Honfleur and Le Havre - Read This Blog!

We docked in Le Havre in the wee small hours of the morning after a 118-mile overnight sailing.

Our morning tour took us to Honfleur, about 40 km away across the Normandy Bridge. Honfleur, unlike Le Havre, was mostly undamaged during WWII because it wasn’t of great strategic significance, so we saw many very old buildings during our walking tour. It was market day and the beginning of a three-day weekend (Armistice Day is Monday), so the town was full of people.

In memory of the Allied soldiers who died for our liberty

The Roman numeral on the beam above the window indicates that this house has been moved (to follow the liege lord). They would disassemble the house, number the beams, transport them, and reassemble. The beams were treated to resist rot and it was easier to transport them than to obtain and treat new beams when they moved to a new location.

This gallery is a bit too modern for my taste, though the art is probably fine.

These houses are built on the foundation of the former city wall

City gate, including a statue of the Virgin Mary, whom sailors idolized.

16th century beam carved by a traveler showing things he’d seen on his travels. It’s the only such beam that survives in Honfleur.

The highlight of the tour was a visit to Èglise Sainte-Catherine, a wooden church (depending on who you consult, it’s either France’s oldest or France’s only surviving wooden church) originally built in the 15th Century.

Belltower of Sainte-Catherine’s Church. It is atop the house where the bell-ringer lived.

Double nave of Sainte-Catherine’s Church. The left part was built in the 15th Century; they added the right half in the 16th Century.

The second beam is from the tallest tree in the forest and has no stone base. All the other beams have stone bases to bring them up to the same height.

After the tour, we walked around town.

I guess this is the Normandy version of Long John Silver’s

Honfleur is the capital of the Calvados region, and there were many shops and market stalls selling Calvados of various kinds. We will be coming home with a small bottle of Calvados with vanilla, thanks to tasting opportunities at one of the stalls.

After lunch, we took a tour of Le Havre and its beach suburb Sainte-Adresse; Claude Monet’s aunt lived nearby, and he did a lot of painting here.

This was the seat of the Belgian government in exile in the first world war.

We drove back to Le Havre proper. During September, 1944, the Allies bombed most of the town into rubble, including Èglise Saint-Joseph. Thousands of civilians were killed or wounded, but the bombing weakened the Germans enough to allow the Allies to liberate Le Havre a week later. After the war, the city commissioned Auguste Perret and his studio to head the rebuilding of the entire city, including Èglise Saint-Joseph, which was rebuilt in a completely modern design during the 1950s.

This crucifix is the only surviving object from the previous pre-war Saint Joseph’s Church. It was found in the ruins missing its cross. They put it in the small chapel, which they use for masses and private prayer.

Belltower of Èglise Saint-Joseph. Like many Normandy churches, it’s open to the church; it is 107 meters tall.

We made one more stop in Le Havre to see Oscar Niemeyer’s “Volcan” performing arts center. Our guide says that it’s also called the “Yogurt Pot”, and The Independent agrees.

“Volcan” (Oscar Niemeyer) – it’s a performance space

Fountain at the Volcan (it’s a model of Oscar Niemeyer’s hand)

We returned to the ship for the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs dinner, after which we needed a walk. It was quiet near the ship, and the Seine was beautiful.

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