France: between Normandy and Brittany

Let's start our journey in Rouen, one of the most important cities of art in the country, so much to deserve the nickname of Ville Musée. It preserves, in fact, a high number of wonderful monuments, especially Gothic, and a historic center still full of ancient half-timbered houses constituting a important example of a Northern European medieval complex. The city is one of the few in France to be honored with the "Légion d'honneur". Rouen is known for Rouen Cathedral with its Tour de Beurre (butter tower) financed by the sale of indulgences, the Gros Horloge. Other famous structures include the Rouen Castle, the Church of Saint Ouen, the Gothic Church of St Maclou, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen and the Jardin des Plantes de Rouen.

Honfleur is a village in the Calvados department, especially known for its old port, characterized by its houses with slate-covered frontages, painted frequently by artists. So go down at the port an roam around it, stop for a coffee or a cider and have a great seafood lunch in one of the little restaurants.

Pont-L'Eveque is the home of a great french cheese. There's not so much to see in the center, but it's still important because here you can go to the Pere Magloire Calvados Experience. Book the tour and meet the tasty world of the calvados, it will open your eyes and you'll discover a liquor that you probably had never tried before. After this you can go in the main street and have lunch with cider and cheese.

Granville. Seaside town. With the Cathedral, above everything and everyone, which dominates the houses and city streets from above. With the port, the boats docked at the pier, the fishermen's nets. With the scent of salt and the wind that blows at every hour of the day. With silence broken only by the sound of seagulls and the waves crashing on the shore. With the sea, the more you look at it, the more you think about freedom. About 2 hours by car from Honfleur and Pont-L'Eveque you can find Granville, a seaside resort and health resort of Mont Saint-Michel Bay, at the end of the Côte des Havres. It is a former cod-fishing port and the first shellfish port of France. It is sometimes nicknamed "Monaco of the North" by virtue of its location on a rocky promontory. The port of Granville dates back to the 16th century and includes boating activities, fishing, commercial and passenger traffic. For entertainment, the city offers an independent casino, four museums, an aquarium, a rich architectural and environmental heritage, four beaches, and four Wi-Fi access points. Granville is renowned for its marine products, including Granvillaise galette with scallops sprinkled with cream, sea bream in salt crust with virgin sauce (mussels, shrimps, sea snails and whelks), and the Granvillaise sole accompanied with mussels and prawns. A speciality of the island quarter of Chausey is also linked: The green sauce of Chausey. On Saturday, a market is held in the town centre to purchase local produce. To sleep you can book at Hotel Des Mains, just next to the Casino, and if you are lucky they'll give you a room with a view of the bay. From just outside the casino there is a climb that reaches the top of a promontory where you can have a beautiful view of the city.

Pontorson is situated about 10 kilometres from the Mont Saint-Michel, and it is the starting point to go there. It is connected with it by highway and a walking path along the river Couesnon. You can sleep at the Hotel De France, just outside the train and bus station, from where you can take the bus to Mont-Saint-Michel.

Probably the wolrd's most famous tidal island. As you calmly approach along the walkway in the swamp, suddenly it appears, you see it, shrouded in fog, flown over by seagulls, in all its magnificence. Mont Saint-Michel, which stands in the bay and controls its waters! Walking through its stone roads among the old houses takes you back a few centuries. And despite being one of the most popular French destinations for tourists, it still remains an evocative and fascinating place. Mont-Saint-Michel and its surrounding bay were inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979 for its unique aesthetic and importance as a Catholic site. At the very top of the village there is the abbey. The abbey is an essential part of the structural composition of the town the feudal society constructed. On top, God, the abbey, and monastery; below this, the Great halls, then stores and housing, and at the bottom (outside the walls), fishermen's and farmers' housing. The abbey has been protected as a French monument historique since 1862. The entrance to the abbey is not free, so if you don't mind to visit it jus walk through the Mont-Saint-Michel streets and stop on the edge to look at the sea.

Dol-De-Bretagne is important because it can be used as a support city for visiting other Brittany cities around. Apart from this, it is very small but nice. Its main street is full of characteristic buildings and it's a pleasure to walk trough it. At night you can chill and have a couple of beers at Le Stuart, a cozy pub crowded in the weekends but still friendly and quiet. I recommend you to go sleep at the Hotel De Bretagne.

This walled city on the English Channel coast had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. Saint-Malo is built inside its tall walls, and it has a lot of sites of interest. The château of Saint-Malo, part of which is now the town museum, the Solidor Tower in Saint-Servan, the tomb of the writer Chateaubriand on the Ile du Grand Bé, the Cathedral of St. Vincent (Saint-Malo Cathedral), the Privateer's House ("La Demeure de Corsaire"), a ship-owner's town house built in 1725, shows objects from the history of privateering, weaponry and ship models, the Great Aquarium Saint-Malo, one of the major aquaria in France, and the labyrinthe du Corsaire (an attraction park in Saint Malo). And of course you can just walk around on its walls.

Cancale is 30 minutes by car (1 hour by bus) from Saint-Malo. It is important for its oyster farms. Just go down at the port and you'll find the daily Oyster Market, where you can taste a lot of different types of fresh oysters bred and harvested just a few meters away.

Dinan. The pearl of Brittany. Thousand-year-old houses. Sailboats on the river. Musicians in the streets of the city. Wood. Stone. Music. History. The medieval town on the hilltop has many fine old buildings, some of which date from the 13th century. The town retains a large section of the city walls, part of which can be walked round. Major historical attractions include the Jacobins Theatre dating from 1224, the flamboyant Gothic St Malo's Church, the Romanesque St Saviour's Basilica, Duchess Anne's Tower and the Château de Dinan. A major highlight in the calendar is Dinan's Fête des Remparts. The town is transformed with decoration and many locals dress up in medieval garb for this two-day festival. The festival takes place over the third weekend in July every even-numbered year. The area alongside the river is known as the "port of Dinan", and is connected to the town by steep streets. I cannot say anything else about it, you have to see it with your eyes. And it is the right conclusion of our journey.