Tag Archives: Normandy

Take An Orange Chair And Relax

Yes — I am running behind in the write-up of our 3 day drive from Normandy to the south of France — to the Midi-Pyrenees. So picture yourself sitting down in one of these orange chairs in the seaside village of Brehal in Normandy with the soft spring sun upon your face. Order a cup of coffee of your choice (and it’s France, so there are no strange flavoured syrups — just good strong coffee based on expresso!) and relax. I’ll be back on Sunday to post the first part of our travels from North to South.

Orange chairs at sidewalk cafe in Normandy seaside village

Saying Goodbye To Northern France

We chose our time for departure beautifully. It was the last few days of winter and the following week would see the arrival of the tourist season in full bloom. As we walked through the sleepy streets of St. Martin de Brehal one last time, we enjoyed the almost silent aspect of walking along a crowd-free pavement.

Sleepy St. Martin de Brehal in Normandy, France on the last days of winter

I won’t downplay the emotions involved — it was wrenching to leave northern France. We fell in love with Normandy and made so many lovely friends there over the last year. But it was time to drive south so that Mark could start his new job in the Midi-Pyrenees.

Walking the ramp down to the sea in Brehal, Normandy, France

Mark left a chunk of his heart by the seaside in Normandy

One of the hardest things for Mark to leave behind was the seaside. He felt so alive there. So on that last day, we packed the car, drove to the beach at Brehal, and we had one last look at the seacoast there.

Deserted wintery beach at Brehal, Normandy, France before the influx of spring tourists

The beach was deserted — completely devoid of other people. But next week is the beginning of April and the start of the Easter holiday period. From that point on, we would have been looking at a packed beach full of people and pets. So this traquil view was one more special moment before we moved on.

One quick stop at the local supermarket for a few bottles of sparkling pear cider (yum!) and a full tank of diesel, then away we went for three days of driving from the very top to the very bottom of France — almost all the way to Spain. We certainly don’t take the ‘middle path’ and move a mere few hours (or countries!) away, do we!

Over the next few days I will be uploading photos from that wonderful trip. So come back soon for more beautiful views of a beautiful country.

Medieval Mont St. Michel

Looming impressively larger and larger as you approach it across the gently undulating landscape of Normandy, the UNESCO World Heritage Site ahead of you — Mont St. Michel — is indeed an awe-inspiring sight. And when you notice that the ‘small’ buildings at the bottom of the Mont are frequently 4-5 story houses, then your brain begins to wrap itself around the scale of the medieval monastery that hovers over the village below.

The approach to the Mont is across a causeway, a road across the marshes that is going to be completely removed quite soon and replaced with a bridge. The renovation project is running quite far behind at this point and should have already been completed. We have local friends who have told us that there is quite a lot of ‘drama’ surrounding this project, the funding of it, and the plans for the future.

Dredging on either side of the causeway leading to Mont St. Michel

In a nutshell, the very ugly dredging activity that we saw on either side of the causeway indicates that the clearing out of centuries of silt and debris is still an ongoing process. Upon completion of the dredging and the construction of the ‘flyover’ bridge that will link the mainland to the Mont, the island will once again be quite a separate place — a true island surrounded by water. And visitors will no longer be able to drive up to the base of the Mont itself. Only the few local people who live in the village at the bottom and a series of shuttle buses will be allowed to drive onto the bridge.

We drove up the causeway and were directed by a man in high-vis construction clothing to turn into a paid parking lot and were not allowed to proceed toward the village at the base. The parking lot is no longer free. There is quite a significant hike from that parking lot just to get to the base of the Mont and that is followed by an approximately two hour climb to the top!

I have just recovered — literally just this week — from a compression of the 4th lumbar disc and I’ve been in far too much pain to to risk aggravating that twinge-prone back again. So no, we did not hike up to the top of the Mont on that hazy day to get less than clear photos and, oddly, neither of us felt as if we had missed some must-see opportunity.

As a result, we did a u-turn, headed away from the Mont, and pulled over into the breakdown lane where we stopped to take a few photos. And we noticed that there were quite a lot of other people doing the exact same thing! We also noted that there were several dozen people who had parked in the village of Pontorson (which is miles away from the Mont!) who were walking along the sometimes-there-sometimes-not footpath leading to the Mont itself. As you can see in the photo below, some of the pedestrians were forced to walk in the breakdown lane for the cars since everything on both sides of the causeway is such a mess and so inconsistent.

Pedestrians walking to Mont St. Michel along the causeway breakdown lane

There are several places on the exterior of the Mont where scaffolds are quite visible. I’ve read several articles over the last few years that indicated that there are simply too many visitors each year to this medieval wonder. It is not a theme park, it is not a medieval-themed shopping mall, and it was originally intended to be simply a village and a monastery — not the tourist highlight that it has become. But all of that tourist activity comes at a price, and parts of the Mont are apparently imperiled by the sheer volume of people who are shoulder to shoulder in those narrow streets and passageways in the tourist season.

View of Mont St. Michel from miles away in Pontorson, Normandy, France

The restoration of the water around the Mont and the construction of the bridge were meant to be completed this year and that is highly unlikely to happen now due to the multiple delays. Once everything is actually in place, the parking lots (paid!) will be several miles away in Pontorson and all tourists will be taken to Mont St. Michel in an official shuttle (paid!) and there are also rather sensible plans afoot to limit the number of people who are allowed onto the Mont each day in an effort to slow the erosion and destruction.

Normandy North and Cap de Hague

Rambling up to the northwest of Normandy a few days ago — another area with World War II bunkers still embedded into the hillsides — we drove to the historic Cap de Hague and could see some of the Channel Islands (British territory) off on the left through the haze. This particular part of Normandy has seen battles and shipwrecks over the centuries that included the 1689 Battle of Barfleur and the more recent Battle of Cherbourg during World War II.

Point of the Cap de Hague in far Northwest Normandy, France

Leaving the car with an apple in one one hand and two cameras slung over my shoulders, I walked out to the furthest point where a small lighthouse sat guard in the choppy waters beyond and a war memorial from World War I faced the sea with its inscription on the waterfront side.

But to see an equally beautiful view, I simply had to swing around and look behind me. The tiny-tiny town of Goury with its gray stone buildings and stone-bordered fields rose behind me.

We walked the short distance into the wee village and discovered a small and lovely harbour with bright coloured boats bobbing in the dark blue water.

Deep blue Goury harbour in far northwestern Normandy at the Cap de Hague

I simply had to include the photo below of the ‘Bored Parisienne’ because she made me laugh so much. They arrived in a black Audi that bore a tiny Paris dealer sticker and a license plate ending in 75 indicating that they had driven north from Paris and they parked a few spots away from us in the parking lot for ‘les visiteurs.’ As she swished out of the car with her coat swirling around her legs and flounced down to the water’s edge at the harbour, her husband darted about with his camera taking photo after photo of the pretty boats. The woman who had emerged from the black car was impatiently stomping back and forth in her leather pumps and could not have looked more bored if she had tried. She finally stood on the boat ramp with one hand on her hip, gazing back and forth, but her face was totally devoid of any signs of interest — a stark contrast to her eager-beaver photo-snapping husband.

The bored Parisienne woman on the launch ramp in Goury

Just love those little slices of life!

The Gentle Beauty of Granville in Normandy, France

It was late in the afternoon and the appearing-then-disappearing sunlight streamed through each intersection in sporadic bursts. The two main streets of the Haute Ville section of Granville are lined with beautiful old stone houses, many dating back to a period between the 15th to 17th Centuries.

Stone buildings line the Haute Ville (high town) section of historic Granville in Normandy, France

The upper portion of the town is surrounded by an ancient fortified wall from the 15th Century and is perched high atop a hillside overlooking the latter portions of Granville built on reclaimed seafront.

The jumbled rooftops of the lower town section of Granville in Normandy, France

Coastal overlook with World War II bunkers visible in Granville, Normandy, France

This part of Normandy hugs the curving coastline and has some of the loveliest towns in all of northern France. Granville has much to recommend it both historically and visually and can easily be visited on a one-day outing.

Pastel colours of the seacoast on a sunny day at Granville in Normandy, France

Pampered Pets And Then Some!

If you judge by the cartoon graphics on this shopfront windows, the pampered pets inside this pet grooming shop will be getting head massages and exfoliation!

I spotted this window in the Normandy town of Villedieu-les-Poeles and it did make me laugh.

Pampered pets are a specialty in this French shop in Normandy

A Thought-Provoking Museum in Normandy, France

The full-sized airplane hanging from the ceiling was an unexpected surprise in a place entitled the Caen Peace Memorial, but that was indeed the first thing that we saw as we entered the spacious entrance lobby.

This World War II plane, along with several tanks in one wing of the museum, are amongst the sprinkling of ‘hardware’ that accompany the more thought-provoking displays. This is a serious history museum and one that needs to be explored slowly. We hadn’t realised quite how comprehensive the before, during, between, and after the world wars examination would be.

World War II air power overhead at the Caen Peace Memorial museum in Normandy, France

It’s hard to conceive of how fraught with anxiety every day to day activity would have been under the German occupation or with bombs dropping on your home or workplace. We can try to imagine it fully, but that state of imagining would be simply inadequate.

Passing from zone to zone during wartime must have been quite unnerving.

There is nothing playful about this museum, but you will certainly leave here with a greater understanding of the social and political factors that led to both of the World Wars in Europe.

There is a decent cafe and a quite a nice bookstore and gift shop within the museum, so there is probably something for everyone. I highly recommend a full day out here.

A Wanderful Life

The Neverending Journey