This is parc des Marquesats which is about 5 minutes skate from the bottom of Rue Carnot and is situated here. It's a multi level skatepark with a transition area, street section and a big bowl. This bowl is actually pretty famous and has hosted many tours competitions over the years like this vans concrete weekend.
The first thing I thought when I saw the park for the first time was how tight it was, there is not much open space, every little ledge had coping on it, every side has a bank/ledge or both, which is good and bad. On one hand it makes it really fun because there are so many variations and lines that you can do but on the other hand when it gets busy (which is often due to it's popularity) is turns it in to hell, so many people to crash in to, so little chances of getting a trick.
Back to the park! So it comes in three levels that are linked together and I'll go ahead and talk a bit about each one.
The bowl
This bowl has also got three sections, a shallow end, a deeper end and the deep end itself. The shallow section can be used as a nice little half pipe and the corners are really fun for getting high up on especially in the raised banked corner (Fun fact the bowl was built soley at first and then they decided to build the rest around it).
In the video it looks like they painted most of the ramped sections blue to spice it up for the media but this has now been either chipped been suffering from the frost and the surface quality is awful now.
I know I don't skate bowls much but it's impossible to keep the speed up and most of the people skating it were acid dropping (carrying speed into the bowl not starting from stopped position) in.
I know I don't skate bowls much but it's impossible to keep the speed up and most of the people skating it were acid dropping (carrying speed into the bowl not starting from stopped position) in.
There is also 2 small metal capped legdes beside the bowl.
The coping is also getting quite old and has become really bumpy which feels really sketchy. All in all though the bowl links up really well I just wish they could improve the surface.
Transition area
Next up we have the transition area which is at the top of the hill. It starts off with a side by side 8 stair/ euro gap with a flatbar handrail and hubba that has a bank running beside it which then curves you in to a central banked area with a ledge beside the hubbas.
Before the 8 stair there is a small piece of bank or a very short run up and after it there is another hubba.
Before the 8 stair there is a small piece of bank or a very short run up and after it there is another hubba.
What I love about the hubbas here is that there are marble! There are so buttery and go really well!
The street section
Finally we have the small street section which includes two back to back mini three stairs with flatbar rails, 3 ledges/manuel pads and a mini bank. The upper transition area and this one are linked by a fun little semi-vert wall.
The main "big ledge" is over a floor gap (metal grate that will cheesegrate you if you fall on it at speed) which makes things really fun! Running parrallel to that is the bank and leads you to the very small curved ledge. The three steeps are connected by the bank which means you can hit the ledge and then the second stair/manny pad/rail. Really nice little section but it gets very packed!
Becuase this park is so popular it can get hectic at times, usually packed with kids that can get quite young so I would advise to try go during school hours to get the park to yourself, it really makes a difference! And if you happen to be bringing your young child to the park please look after him. They usually don't have quick reactions and awarness of possile collision. Many times I have narrowly missed a child on a bike coming off the vert ramp you're child will come off worst everytime! Not that I go around trying to kill little kids but the under fives can be hard to see and don't always wait for someone else to finish on their section.
Another thing I noted was that this was definitely a place for the counter culture crowd to hang out (not a bad thing just something very different from my local park in Dublin) and a common place to sell drugs. If I was rating this place on friendliness it would get 10/10 everyone is very approachable for playing games of skate with/or streets spots but as always keep an eye on your stuff and don't leave anything valuable in a bag.
All in all it's a pretty sweet park with some really cool features although it's prone to overcroding and the bowl surface could do with a little work.
