So last week-end we went to Etretat, Normandy. A little town just on the north east of France. 2 hours and 40 minutes from Paris.
(Pont de Normandie)
Normandy itself, in general is a wonderful region for a week end get away. There are lots of things to do and to visit in this region. There are the beaches that can be found in Deauville and Trouville. The lovely port of Honfleur and Dieppe. The famous house and garden of the great artist Monet at Giverny. Also the famous church of Lisieux where Saint Thérèse of Infant Jesus lived and buried. And of course, the breath taking Mont Saint Michel. Not to mentions the lines of "chateaux," gorges, hills and stunning scenery in the midsts of nature.But our main interest this time is not really the beaches (although it is just beside the beach), nor the churches (although there is one sitting on top of the cliff) or the paintings (although Monet also depicted these in his painting), but what they call one of God's accident when He was making some cliffs. Let me introduce you to these cliffs who are famously known as the "Les Falaises d'Etretat."
(Falaise De La Manneport)
(Falaise D'Amont)
(Falaise D'Aval)
Etretat is a small village but really a work of wonders. From the beaches, to the cliffs, to the houses, to the markets, to restaurants and to little things that you can discover while walking its streets.
It belongs to the department "Seine-Maritime." But despite of its allure and beauty, its population is dropping over the years and as of 2009, it is just a little over 1502 habitants.
It's history is full of stories. From the story of the origin of it's name, to stories of vikings, to friendships built during the war, to famous painters capture by its beauty they need to depict it in their works, from writers who used the cliffs and needles as legendary settings in their books, to the chapel on th cliff and ending to a story of mysterious disappearance of famous French aviators.
The name, "Etretat," itself is of mysterious origin and boundless stories were formulated from it. The name was found to be of Scandinavian origin. And it was an evolution from the words "Estrutat, Estrutard or Strutard." But I don't want to be known as a know it all for I won't be able to tell you any of these, for I am not really an expert. But if you are interested in knowing the history of the word itself just google it, like I did.
Once, it has been told in a legend that the village of Etretat was founded
after a Viking invasion. Once a fishing village, it turns out to be one
of presents' day tourist destination.
The covered town market that was built in 1926 stood almost in the middle of this town. You will notice an American flag besides the French one. This is to commemorate their gratitude for the help they receive (both from the British and Americans ) during the 1914-1918 war.
It belongs to the department "Seine-Maritime." But despite of its allure and beauty, its population is dropping over the years and as of 2009, it is just a little over 1502 habitants.
It's history is full of stories. From the story of the origin of it's name, to stories of vikings, to friendships built during the war, to famous painters capture by its beauty they need to depict it in their works, from writers who used the cliffs and needles as legendary settings in their books, to the chapel on th cliff and ending to a story of mysterious disappearance of famous French aviators.
The name, "Etretat," itself is of mysterious origin and boundless stories were formulated from it. The name was found to be of Scandinavian origin. And it was an evolution from the words "Estrutat, Estrutard or Strutard." But I don't want to be known as a know it all for I won't be able to tell you any of these, for I am not really an expert. But if you are interested in knowing the history of the word itself just google it, like I did.
(A "caique," said to be inherited from the viking ship)
(The covered market with it's written history found on its door)
Etretat also is the home of the famous but fictional "gentleman thief," named Arsène Lupin. Its' french novelist Maurice Leblanc, made this fictional character in one of the houses built on the street of Guy de Maupassante, Etretat. It is said that the writer, wrote 20 series of this character and 5 authorized sequel by a writing team. It's famous character were long lived and compared to the success of Sherlock Holmes in the English countries. (I didn't have the chance to take a photo of the house of Maurice Leblanc, that serves as a museum for the fictional character Arsène Lupin)
(Le clos d'Arsène Lupin. Note: This particular photo was taken from and owned by Wikipedia)
Standing beside the cliff of Aval is the L'Aiguille Creuse (The hallow Needle), where Maurice Leblanc established the legendary refuge of his famous fictional character Arsène Lupin.
(Falaise d'Aval with L'Aiguille Creuse)
Since the French impressionist Claude Monet spent his later life at
Giverny also a part of Normandy, "les falaise d'Etretat" also captured his
attention thus led to some of his works using these subjects.
On top of the "Falaise d'Amont," one can see a Chapel made out of stones built in 1854 built by the fishermen of this town
dedicated to their patron saint, the Holy Virgin thus it's name: Notre
Dame de la Garde. But it was destroyed in 1942 by Nazi Invasion and was
rebuilt in 1950.
(Notre Dame de la Garde)
Behind this chapel is an arrow-like monument (most people thought it as a sun dial), but it was built to pay homage to the French aviators Chareles Eugène Jules Marie Nuingesse and François Coli. They boarded "L'Oiseau Blanc," (The White Bird) in the attempt to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York. The White Bird took of on the 8th of May 1927 and was sighted once more over Ireland before mysteriously disappearing. This site is where their airplane was last sighted here in France.
Etretat can be summed up in few words. In the midst of simple village
lies great treasures one can only hold in its hearts. I quote again,
"For me, it's one of God's wonderful accidents when Heas making cliffs
around the little town of Etretat."
Let the photos show to you why I said such words.
(Church on top of the cliff)
(Sun set)
(Pebbles)
(Another sun-set)
(Coffee after lunch)
(263 steps going up or going down, or you can do it by car)
