In and around Honfleur

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

We've been based in Honfleur since Saturday, but have not spent much time exploring our own backyard, so this morning, we remedied that situation.  We walked over to the Vieux Bassin, the inner harbor, which we had visited the evening of our arrival.  This morning, the water in the small port was mirror calm, reflecting the tall, narrow buildings of the Quai Ste. Catherine.

We wandered in the small cobbled lanes off the Quai St. Etienne and, for a short while, left the 21st century behind.  Honfleur was spared bombing during World War II, and much of it remains as it has for centuries. It is still an important fishing port and, in times past, served as the departure point for exploration to the New World, most notably that of Samuel de Champlain, who is honored with plaques and a statue at the gate of the old city. Honfleur is a lovely, very atmospheric town, and many Impressionists, including Monet and local favorite Eugene Boudin, captured its beauty on canvas.

In the old town, we strolled the weekly outdoor market of organic (and beautiful) produce, bakery items, and spirits.  We are in apple country and, while wine is not produced here, cider (not for the kiddies!), Calvados (definitely not for the kiddies), and pommeau (a combination of the two) are prized regional specialties.

The market was set up outside the Church of St. Catherine, a wooden structure built by townspeople and fishermen, and very reflective of their maritime heritage.  The double-naved structure and all of its decorations are constructed of beautifully carved wood, and it's not hard to imagine flipping it on its roof and finding two wooden ships floating side by side.  Remarkably (to us, anyway), the belfry of the church is a separate structure just across the square!

We wandered a bit through the streets, lined with half-timbered houses, artists' studios, art galleries, and boutiques, enjoyed a bit of the Public Garden, and then stopped in the Church of St. Leonard, with its ornately decorated Gothic facade, before stopping back at our apartment to pick up our car for our excursions farther and/or higher afield.

We first drove to the Cote du Grace, a point above the town, which is home to Notre Dame de Grace, a beautiful chapel filled with maritime paintings, ex votos for sailors' lives saved, and wooden ship models suspended from the ceiling. The original structure was built in the 10th century and rebuilt by Richard II, and has been a chapel of pilgrimage for centuries.  St. Therese of Lisieux came with her family to this spot to pray that she might be able to enter the Carmelite order, though, just 14 years old, she'd previously been deemed too young.  (Spoiler alert: her prayers were answered in the affirmative.)  By the time we reached the viewpoint, the rain had, as well, so we were glad to have done our walking circuit of Honfleur earlier.

We headed down the coast to the resort cities of Trouville and Deauville, sitting side-by-side at the mouth of the Touques River.  The towns each have their own large casino and, though Trouville can claim seniority, Deauville, with its yacht clubs, horse farms, race tracks, film festival, and luxury hotels takes the prize for vacation playground of the rich and famous.  We walked along Les Planches, the boardwalk, lined with cabanas bearing the names of past and present film greats,  that runs the length of the long and wide sand beach in Deauville.  Out of season, and on a gray, drizzly day, it was quiet, except for a few conventioneers spotted wandering around during their lunch break.

We continued south along the coast from Deauville, driving through pretty towns to Cabourg, where we headed inland through the rich dairy and orchard farmland of the Pays d'Auge to the picture-perfect little town of Beuvron-en-Auge, whose quiet central square (OK, triangle) is lined with beautiful half-timbered houses, now converted to restaurants, antique shops, and boutiques -- of course!  The old covered market, Les Halles, now houses a series of small shops in the center of the square/triangle.  Disney-esque perfection!

Our last stop was in Lisieux, where we visited the home of St. Therese, the Little Flower.  She is Mary Ellen's (and probably half the other girls in the '60s) confirmation namesake.  This was an unplanned destination, and a nostalgically sweet one for MER.



Then it was back to Honfleur, for one last evening in our great digs in Normandy.  We've discovered so much variety and richness in both Brittany and Normandy, that we feel we could have spent much longer in each and not run out of things to do, see, and learn.  Nevertheless, tomorrow we head for beautiful Bruges, Belgium, a return visit to a favorite destination.