Paris1972-Versailles2003

The wonderful memorable city of Dieppe is in the département 76 ofSeine-Maritimein the region of Normandie ,and ,of course, in my belle France. It has been called the city of the four harbors in the Caux country ,about 170 km from Paris,in the deep valley of the Arques. We used to come here often, when living in Versailles with nice memories of Dieppe. I found me a memorable picture of our stayed with the whole family and need to have it in my blog as it is my life’s history, Therefore, let me tell you about the memorable Hôtel de la Plage of Dieppe !! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

We stayed at the Hôtel de la Plage a couple of times to fully enjoy the city! It is facing the sea at the bd Verdun, near the pool complex ,and castle. Always great Norman welcome, friendly, excellent price for a family and great views. The Originals Boutique, Hôtel de la Plage is just a 10-minute walk from the town’s castle and the pedestrianized streets. It offers a private flowered terrace. parking, animals are accepted, wifi access. Good addresses around: La Cité de la Mer (582 meters), Saint-Jacques Church (245 meters), Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel (195 meters), Dieppe Castle-Museum (543 meters). Also, 900 meters from train station, 4 km from the ferry terminal and 3 km from Golf course, Its 40 comfort and soundproofed rooms have the necessary equipment to make your stay a unique moment. Take advantage of a full buffet breakfast to start the day off right. Take a place in the light-bathed veranda that offers a breathtaking view of the sea. You can benefit from a breakfast serve in your room. To relax, you can also settle on the hotel’s private terrace. A wonderful spot , to be repeated, eventually.

The official Hôtel de la Plage : https://www.laplage-dieppe.com/

The Dieppe tourist office on the Hôtel de la Plage : https://uk.dieppetourisme.com/offers/hotel-de-la-plage-dieppe-en-3027755/

However, let me use this post to tell you about the wonderful history of beach resort of Dieppe !!!

It should not be forgotten that it is in the fresh waters of the Channel that the seaside idea was born. The first swimmer officially known in France is King Henri III, who came in June 1578 to Dieppe on the advise of his doctors. In the 1820s, a few big name ladies came to bathe here, the nearest beach to Paris, already frequented by English high society, fond of iodized air and invigorating water. Among these pioneers, Queen Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of Empress Joséphine. She is accompanied by her children, including the future Napoleon III, who will always keep the memory of the moment. Part of the court and good Parisian society followed them in the following years. To accommodate these brand visitors, the first baths establishment in France was installed on the beach in 1822, drawing up its pavilions and unrolling its large pontoons to the bathing places.

But the real launch of what we will soon call the resort station, we owe it to Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Siciles, Duchess of Berry , and daughter-in-law of King Charles X, a sort of influencer of this lovely world made a remarkable arrival and welcome to Dieppe to the sound of the cannon. We are in 1824 and the mayor of the city wanted to put the town up to the big ones,and to receive these hosts. She was a faithful of the bath of Dieppe until 1830, leading to her ,and Dieppe, artists and worldly souls with the daring entering the water in court clothes, under the watchful and a little amazed gaze, it must be said, of so called judges, the rescuers of the time, and the locals love it. She encourages artists, creates a lace factory under the direction of the Sisters of Providence, raised in Arques-la-Bataille, a commemorative monument of the victory of Henri IV.

From then on, and even after Marie-Caroline‘s departure for other adventures, the whole Parisian aristocracy crowds in Dieppe to take sea baths. The arrival of the railroad in 1847 accentuates this phenomenon. King Louis-Philippe, when he goes to his Château d’Eu, did a detour to the city. In 1853, it was Napoleon III who in turn benefited from the baths on the Côte d’Albâtre. His wife, Empress Eugénie, takes advantage of their honeymoon in these places to redevelop the beach and have large hotels and casinos installed there. The first of its kind was inaugurated in 1857, at the same time as the new baths. They now have a magnificent garden with jet of central water, terrace overlooking the shore, a large ballroom called the holiday pavilion, and outdoor galleries. On the one hand, the beach with its lawns and walkers; on the other, the sea with its white sails … The fame of the city reached its peak in the heyday. First seaside resort of France, it welcomed the king of Belgium Léopold II, the musicians Saint-Saëns and Debussy, the painters Renoir, Pissarro, Monet, and Sickert, the writer Marcel Proust and his friends , Robert de Montesquiou and the Countess Greffülhe. It will be rumored later that it was in Dieppe that the young and ambitious Winston Churchill met his future wife Clémentine. But the destruction left of WWII took away from the city a lot of its splendor. Many beautiful emblematic buildings of the Belle Époque unfortunately disappeared. Some mansions, such as Villa Perrotte, also testify to past splendors.

The municipal theater was deeply altered in 1900 ,the most beautiful Parisian rooms of its time. The architects design a completely new facade with a large hall, opening onto the sea by five large bays. Outside, the facades are adorned with the “Beaux Arts” style, in vogue at the time, while the interior was redecorated by drawing freely from the Rocaille era 18C. A staff decor thus adorns the rooms of the theater, punctuated by gold, painted ceilings, masks, cartridges and singing shapes . In the performance hall, some lodges are deleted to accommodate a greater number of spectators. As at the Théâtre de l’Athénée in Paris, the painted ceiling ,the Muses is adorned with a large chandelier while the front-scène lodges are framed by caryatid figures, personifying theater and music. During all these years, when the seaside resort was at its peak, the theater of Dieppe received among the greatest artists of his time: Rossini, Meyerbeer, Liszt and in particular Camille Saint-Saëns, who by his active participation in the cultural life of the city left the most traces in the history of this building. Damaged during WWII, the theater received a renovation of its cement facades in the 1950s. Then welcoming a cinema, it closed its doors in 1961 to reopen them in 2002 in order to house the Memorial dedicated to the Canadian landing of August 19, 1942. Therefore, in a way you can ,also ,visit the love theater of Marie Caroline, Duchesse of Berry, which the city had built for her a small theater which she inaugurated in 1826.

There you go folks, a wonderful visit to a nice town of Dieppe,worth a detour indeed, Again, hope you enjoy the post on the memorable Hôtel de la Plage of Dieppe as I.

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