A taste of the Pays d’Auge

Most of the passengers took one of the tours to the D-Day beaches, but we’d been there a few years ago and wanted to do something different, so we took a day trip into the Pays d’Auge (one of the agricultural hotspots of Normandy).

Our first stop was the town of Pont l’Évêque.

Fun fair in Pont l’Évêque
Fall colors in the Pays d’Auge
Crossing La Toques

One of the highlights of Pont l’Évêque is Saint Michael’s Church, which was originally built in the 14th and 15th Centuries. It was damaged during the Hundred Years’ War, the French Wars of Religion in the 16th Century, and very heavily damaged during the Battle of Normandy in 1944. It has been restored, but you can still see damage from shelling on its façade. We arrived just before Sunday Mass but they allowed our group to come inside anyway.

Église Saint-Michel – heavily damaged in 1944 and restored. You can see damage from shelling on the façade.
Memorial to WWII dead, including combatants, deportees, and civilians

We left before Mass began and our guide Anne took us through a bit more of Pont l’Évêque.

Pont l’Évêque City Hall
Fountain outside the former Court of First Instance
The Joyuse Prison

Our next stop was Busnel Distillery, a leading producer of Calvados (and whiskey and gin and…). They gave us a tour of the Calvados production process from apple to cider to distillation to aging to bottling to drinking; I took careful notes but their explanation is far better than anything I could write!

The apple does not fall far from the tree. (Actually named REINETTE by Yvon Barbieri
Half-timbered aging rooms
Apples from Calvados waiting to become Calvados

Original Bottling Machine
This cask holds 10000 liters of Calvados-to-be for its first aging
One of 13 aging rooms, each with a few hundred barrels (all French oak)
Enjoying Busnel Pommeau (⅓ Calvados, ⅔ apple juice)

We left with a half-liter of Calvados which had been aged in Sautérne wine barrels.

Our final stop was the resort town of Deauville, where we had a couple of hours to explore on our own (and have lunch) before meeting Anne for a quick tour of the famous boardwalk. It’s a three-day weekend in France and the town was filled with Parisians (and probably other tourists, too).

Deauville City Hall
Casino Barrière de Deauville
On the boardwalk in Deauville
It may not be beach weather, but….
Photo opportunity at Deauville Racetrack

The ship had sailed from Le Havre while we were touring; we met it in Caudebec en Caux, arriving in time for dinner.

Caudebec en Caux City Hall

After dinner, we were treated to a show by the Pop Corn Ladies, who sang in the style of the Andrews Sisters – it was a lot of fun!

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