Page 252 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

1824, as was the composer
Erik Satie in 1866. Courbet,
Sisley, Renoir, Pissarro and
Cézanne all visited Honfleur,
often meeting at the Ferme
St­Siméon, now a luxury hotel.
Painters still work from the
quayside, and exhibit their
work in the Greniers à Sel,
EXPERIENCE Normandy 1670. These lie to the east of
two salt ware houses built in
the Vieux Bassin in an area
known as l’Enclos, which
made up the fortified heart of
the town in the 13th century.
In a narrow cobbled alley,
Part of the beach at the small resort of Houlgate,
within a fine old half­timbered
near the western end of the Côte Fleurie
building, the engaging Musée
d’Ethnographie et d’Art
Populaire Normand displays
w its neigh bour, Deauville, which mementos of Hon fleur’s
nautical past, with a warren
was created by the Duc de
Côte Fleurie Morny during the 1860s. This of furnished Norman interiors
resort’s attractions include a next door within the former
! C2 ⌂ Calvados casino, racecourses, marinas prison. Place Ste­Catherine
k £ @ Deau ville n 112 rue
Victor Hugo, Deauville; and the famous beachside has an unusual 15th­century
www.deauville.org catwalk, Les Planches. church constructed by ship’s
For something quieter, carpenters. The Musée
The Côte Fleurie (Flowery head west to smaller resorts, Eugène-Boudin docu ments
Coast), along the Channel like Villers­sur­Mer or Houlgate. the artistic appeal of Honfleur
coast west of the Seine estu­ Cabourg, further west is domi­ and the Seine estuary, with
ary, between Villerville and nated by the turn­of­the­ works from Boudin to Raoul
Cabourg, is planted with chic 20th­century Grand Hôtel, Dufy. Les Maisons Satie,
resorts and buzzy beaches, where novelist Marcel Proust based in the composer’s old
and they burst into bloom spent many summers. He home, gives you an audio
every summer. used the resort as a model guide which plays Satie’s
Trouville­sur­Mer was once for the fic tional Balbec in music as you explore the
a humble fishing village, but his epic novel À la recherche reconstruc tions of his rooms.
during the mid­19th century it du temps perdu (In Search of
caught the attention of writers Lost Time).
Alexandre Dumas and Gustave
Flaubert, and by the 1870s the
town had acquired grand 13
hotels, a railway station and
pseudo­Swiss villas along the Honfleur
beachfront. Trouville has, how­ ! C2 ⌂ Calvados
ever, long been outclassed by
@ Deauville n Quai
Lepaulmier; www.
honfleur.tourism.co.uk
PICTURE PERFECT
Walk of Fame A major defensive port in
Pretty Deauville’s well- the 15th century, Honfleur
known beachfront has become one of the
promenade, Les region’s most appealing
Planches, leads to the harbours. At its heart is the
colourful beach huts 17th­century Vieux Bassin
lining the sand. Each (Old Dock), with its pretty
hut is named after a star houses that extend as high
who has visited the as six or seven storeys.
local film festival – get Honfleur became a centre
your angles right to of artistic activity during the
capture all their names. 19th century. Eugène Boudin,
the painter, was born here in
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