Soulac sur-mer, La Rochelle, Le Havre, France…..vive la France!!!

 

Shipping Container Art in Le Havre

The Norwegian Star is an older ship that has a few quirks such as limited public space and a buffet area that resembles a middle school cafeteria. (We rarely eat in the buffet anyway).  The food, service and entertainment have all been good and in our opinion the itinerary is excellent. Most of the ports we’re visiting on this eleven day cruise are new ports for us.  We’re very excited to explore some new territory and our day in the Basque region of Spain kicked things off very nicely.  

Next up were three French port’s, all of which are very different, but extremely enjoyable.  

Soulac-sur-mer

Soulac is a coastal town in the Southwest region of France.   It’s a small, quaint beach resort town with a permanent resident population of around 3,000.  Although it’s no quite summer/beach weather yet,  the small town was bustling with a mix of passengers from the ship, other visitors and locals.  

The port is located about 6 miles from the village, so a shuttle into the village was highly recommended.  We were fortunate to have purchased our shuttle tickets in advance so we were able to get on the first one out.  We arrived in the village while most of the residents were finishing their espressos and croissants, to say we beat the rush was an understatement.  The drop off point was near the city center and convenient to the local cathedral, which was supposed to open at 9:00 but was still locked at 9:15.  Other than size, after a while the European cathedrals all begin to look similar,  so we weren’t terribly disappointed and actually visited it later that afternoon.

As we began to make our way down the main commercial street  (Rue de La Plage) a few shops and cafes began to come to life.  Especially lively was the central market which had several rows of vendors selling fresh fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats, fish and more.  After wandering the market and fighting off the temptation (at least temporarily) to indulge in fresh baked goods we slowly rambled on down the street.  After a few more blocks we caught our first glimpse of what makes Soulac such a popular summertime destination.  There is a beautiful wide beach with a walkway heading off in both directions.  

First we went right, walking on the promenade before heading down and walking on the hard packed sandy beach.  There were only a few people (and dogs) on the beach.  The further we walked the fewer there were.  After about 30 minutes we turned around and smiled when we saw we had about a quarter of a mile between us and our next closest beach walker.  We saw some summertime pictures of the beach later in the day which made us appreciate the solitude even more.  

An uncrowded beach is sure to bring a smile!

I’m not resting…..I’m blogging!

Having now worked up an appetite we did exactly what you’re supposed to do in France…..enjoy a freshly baked baguette!  The line was out the door so we knew we had hit the right place.  Once inside, while waiting to order we had to stare at the display case loaded with all kinds of amazing looking goodies.  Temptation got the best of us and we left with not only a baguette, but a few other treats as well.  

So many baguettes…….so little time!

You can’t live by baguettes alone!  We’re not sure what it was but it was amazing!

Soulac City Hall

After walking (and bench sitting) a bit more we slowly made our way back towards the shuttle pickup spot. We were so grateful for our day in Soulac that we celebrated with a glass of wine and an order of french fries, toasting this quaint little village and hoping to visit it again sometime..

We asked the server if he recommended red or white….his recommendation….get one of each!

La Rochelle

We left Fort Lauderdale twenty days ago and have been incredibly fortunate as far as the weather goes.  Other than being a little chiller than we anticipated, it’s been really nice.  While our day in La Rochelle was far from a washout, it was the first day we had to breakout the umbrella.   There were no heavy downpours, just chilly (around 55), damp and at times a little drizzly.  Certainly not enough to spoil our time in this city of close to 100,000 people, and what seemed like 10,000 sailboats in the massive marina.

Just a small part of the massive marina

We were in La Rochelle on May 1st, which is a holiday across much of Europe.  About half the stores were closed, but we’re not shoppers anyway so it made no difference to us.  

Even on a holiday the market was very busy!

Similar to our day in Soulac, the port was a bit out of town so we purchased shuttle tickets that provided round trip transportation to and from the city center.  The drop off point was a large plaza near Saint Louis Cathedral, which is a large cathedral with some very impressive stained glass windows.  

Like many of the older European cities, La Rochelle has somewhat of a violent and checkered history.  The siege of La Rochelle in 1627 was probably the most significant.  The Army, backed by the Catholic church, surrounded the town and killed over 22,000 of the Protestant residents.  Additionally, La Rochelle was a point of departure for boats carrying slaves to French island colonies.  Today La Rochelle is a vibrant city with a bustling port area called Vieux-Port.  

Vieux-Port with us…..

Vieux-Port without us

We ended up walking close to 10 miles to, and around Vieux-Port , following the pedestrian walkway around the marina to Belvedere Point where La Rochelle meets the Atlantic Ocean.  We were amused to see an information plaque showing that the distance from that point to Cape Horn, which we rounded on our Antarctica adventure  back in January was a mere 12,728 nautical miles away!   This caused me to make one of my many over used statements….”there sure is a lot of water out there”!

A few pictures from our walk….

As we made our way back towards the shuttle pickup point we were happy to have saved enough time to enjoy a late lunch.  It consisted of a French delicacy of mussels,  and also included French fries, baguette, wine and cheesecake.  All enjoyed while sitting at an outdoor cafe taking in the sights, sounds and tastes of this very scenic city.  

Le Havre

Through no fault of its own, Le Havre didn’t quite have the “old French charm” of Soulac and La Rochelle.  Air raids on the city in September of 1944 reduced the great majority of the city to rubble and killed thousands of residents.  The Notre Dame Cathedral, which was built on a plot of land slightly lower than the surrounding buildings survived almost completely intact.  This church gives a peek as to what the city must have looked like prior to World War II.

Notre Dame Cathedral is one of the few buildings in Le Havre to survive the bombings

Thanks to tremendous resolve, resources, and the visionary leadership of an architect named Auguste Perret, Le Havre has risen from the rubble to become an economically important French port city.   In 2005 Le Harve was recognized by UNESCO for its post war reconstruction.  

Shortly after docking many of our fellow passengers were heading off for excursions to Paris or other destinations in the Normandy region.   We will be spending some time in Paris in a couple of weeks and we toured the Normandy area a few years back.   We watched them head out before making our way off the ship for our adventurous day in Le Havre.

We had a few ideas in mind and confirmed that they would be the highlights of our time in Le Havre.  Our adventure took us near the city center where we took a quick peek inside the Notre Dame Cathedral.  From there it was a scenic walk along the waterfront.   A must see of Le Havre is the 107 meter tall Saint Joseph Church.  The church features over 12,000 stained glass tiles and was built as a memorial to those lost in the bombings. 

From the alter looking up

We tend to wander and ramble around these days and that’s certainly what we did in Le Havre.  Our wandering took us along the beachfront promenade before we turned inland and up an elevated path to the “Hanging Gardens” (Les Jardens Suspendus).  Although we didn’t see any hanging plants, the gardens, which were built inside a 19th century fort featured plants from five different continents and had great views of the city and busy port.  

It was an uphill climb to reach The Hanging Gardens

Inside the gardens…..

We enjoyed a light lunch at this outdoor cafe inside the gardens

A couple of views of the city from the gardens

That would hurt!  Ironically the statue is in a church courtyard. There must be a message in there for men about keeping their zipper up!

It was certainly easier coming down than going up and although we were wearing down, we made a pass through the city center.  Our efforts were rewarded with a walk along the tree lined Boulevard Francois.  We passed the library, which is shaped like a volcano and is cleverly named “the volcano”.  We finished our Le Havre visit by sitting at the Basin of Commerce, a large lake that is surrounded by shops and restaurants.  

“The Volcano”

A great bench overlooking the Bassin Du Commerce

If “old French Charm” is what you’re looking for, you won’t find it in Le Havre, the bombs destroyed it.  What you will find is a pleasant city of nearly 180,000 residents, that with lots of resolve has risen from the ruins and is a nice place to visit.  

We watched the sail away and sunset from the cozy confines of one of the ships hot tubs.  An hour soak before bed was the perfect ending to our day in Le Havre!

Nest up……The Netherlands!