Share
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Yahoo
Googlize this
Facebook
Print
Email
Situated
in the Calvados department of Lower Normandy and surrounded by the beautiful
Normandy countryside Honfleur is a picturesque medieval town spread around the
Seine estuary, it has a rich maritime history and is still used as a fishing
port today. Honfleur takes its name from old the Norse words of honna and flow, it is thought that the honna was a local surname, flow meant a cove, creek or estuary in Norse, but later on in time flow became fleu and eventually fluer the French word for flower.
Popular with artists Honfleur is often called the birthplace of Impressionism and if any of the buildings and scenery seem familiar it's quite likely that you will have seen them before in famous paintings by Monet, Turner and Boudin.
Today the harbour seems almost untouched by the passing of time and is lined with quaint Medieval buildings with narrow passageways and cobbled streets. There are plenty of restaurants with freshly caught seafood a speciality and fish markets which are held in the mornings from Thursdays to Sundays.
A weekly market is held every Saturday morning at the place Sainte-Catherine, cours des Fossés and rue de la Ville and in July and August there are evening markets every Wednesday.
The nearby ferry port at Le Havre makes Honfleur is an ideal base for short breaks in Normandy or for the D-Day Beaches.
Known as the garden of France the Loire valley is packed with historical towns and crammed with some of the most beautiful châteaux France has to offer. We take a look at five of...