1860, its working class population rebelled actively against the government, especially during the Paris Commune of 1871.

View from the Parc de Belleville

The generally liberal neighborhood welcomed a slew of immigrants during the last century, notably Armenians, German Jews, Algerians, and Tunisian Jews. A heavy concentration of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants gives the entire area a “Chinatown” vibe, although the multicultural influences remain present in stores, religious establishments, and restaurants.

A cheap place to live for many students and immigrants, Belleville also offers the budget-conscious traveler plenty of ways to enjoy an afternoon in Paris. Head up rue de Belleville from the Belleville metro station, serviced by lines 2 and 11, and let the exploration begin!

Cheap eats

Local eateries in Belleville reflect the various ethnicities of its inhabitants, but the Asian cuisine is one of the biggest draws. Just below the metro station Belleville, on rue Louis Bonnet, several Vietnamese/Chinese restaurants (because one ethnicity is just too limited) offer classic dishes like pho and bo bun for well under €10. Tin Tin (17 Louis Bonnet, 75011) is a personal favorite.

Heading up the rue de Belleville, there are countless Asian places to choose from:

Restaurant Gui Xing (47 rue de Belleville, 75019) offers homemade dumplings, called raviolis. A filling plate of 15 pieces costs just €6 and you can watch them be made by the grandmother in the kitchen.

Chez Yu (40 rue de Belleville, 75020) offers €3 sandwiches packed with meat and vegetables if you want to eat on the go.

Rouleau de Printemps (42 rue de Tourtille, 75020) serves up filling dishes for around €5-7 off the main drag.

The Little Sparrow

One of the most iconic cafés in the neighborhood, Café aux Folies (8 rue de Belleville, 75020), is a happening place on weekends, especially in warmer months when the terrace fills up. France’s most famous singer, Edith Piaf, known as the “Little Sparrow,” once performed here early in her career.

A local celebrity in Belleville, Piaf was allegedly born under a lamppost at 72 rue de Belleville in 1915. Her legend lives on through her music (and in Marion Cotillard’s 2007 Oscar-winning performance in La Vie en Rose) but, sadly, the lamppost is gone.

A Bit of Culture

Soak up a little culture by exploring the bohemian vibe of Belleville. The rue Dénoyez is a legalized haven for graffiti artists with ever-changing murals and installations. The small street is home to several galleries and tucked away cafés as well.

Just up the street is the Cabaret Populaire (103 rue Julien Lacroix, 75020, Web site), a creperie, bar and slam-poetry venue. English speakers are welcome to perform or just kick back and listen with relatively cheap drinks in a friendly environment. Performances range from dance and poetry to acoustic blues and stand-up.

Shopping and Markets

Every Tuesday and Friday the boulevard de Belleville, starting at the Belleville Metro station, becomes a huge outdoor market. Influenced heavily by its Asian and North African residents, the market offers an enormous selection of food from all over the world, but the prices are what attract most market-goers. Incredibly inexpensive fresh produce and fish packs in the crowds, but the pushing and shoving doesn’t seem to bother the locals very much.

Heading up rue de Belleville, the street is lined with stores and bazaars selling everything from cookware and Asian decorations to art supplies and American-style Halloween costumes. If you need something, you’ll probably be able to get it at one of these stores for the best price in town.

At the end of the adventures, if you aren’t too tired from walking up and down the steep rue de Belleville, head to the Parc de Belleville, a tiny patch of green. Take a seat and soak up the city’s rooftop views. It’s a great way to round off the afternoon.

Looking for more neighborhoods? Read our post on best neighborhoods by activity.

The post Paris: The shops, sights and cheap eats of Belleville appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

It is therefore unsurprising that the city’s art landscape includes a number of galleries exclusively showing street art. Overkill Shop, Circle Culture, and Intoxicated Demons are a few choice examples of galleries specializing in bringing street art inside. And recent super-successful shows by celebrated local street artists such as EVOL and Jaybo Aka Monk demonstrate the commercial viability of street art for international collectors.

A graffiti guide

But for everyone interested in just appreciating the work in its natural habitat, there is a new book by graphic designer Benjamin Wolbergs, “Urban Illustration Berlin: Street Art Cityguide.” The book makes the perfect guide for a walking tour through Berlin’s outdoor street art scene.

Written in both German and English, the book offers exclusive interviews with seventeen of the elusive artists. Wolbergs does not limit his focus to spray paint. Instead, he gives attention to the rich range of stencils, cutouts, markers and wheatpaste works across the city.

Wolbergs’ stunning street photography in “Urban Illustration Berlin: Street Art Cityguide,” along with the interviews’ insight into the artists’ working techniques, motives, and philosophies on street art, make the book a valuable purchase, regardless of whether one is planning a visit to Berlin.

A self-guided graffiti walking tour

However, the book’s real treasure is a tear-out city map detailing the locations of 500 iconic and admired instances of Berlin’s street art featured in the book. Tear it out and take yourself on a walking tour.

Street art is fragile. And a few of the works Wolbergs spotlighted no longer exist. But the neighborhoods remain active areas for street artists and well worth visiting for anyone interested in the origins of Berlin’s vibrant international art scene.

The post Berlin Graffiti: Street art guide, with walking tour appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.