Paris1972-Versailles2003

Again on my road warrior mode, we set out to new territories ! Well not per se but this time we were in town and saw many things which will share over the coming posts in my blog, We first came into Fécamp, and it was a blast !! We will be back for more for sure, eventually.  As you know there is so much to see in my belle France, On this post will tell you bit more of the history and things to see and some curiosities of Fécamp !!! Hope you enjoy it as I.

Fécamp is located in the Seine-Maritime department 76 in the Normandie region. In the 7C, Saint Léger (the Leudes of the King of the Franks) was deported to Fécamp, was welcomed into the first monastery which was then an abbey for ladies. It is said that he recovered his speech there. Around the Romanesque ducal palace, testimonies of the Carolingian period have been found with coins and foundations of two chapels. In the 9C, the Vikings destroyed the monastery in a raid and it is said that the nuns will voluntarily mutilate their faces, to escape “dishonor”. After 911 and the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, the region around Fécamp became a massive settlement area for the Nortmanni, it may have been Guillaume Longue-épée, who settled there in 932, or his son , Richard I of Normandy, who began to fortify the City, his son Richard II of Normandy said the good who brought Guillaume de Volpiano to refound an abbey, namely: the Abbey of the Trinity of Fécamp, according to the Benedictine rule in use in Cluny. In 1202, Jean sans Terre granted a communal regime to Fécamp. Shortly after the city was annexed to the kingdom of France by Philippe Auguste. In 1449, the city was liberated from English occupation ,During the Wars of Religion, Captain de Bois-Rosé rallied the city to Henry IV after his conversion to Catholicism in July 1593. The abbey church came under the authority of Charles de Lorraine, one of the three Guise ,On October 16, 1651, King Charles II of England landed in Fécamp managing to flee Cromwell,

From the 19C to the middle of the 20C, Fécamp had an important cod fishing activity: the Newfoundlands. Its port will for a time supplant Saint-Malo as the first French cod fishing port and definitively Granville in the 20C, which was traditionally the first in Normandy and the second in France. Nowadays, there is only a weak fishing activity, which can be summed up to coastal fishing. Pleasure tourism has taken precedence over fishing. The recipe for Benedictine liqueur was invented by Alexandre-Prosper-Hubert Le Grand, who founded the Benedictine Society in the 19C. His grandson Fernand Le Grand, while managing the family distillery, created a private radio station, Radio-Fécamp, in the mid-1920s. Its growing success led it to take the name Radio-Normandie and to offer commercial radio programs in English in competition with the BBC until WWII. In the mid-1930s, Radio-Normandie also broadcast the first experimental television broadcasts by young engineer Henri de France, who would become famous after the war for his invention of 819-line television standards (ancestor of high-definition TV), and Color Television SECAM.

Some of the things to see which will expand later on individual posts are the Benedictine Palace Museum opened in 1888 by its founder Alexandre-Prosper-Hubert Le Grand in a building characteristic of historicism, eclectic trend, mixing styles and eras: neo-Gothic, neo-Renaissance and art nouveau. It houses a museum dedicated to the precious Norman liqueur and temporary art exhibitions, The Palais Bénédictine is getting ready to celebrate 150 years and is starting the renovation of some of its spaces. It is located at 110 rue Alexandre Le Grand, Also, the Musée des Pêcheries , located on the port and inaugurated on December 8, 2017, the museum presents collections of Art and History, ethnographic collections related to fishing and sailors, and the collection of the childhood of the doctor Dufour and his foundation of “La Goutte de lait” in an old factory rehabilitated on the port. The Château de Fécamp is an old fortified castle built on a motte, from the 10C, today in ruins, Fécamp was a place of residence precociously favored by the first dukes of Normandy, perhaps as early as Guillaume Longue-Épée and surely with its successors Richard I of Normandy and Richard II who still have their burial in the Abbey of La Trinité. The castle is only visible from the outside, just opposite the abbey. The Chapel of Our Lady of Salvation is a place of pilgrimage since the 13C, the current chapel retains Romanesque and Gothic elements.  The Church Saint-Étienne is located at 2 Rue Saint-Etienne The first mentioned was in a charter of Duke Richard II in 1017-1025, but , it may be older. The reconstruction of the church was undertaken at the instigation of Antoine Bohier, abbot of Fécamp. In the 19C.

However, let me put some unusual places here that are worth the detour me think for its looks, history and surrounding ambiance.

The Cinema le Grand Large at Pl. Adolphe Bellet, 4 dolby rooms with 70 to 364 seats, in the heart of town, you will also find a drinks and confectionery counter, a reading area, reception rooms and a panoramic terrace.

Ancien Tribunal de Commerce, (Former Commercial Court,) at Place Adolphe Bellet Built in 1878, the building housed the commercial court until 2000. It is a little-known achievement by the architect Emile Bénard, originally from Seine-Maritime (76), where he also designed the former Caisse d’Epargne du Havre. Curiously, it was especially in America that this French architect, Grand Prix de Rome 1867, acquired fame. He has indeed gone down in posterity notably as the architect of the University of California at Berkeley, from 1899. In Mexico, there remains of his work the “Monumento à la Revolución” of Mexico, a vestige of his gigantic project of Federal Parliament, which was never completed,

Former La Poste at 1 Pl. Adolphe Bellet, the post office building is undergoing rehabilitation. Eight F3 apartments to rehabilitate the 1st and 2nd floors , which will be accessible by two entrances: one place Adolphe-Bellet, the other place Bigot. This beautiful renovated emblematic building will undoubtedly wake up, like its neighbors the Commercial Court.

The Gare de Fécamp at Boulevard de la République or train station is on the line of Bréauté – Beuzeville, The line and the station are open again to the rail service on December 11, 2016 , It has a passenger building, with ticket office, open every day. It is equipped with vending machines for the purchase of transport tickets and offers a service for people with reduced mobility. A shelter is accessible outside the opening hours of the station.

L’Hôtel de Ville or City/Town Hall at 1 place du Général Leclerc, This stone and brick building is a true historical monument built during the 18C and 19C. This building was part of the old Benedictine monastery whose first community arrived in 1001 in Fécamp, then the ducal capital, at the instigation of the Duke of Normandy, Richard II. It is next to the Abbey of the Trinity.

Manoir house at 113 Rue Alexandre Le Grand was the former school of Arts now a satellite tourist office of Fécamp, It is across from the Palais Benedictine,

The Fécamp tourist office on its heritage: https://en.fecamptourisme.com/

The City of Fécamp and its heritage : https://www.ville-fecamp.fr/decouvrir-fecamp/

The Seine Maritime dept 76 on Fécamp :https://www.seine-maritime-tourisme.com/en/i-visit/10-key-places/fecamp/fecamp.php

The Normandy region tourist office on Fécamp : https://en.normandie-tourisme.fr/unmissable-sites/fecamp/

There you go folks  , another star on the star studded belle France. And this is Normandy going way back in time with wonderful cities such as Fécamp. Again, hope you enjoy this post on curiosities of Fécamp as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!