If you have been reading my blog and thank you for it doing it since Nov 2010; then you know my sentimental attachment to Honfleur. A city gear to the ocean and fishing and with several posts in my blog, this one is on some pictures that I feel need to be in my blog. Therefore, here are some curiosities of Honfleur!! Hope you enjoy it as I.
As said written plenty and loads of pictures on Honfleur, see my posts. However, worth to tell you this is a town towards the ocean of great sailors. In 1503, Paulmier de Gonneville ventured to Brazil. A century later, explorer Samuel Champlain left the Norman port for Canada where he founded the city of Québec. Honfleur is very international, and the second most visited site in Normandie behind just MSM!
The Cours Albert Manuel or D579 road is the one we take coming from Bretagne on the A13 (autoroute de Normandie) direction Paris we get off at Pont l’Evêque on the A132 towards Trouville sur Mer (see post) and quickly right into the D579 towards Equemauville (see post) and into Honfleur (see posts) passing the roundabout of Place Albert Sorel it becomes the rue de la République that took us to our apartments and the Vieux Basin of Honfleur, The section of the Cours Albert Manuel is about 1,25 km long.
The anecdotes here are the slaughterhouses that were opened in October 1885, In the second half of the 19C, Honfleur regularly exported more beef to England than Caen . At the start of the 1980s, there were only two left in the city. The slaughterhouses closed definitively on May 1, 1984 and were demolished in October 1986. The Castel Albertine, a former hotel in the city center, suffered serious damage on August 27, 2018, caused by a violent fire. The property sold to a private investor who will keep it in its original configuration, with the park at the rear of the property, creating a top-of-the-range hotel-restaurant there. The new Hôtel Castel Albertine is housed in a manor dating from the 19C at 19 Cours Albert Manuel, The hotel is 650 meters from the Lieutenancy and 1 km from the Eugéne Boudin museum just before the roundabout Albert Sorel.
The Cours des Fossés is a street with above ground parking for 72 vehicules between the quai LePaulmier and the Rue Monpensier and the Quai St Etienne in the Vieux Basin of Honfleur. Marvelous area and superbe for walks, shopping,and eating and near the tourist office and Mediathéque library. There is a big nice super market here and into place Ste Catherine on Saturdays, Also, the nice Cinema Henri Jeanson, And last but not least the native home of Henri de Régnier at 33 cours des Fossés, He is a French writer and poet, close to symbolism. remain faithful to the classical ideal with ever more freedom in form, between Verlaine and Valéry, at the meeting between Parnassus and symbolism. His poetry reveals the influence of Jean Moréas, Gustave Kahn and Stéphane Mallarmé, and especially that of his father-in-law, José-Maria de Heredia (see post). Heredia born in Cuba in 1842 died in France in 1905 and French since 1893. Poet one of the masters of the Parnassian movement.
The place Pierre Berthelot at No 22 see a half timbered house from the 16C. There is a nice Hôtel le Dauphin as well as our favorite the Belle Iloise fish/seafood canned store. There is a fountain with an obelisk done in 1827. A bit of history I Like here : Pierre Berthelot (aka Denis of the Nativity), born in Honfleur on December 12, 1600. He was a sailor and sailed in the service of Portugal before entering the Order of Carmel. Landed in Indonesia following the capture of his ship by the Dutch, he stayed where he was and ended up serving the King of Portugal on the Indian Ocean. He retired to a Discalced Carmelite convent in Goa in the Portuguese Indies. His status as a monk will not prevent the King of Portugal from requesting him to command the Portuguese fleet during various particularly critical battles. He was ordained a priest in 1638. That same year, the King of Portugal called upon him again to lead a diplomatic mission to restore peace with the Indian Prince of Achem. But the mission turns into disaster: the prince has the entire delegation captured and imprisoned. The soldiers are finally released, but the religious are ordered to convert to Islam. Father Denis of the Nativity (as well as all the other monks) died a martyr in Sumatra on November 29, 1638. He was beatified in 1900. In the Jardin des Personnalités (see post) there is a bust of him.
The Place de la Porte de Rouen is one of our favorite restaurant there. Au Relais Des Cyclistes(see post). Facing the Mediathéque library and around the Cinéma Henri Jeanson, There were, according to a plan of 1662, two gates which gave access to the city: the Porte de Rouen, disappeared around 1682, by order of Colbert, and the Porte de Caen, the current Lieutenancy, All that is left is the name and a roundabout name as Porte de Rouen. A very lively area of shops, restos all close to the Vieux Basin. Great walks.
Honfleur tourist office on its heritage: https://www.honfleur-tourism.co.uk/making-my-stay-count/heritage/
And there you go folks, another dandy beautiful place in my belle France. Honfleur is a must visit especially if heading to Normandie. Hope you enjoy it as much as me writing the post, always special Honfleur.
And remember, happy travels,good health, and many cheers to all!!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 