The beautiful town of Honfleur is located at the mouth of the Seine, across from Le Havre and was a favorite of artists during the Impressionist movement in France. The first known reference to Honfleur was in 1027 by Richard III, Duke of Normandy.
Though fortified during the Hundred Years War, it was still captured by the English. After the war, it became a great trade center, including as a slave trade port. The French Revolution and the First Empire Napoleonic wars, plus the development of the modern port at Le Havre, ended Honfleur’s time as a major trade port.
Upon entering the main tourist part of Honfleur, we immediately encountered L’Absinthe Hotel. It is in a 16th century building with a Caen stone ground floor and the upper stories in grey slate tiles. I found the name of the hotel intriguing. But absinthe was quite a common and popular drink in France back a few centuries ago.
We headed down a narrow street and soon came upon an old prison and some 16th century houses. Then we stopped at the entrance to another street and took a look at its sign. Our guide asked if we knew what the street was. The sign said “Rue des Petites Boucheries”. Thinking of my high school and college freshman French, I said, “street of the small butchers.” They were the shops that regular people would visit for their meat.
After a couple more narrow streets, we arrived at the harbor. Most of the houses surrounding the harbor were tall, narrow and mostly covered in slate tiles. The harbor had been created in the 17th century and most of these houses were as well. The harbor had been a very popular place for Impressionist artists.
On the other side of the harbor was a memorial to Samuel de Champlain. He had departed from Honfleur for many of his adventures, including the founding of Quebec.
Up a hill and a winding road, were the bell tower and church of Saint Catherine. This church is the largest wooden church in France. It was built in the second half of the 15th century immediately after the Hundred Years War ended. The bell tower was built across the road to protect parishioners from lightning strikes and subsequent possible fires. No saws were used in construction, just axes.
We were given quite a bit of free time at this point, so I chose to do one of my favorite things when traveling – sit down and take it all in. There was an outdoor café on a traffic island in the middle of what was still a narrow street. So I sat down there, bought a pastry and some lemon squash and enjoyed soaking in the atmosphere while watching the people who were milling around or shopping.
When I was done, I headed off back down the hill and across the harbor to another church. This one was Saint Stephen’s. It was an old parish church in the Gothic style with the oldest part dating to the 14th century. The church was built with a combination of chalk, flint, and Caen stone. Its bell tower had a façade of chestnut. It was now a Naval Museum. It was also an excellent landmark to know where to turn to be able to wander back down the maze of narrow, medieval streets.
I sat down once again near an interestingly named restaurant – le chat qui pêche –the fishing cat. The couple in the photo seemed to think I was taking a picture of them and didn’t appear to be too happy about it. C’est la vie.
Nearby were the remaining two 17th century salt barns (the third had been destroyed by fire). The large quantity of salt stored in these buildings was used to preserve the cod caught by Honfleur’s fleet of fishing boats. Nowadays, the buildings are used for exhibitions and concerts. Their wonderful ceilings looked like the insides of an upside down hull of a ship.
Next time – Bayeux, Beuvron-en-Auge & Calvados
