A Perfect Day in Honfleur, France
Our home base for our visit to Normandy was the town of Bayeux. It was the perfect base, but I’m so glad that we also took a day trip to Honfleur while we were in the area!
If Bayeux and Honfleur were sisters Bayeux would be the classic, staid, responsible one and Honfleur would be the gad-about, constantly admonishing Bayeux to put on some lipstick and have a little fun.
Honfleur dazzles.
I’m not the only one who believes this. In fact, I am in good company with many of the Impressionist painters who were also smitten by this pretty little river meets sea harbor town located in Normandy, France.
We visited on a breezy day, blue skies were scattered with fluffy white clouds. It was a perfect sightseeing day.
Things to do in Honfleur
Enjoy the beauty of Vieux Bassin (the old harbor)
The heart of Honfleur is it’s beautiful harbor, a pocket square of cobalt blue bobbing with sailboats, a veritable mess of masts.
Tall skinny painted houses flank one side of the harbor fronted by myriads of waterfront restaurants with tables, brightly colored umbrellas, and thousands of tourists.
The houses of Honfleur aren’t pastel. They are deeper than that, jewel tones, deep grays and blues and taupes and rusts, like a necklace rimming the harbor.
And then, that famous light. There it was, gleaming off buildings, shimmering on the water, radiant, luminous. The impressionists tried to capture it with paint. Today tourists try to capture it with their cameras.
Take in the Architecture and St. Catherine Church
We joined the throngs on the harbor for a nice lunch of salad and apple cider which was served in a wine glass and then just…wandered. We do that a lot.
My husband loves architecture so we spent quite a bit of time examining beautiful half-timbered buildings and the unusual wooden church in town.
Visit the Maritime Museum
Honfleur has a sea-going past. It’s people were fishermen and mariners and explorers. You will want to visit the maritime museum which is located in a church whose ceiling is basically the upside down hull of a ship.
Learn about the past of Honfleur at the Musee D’Etnographie
The museum of ethnography gives an interesting perspective of what life was like for people from various walks of life including prisoners, women waiting on their sea-going men to return, gentry, servants, government officials.
It is a small hodge-podge of a museum in an old house that provides a nice overview of a time long ago.
Drive to an overlook to see the modern bridge
We climbed up a sharply ascending road and then a very steep trail to an overlook. Upon arriving we realized that we could have driven. The walk was very steep. Huffing and puffing steep.
My advice would be to drive. The view did not do the town justice, but we could see the Pont de Normandie and this was a bridge worth seeing. A huge, aggressively modern span with flowing cables that made an interesting juxtaposition with ancient little Honfleur.
Honfleur is an amazing and beautiful city and I hope that you enjoy it as much as we did!
You can also read about why we thought that the nearby town of Bayeux was the perfect place to base our stay in Normandy as well as our tour of the D Day Beaches and sites.
Learn more about our entire 2 week itinerary in France here.
Thanks for stopping by!
Karen
