It’s not exactly Everest, but it is a hike from the bottom of Butte Montmartre to the top, where the Sacre-Coeur Basilica was built.

Most tourists, including this one, tend to believe Sacre-Coeur is old. Like Notre Dame. But it is not. Notre Dame was begun in 1163 and completed in 1345.

Sacre-Coeur was started in 1875 and finished in 1914.

Why, then, is Sacre-Couer so famous?

–It is a beautiful building. A special variety of marble was used to build it, and the Sacre-Coeur is a sort of blinding white forever, as calcite leeches out of the stone.

–It stands on the highest point (or the second-highest; some insist the Bellville neighborhood on Rue de Telegraphe is higher) inside the city limits of Paris, about 427 feet. At any rate, it offers marvelous views on the whole of the city.

–The marvelous views get even more marvelous if you pay the 6 euros to climb the 300 steps to the viewing area of the main dome. Not many pay the price; at 2 p.m. only about 10 of us were up there, in the wind, walking the circular path.

–Sacre-Couer remains of interest because of its political background. It was built on the site of artillery park of the revolutionaries during the Commune of 1870, while the French army was in the process of losing the Franco-Prussian War.  The church was built by private donations, mostly from supporters of the Catholic church and by right-wing elements of society who were horrified at the Commune. Thus, the church was meant to be a repudiation of the far left that controlled Paris for a few months in 1870.

–The area around Sacre-Coeur is touristy, but in a less tacky way. Tourists seem to get a bit more value for their money from the street artists and the crowded restaurants. Buskers are always working around the basilica, and it feels like a fete much of the time — especially when the sun is out.

The church is not particularly gloomy, as European churches go, presumably because it is a modern edifice.

What it really is about is getting a bird’s eye view of Paris, and a bit of exercise, too, if you are will to make climb the 300 steps to the top.

If you haven’t been, take the hike. If you haven’t been in, oh, 20 years or so … it is worth seeing again.