September 28 - Fécamp and Honfluer

We continued on our trip through Normandy today.  We drove west along the English Channel coast passing through Fécamp on our way to Honfleur.  We’ve pretty much given up on the GPS. At over half of the roundabouts on our route, it gives us the incorrect exit. Also at least one in every five turns in an urban setting ends up sending us down the wrong way a one way street.  We tried the GPS this morning and it had us driving around in circles on the Dieppe beach before we turned it off and used the old fashion road map and a bit of common sense.  Absolutely friggin’ pathetic.

Our route has passed through many small rural villages.  It made the drive very relaxing and scenic. The GPS had us driving down Ruddy Valle, who was an old jazz singer in the 1920s.  It was actually Rue du L'Eglise.

Fécamp is a wonderful vacation town about an hour west of Dieppe.  According to legend, the trunk of a fig tree carrying the Precious Blood of Christ collected by Joseph of Arimathea was washed ashore on the riverbank at Fécamp in the first century. Immediately, a fountain of holy blood gushed from the site. The relic attracted many medieval pilgrims, enhancing the reputation of the city.

 Fécamp had an important role as the chief fishing port in France for cod and cod-related fish. Fishermen from Fécamp were fishing off the Grand Banks several decades before Columbus made his trip to North America. This was the case up until the 1970s, when Canada stopped all access to their fishing grounds due to over fishing of the cod stocks.. 

Palais Benedictine

Its main claim to fame is the Palais Benedictine.  It is here in a wonderful palace where the Benedictine liqueur is distilled.  It is claimed that monks had developed a medicinal aromatic herbal beverage which was produced until the abbey's devastation during the French Revolution,.

After the French revolution the process was forgotten until a Fécamp business man, Alexandre Le Grand, found the books containing the original formulas in the late 19^th century.  He then built this marvellous palace to house the distillery and an art museum.

Some people believe that in fact Le Grand invented the recipe himself, helped by a local chemist, and he told this story to connect the liqueur with the city history to increase sales.

He began production under the trade name "Bénédictine", using a bottle with an easily recognizable shape and label. The family eventually sold the company to Martini and Rossi, which was in turn bought by Bacardi. The same company also produces "B & B" (or Bénédictine and Brandy), which is Bénédictine diluted with brandy, making it less sweet than Bénédictine.  B & B was developed in the 1930s when consumers began a trend of mixing Bénédictine with brandy to produce a drier taste.

The recipe is a closely guarded trade secret, purportedly known to only three people at any given time. So many people have tried to reproduce it that the company maintains in the  Palais Benedictine  a "Hall of Counterfeits"

We had samples of both the cognac and brandy versions of the liqueur. They were very tasty.

We then continued up the coast to the harbour village of Honfleur.  This is a very scenic village at the confluence of the Seine River and the English Channel, across the Seine River from the major port of LaHarve. Honfleur’s shipowners made fortunes from the fishing and the slave trade with North America. This is where Samuel de Champlain  left France for the New World in 1608.

Over time wealthy Honfleur families built their high-rise homes, packed tight next to each other, around the old harbour.  These are now restaurants and shops that cater to tourists like us. Many of the tourist posters for Normandy feature a photo or painting of this harbour with its many three story buildings.

To get over the Seine you must cross over a bridge that rises 300 meters into the air.  This offers a very magnificent view of LaHarve harbour.

The roads in Honfleur are very narrow and twisty.  This makes for some very interesting driving.

Honfleur Harbour

Hotel L'Ecrin

We are staying at L’Ecrin.  This is beautiful manor house with detached cottages were the rooms are located.  The main manor house is a spectacular home with many large rooms filled with a variety of colourful antiques.  It is very classy.

The harbour is surrounded by many excellent restaurants.  We ate at the La Bisquine, where we both had Sea Bass baked in fennel.  It was very moist and had a superb taste. For starters I had prawns encrusted with sesame seeds.  For dessert Marg had baked apples over creme caramel, after all Normandy is the apple capital of France.