NORMANDY is a land of vast forests, villages of half-timbered medieval houses, sweeping coastline, fat happy cows, Calvados brandy, chic resorts and picturesque ports – yet it is only one hour’s train ride from Paris. Renowned as the home of Monet’s house and gardens at Giverny and for the WW2 Landing Beaches, both of which we visit on the tour, there has been so much written about these destinations that I will bypass them today to introduce you to some lesser known towns.

 Rouen is the capital of Normandy. The city, also known as the ‘Ville aux Cent Clochers’, dear to Victor Hugo, has preserved much of its historical centre which is now largely composed of pedestrian streets. Half timbered buildings are a beautiful feature of the old town, and as you wander you will follow in the steps of Richard the Lion Heart, Joan of Arc, Pierre Corneille and Gustave Flaubert, some of the many characters who have been part of Rouen’s history. You can even dine at the oldest restaurant in France in the town square, made famous because of the number of diners who witnessed the burning of Joan of Arc at the stake right opposite!

Honfleur is also one of my favourite towns, not least because some of my ancestors come from near here! The picturesque harbour is the quintessential French fishing village – with the added delight of lovely cafes, restaurants and jazz bars lining the port for you to enjoy the ambience!

Honfleur is a small medieval town and Old Dock surrounded by multi-coloured narrow houses is no doubt what catches the eye of every visitor upon their first visit. But the town is also renowned for the St Catherine, St Etienne, and St Léonard churches, the Lieutenance, the old Salt Stores, the medieval cobbled streets and the superb, colourful weekly market.

 The estuary of the Seine has always exercised its fascination on numerous artists : painters, writers, musicians – amongst them William Turner, Johan Bartold Jongkind, Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet, Charles Baudelaire, and Erik Satie. Birth place of the painter Eugène Boudin, Honfleur is recognised as one of the cradles of Impressionism.

Deauville was a favourite and frequent haunt of mine when I lived in Paris and is an easy trip for Parisians to make for the weekend. The exclusive coastal resort has been the playground of the rich and famous since it was founded by a cousin of Napoleon III in 1861. During the summer season expensive sports cars crowd the streets, and the Promenade des Planches, a 500m boardwalk along the sandy beach, is packed with beautiful, wealthy visitors, and perfectly groomed ladies of a certain age accompanied by their pampered dogs. Regularly spaced parasols decorate the immaculate sand; the entire beach is regularly raked clean.

At times Deauville feels like the set of a James Bond film. The Casino Barrière, right next to the beach, has a dress code, but underdressed gentlemen may borrow a jacket and tie from reception, and the racecourse is decidedly upmarket; the graceful racehorses are often seen being exercised on the beach.

It is fun to simply wander around Deauville and soak it all in as the town’s atmosphere is surprisingly relaxed. Even if your wardrobe budget is limited you may enjoy window shopping in the arcades of exclusive boutiques!!

Bayeux is a cute little village, again featuring half timbered houses and cobblestone streets, but most famous for the historically unique Bayeux Tapestry, which is a 70 metre-long, 50 cm high embroidery made from wool on a linen canvas, made by women in the late 11th century to chronicle the conquest of England by William the Conquerer in 1066. Scenes include the Channel crossing, the Battle of Hastings (14 October 1066), the death of the Saxon English king Harold and the subsequent coronation of Duke William as King of England. A stone’s throw from the WW2 landing beaches, it’s a must-see (and of course we do on our tour!!)

Normandy is also home to many villages simply highlighted for their beauty and charm. Cambremer, Beuvron-en-Auge, Beaumont-en-Auge, Barfleur, Falaise, Lisieux, St-Ceneri-le-Gerei and the exquisite medieval town of Lyons la Forêt (visited on our tour) are just a few!

If you love seafood, the coastal regions of Normandy and Brittany are the place in France to head for to find some of the best lobster, mussels, scallops, sea bass, monkfish, and herring. Normandy also has incredible farm produce, including the WONDERFUL cheeses provided by the aforesaid fat happy cows – Camembert, Pont l’Eveque and Livarot to name but a few –and the climate is ideal for some of the best fruit and vegetables to be found.
So – just a very tiny glimpse into some of the many superb destinations within this diverse region. I am so limited for space here, but to also whet your appetite you could look at the book “The Most Beautiful Villages of Normandy” by James Bentley and the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide to Normandy is also offers a great overview of the region.

The Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) turns 120 this year! Just two weeks after building started on the tower, built for the World Exposition of 1889 and begun in 1887, the greatest living French artists of the time put their names to an open letter in which they poured scorn on the project, calling it a “gigantic black factory chimney”, a “ghastly pillar of bolted metal” a “nail in the sky”, and “a suppository full of holes”.

Despite this, and a prolonged campaign to have the horror dismantled, the Eiffel Tower has grown into the beloved symbol of Paris, in the same way that we love our Sydney Harbour Bridge. A few facts about the Tower that you may not have known:

The Eiffel Tower is constructed with 15,000 pieces of iron and 2.5 million rivets;
There is a height variation of up to 15 centimetres, depending on the temperature;
It weighs 8.56 million kilograms;
It takes 60 tons of paint to paint it every seven years; and
If you laid out the cables used in the lifts of the Eiffel Tower end to end, they would stretch for 16 kilometres.

Don’t forget when you visit Paris, you can dine in one of the restaurants on the Eiffel Tower – the famous “Le Jules Verne” on the second floor – book several moths in advance and save up for just as long for the bill!! Or the newly opened “58 Tour Eiffel” on the first floor which is more reasonable – a bit more cafeteria-like but still very nice, especially since it has been re-vamped!!

Other restaurants we recommend for a magnificent view of the tower are the very chic “Café de l’Homme” (http://www.restaurant-cafedelhomme.com/en/index.php) or the superb “Les Ombres” (http://www.lesombres-restaurant.com/)
 

I’ll finish, appropriately, with an Eiffel Tower story:

During William Morris's last visit to Paris, he spent a great deal of time eating and writing in the restaurant at the Eiffel Tower. One day a friend remarked that he must be very impressed with the structure to be spending so much time there. "Impressed!?" Morris replied. "I remain here because it's the only place in Paris where I can avoid seeing the damn thing!"
 

Until next month,
 

SUE HEINE
TOUR DIRECTOR