It's been a while since I posted here because I have been on a whirlwind tour of this part of France. I'm home now after seeing Bayeux, the Normandy Beaches, Rouen, Amboise and the Loire Valley. But before I talk about all that, I want to take you along on my visit to Cherbourg.
Cherbourg sits at the end of a peninsula looking out to the English Channel and I guess is most famous for the movie The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It was at one time the most popular place to enter the country from England and was a stop on the voyage of the Titanic before it took to the Atlantic Ocean.
But mostly it's a fairly industrialized port with little beauty at least near the water.
There are certainly a lot of pleasure craft in the harbor and a few restaurants that look very nice on the quaiside
But overall, the scene is not as pleasing as in some other harbor towns.
In the old town there is a nice Hotel d'Ville, or town hall, I think,
And a nice fountain. And because it was Napoleon who ordered that the harbor be blasted out from the surrounding rock cliffs and the harbor be deepened, there is a statue of him by the seaside......one of the few reminders of Napoleon that I have ever seen in all of France. He does not seem that popular here.
The harbor has an exhibition space called the Citi de la Mer (the city of the sea) which includes an aquarium and a World War II era submarine that you can visit.
I was interested in the Titanic exhibit but I was quite disappointed. It was made up mostly of old pictures that you have probably seen before, but it did have a recreation of the steps you would have taken to get to the ship. That was the only part I took a picture of and now even that doesn't look impressive.
There was a story in my guidebook that I thought was interesting about Cherbourg. Apparently it was the location of a big U.S. Civil War battle. The Confederate ship Alabama had been cruising the Atlantic harassing ships bringing supplies to the Union army and had in fact stopped, destroyed or held for ransom some 80 ships by the time it docked in Cherbourg for some R&R. The Kearsarge, a Union vessel, was in pursuit and was docked in Amsterdam when it heard the Alabama was in Cherbourg. It arrived there in just two days but apparently both vessels took a few days to prepare for their confrontation.
As the battle began, the captain of the Alabama was baffled that shells seemed to be bouncing off the Kearsarge. It turns out that ship had lined its bow with iron chains. The Alabama captain thought that was bad form. "It was the same thing as if two men were to go out and fight a duel and one of them, unknown to the other, were to out on a suit of mail under his garment." Eventually, the Kearsarge sank the Alabama while it suffered only three casualties.
Done with Cherbourg, I drove to Barfleur, down the coast, which was said to be one of the most beautiful towns in Normandy. And it was lovely. At one time it's natural harbor was the most used in all of Normandy.
But when Cherbourg was expanded it lost that distinction. Where I parked there seemed to be a memorial on the chain, perhaps for someone who died at sea.
This is Saint Nicholas' Church. I wanted to go in and see a sculpture mentioned in the guidebook, but it was closed.
Barfleur is obviously still a fishing town. There is trawling equipment on the ground surrounding the harbor....
And ships like there, with two hulls, that appear to be used for fishing, although they looked at first like high speed ships.
Anyone who has ever crossed the English Channel from England to France will understand, I think, the need for stability. That's probably the reason for the two hulls.
From Barfluer I drive to another harbor town, Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue, which is much more popular with the monied set. You can tell by the type of ships in the harbor--many yachts--and the types of shops along the quai.
In one shop, I stopped to pick up a souvenir and looked at buying one of these simple tea pots.
Then I noticed the price--44 euros, about $50. I don't think so.
Next up-- the lovely Bayeux.
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