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The golf of Étretat.

It is renowned for its 70 m high white cliffs, for its arches and tunnels in the cliffs that jut out to sea, and for a large rock needle called “l’Aiguille” in French. Both the cliffs and village are the scenic highlight of the region and not to be missed if you are visiting this part of Normandy.

View of the rock needle (on the left), the famous arch called “porte d’Aval” and the cliffs.

There isn’t even a port of any kind: the seafront consists of a sweeping unbroken curve of concrete above a shingle beach.

Two of the three famous arches seen from the town are the “porte d’Amont” and the “porte d’Aval“. The third one, “la Manneporte“, cannot be seen from the town.

La Manneporte is a famous arch located behind the “porte d’Aval” arch.

Before the XIX century, Étretat was a fishing village. It became a place of inspiration for famous artists such as G. Courbet, C. Monet, Delacroix, E. Boudin, C. Corot, J. Offenbach, J. Massenet; writers (A. Karr, V. Hugo, A. Gide, G. de Maupassant, M. Leblanc) and important people (J. Michelet, F. Faure, R. Coty, J. Bonaparte). In fact, Claude Monet painted many of his paintings here, the writers Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Samuel Beckett and Guy de Maupassant used to live here (as did three former French presidents). These cliffs and the associated resort beach were featured prominently in the 1909 Arsène Lupin novel “The Hollow Needle” by Maurice Leblanc.

There is a small popular pebble beach below the cliffs.

Étretat is an attractive town – from the pebble beach and promenade in the town you can further admire the cliffs to either side, then you should take a look in the old market hall on the Place Foch – it has been attractively restored in the medieval wooden structure, although it is more devoted to tourist shops today.

The square has some very attractive and interesting medieval half-timbered buildings around its four sides, with elaborate wood carvings.

Étretat also offers a fine selection of souvenir shops and restaurants specialising in fish, oysters, moules frites, and crepes to enjoy after you have walked the popular promenade along the sea front.

Étretat is also known for being the last place in France from which the 1927 biplane The White Bird (L’Oiseau Blanc) was seen. French WWI war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli had been attempting to make the first non-stop flight from Paris to New York, but after the plane’s departure (on 8 May 1927), it disappeared somewhere over the Atlantic. It is considered to be one of the greatest unexplained mysteries of aviation. A monument to the flight was erected in Étretat but was destroyed during World War II, during the German occupation. A new and taller monument was constructed in 1963, along with a nearby museum.

Étretat offers breathtaking views.

]]> http://arras-france.com/etretat-in-upper-normandy/feed/ 1 http://arras-france.com/more-pictures-of-the-mont-saint-michel-abbey-lower-normandy/ http://arras-france.com/more-pictures-of-the-mont-saint-michel-abbey-lower-normandy/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:12:15 +0000 Arras Guide http://arras-france.com/?p=1825 For more information about this famous Gothic abbey, click on this link :

http://arras-france.com/mont-saint-michel-abbey-lower-normandy/

Mont-Saint-Michel abbey is the second most visited site in France after Paris.

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Classified as Historical Monument in 1862, the Mont-Saint-Michel and its bay were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979, and were listed with criteria such as cultural, historical, and architectural significance, as well as human-created and natural beauty.

It is the second most visited site in France after Paris.

The Mont-Saint-Michel abbey: one of France’s marvels.

Formation:

In prehistoric times the bay was land. As sea levels rose, erosion shaped the coastal landscape over millions of years. Several blocks of granite or granulite emerged in the bay, having resisted the wear and tear of the ocean better than the surrounding rocks. These included Lillemer, the Mont-Dol, Tombelaine (the island just to the north), and Mont Tombe, later called Mont-Saint-Michel.

Mont Saint-Michel was previously connected to the mainland via a thin natural land bridge, which before modernization was covered at high tide and revealed at low tide. This connection has been compromised by several developments. Over the centuries, the coastal flats have been polderised to create pasture. Thus the distance between the shore and the south coast of Mont-Saint-Michel has decreased. The Couesnon River has been canalised, reducing the flow of water and thereby encouraging a silting-up of the bay. In 1879, the land bridge was fortified into a true causeway. This prevented the tide from scouring the silt around the mount.

On June the 16th 2006, the French prime minister and regional authorities announced a €164 million project (Projet Mont-Saint-Michel) to build a hydraulic dam using the waters of the river Couesnon and of tides to help remove the accumulated silt deposited by the rising tides, and to make Mont-Saint-Michel an island again. It was projected to be completed by 2012.

The construction of the dam began in 2009 and is now complete. The project also included the destruction of the causeway that had been built on top of the small land bridge and enlarged to join the island to the continent, and was used also as a parking lot for visitors. It will be replaced by an elevated light bridge, under which the waters will flow more freely, and that will improve the efficiency of the now operational dam, and the construction of another parking lot on the mainland. Visitors will use small shuttles to cross the future bridge which will still be open to pedestrians and unmotorized cycles.

History:

Mont-Saint-Michel was used in the 6th and 7th centuries as an Armorican stronghold of Romano-Breton culture and power, until it was ransacked by the Franks, thus ending the trans-channel culture that had stood since the departure of the Romans in AD 460.

Before the construction of the first monastic establishment in the 8th century, the island was called “monte tombe”. According to a legend, St. Michael the Archangel appeared to St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, in 708 and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet. Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel’s instruction, until St. Michael burned a hole in the bishop’s skull with his finger.

The mount gained strategic significance in 933 when William “Long Sword”, William I, Duke of Normandy, annexed the Cotentin Peninsula, definitively placing the mount in Normandy. It is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, which commemorates the 1066 Norman conquest of England. Harold, Earl of Wessex is pictured on the tapestry rescuing two Norman knights from the quicksand in the tidal flats during a battle with Conan II, Duke of Brittany. Norman Ducal patronage financed the spectacular Norman architecture of the abbey in subsequent centuries.

In 1067, the monastery of Mont-Saint-Michel gave its support to duke William of Normandy in his claim to the throne of England. It was rewarded with properties and grounds on the English side of the Channel, including a small island located to the west of Cornwall, which was modeled after the Mount, and became a Norman priory named St Michael’s Mount of Penzance.

During the Hundred Years’ War, the English made repeated assaults on the island, but were unable to seize it due to the abbey’s improved fortifications. Les Michelettes – two wrought-iron bombards left by the English in their failed 1423–24 siege of Mont-Saint-Michel – are still displayed near the outer defense wall.

Design:

Plan of the mount by Eugène Viollet-le-DucWilliam de Volpiano, the Italian architect who had built the Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy, was chosen as building contractor by Richard II of Normandy in the 11th century. He designed the Romanesque church of the abbey, daringly placing the transept crossing at the top of the mount. Many underground crypts and chapels had to be built to compensate for this weight; these formed the basis for the supportive upward structure that can be seen today. Today Mont-Saint-Michel is seen as a Gothic-style abbey.

For more information, you can visit the official website of the tourist office of the Mont- Saint-Michel: http://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/accueil.htm

http://arras-france.com/olhain-castle-northern-france/

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Photo credit : Jeffrey J. Soulliere (picture above)

Olhain castle’s inner courtyard.

http://arras-france.com/olhain-castle-northern-france/

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Photo credit : Jeffrey J. Soulliere

This wooden gear wheel used to make the compactors turn in order to crush the wheat. It was built around 1,200 AC.

Photo credit : Jeffrey J. Soulliere

It is the best preserved medieval castle in northern France and represents one of the most beautiful jewels of the region’s historical heritage.

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This imposing castle was built in the hollow of a small valley, in the middle of a natural pond in which the river ‘Lawe’ flows into.

It is believed that the knight Simon d’Olhain built it first from 1179, probably a simple wooden keep. His son, Hugues, built the primitive castle when he returned from a crusade in 1202. The construction of the castle recommenced in 1239, when his son Jean d’Olhain added a castral chapel. This chapel was probably built in the courtyard of the castle but did not leave any trace as the castle was destroyed and burnt to a large extent during the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453). It is only in the XIX century that a chapel in the castle was mentioned, which was preserved in the south-east tower. In 1280, Jean’s son, Jean II d’Olhain, founded in Verdrel a chapel dedicated to Saint Eloi. Finally, the lineage of the Olhain lords ended with Robert’s son, Jacques d’Olhain, since the only heiress of the property, Marie d’Olhain, married Jean de Nielles.

Jean de Nielles undertook the reconstruction of the castle from 1407. He also played an important role for the Duke of Burgundy, Jean Sans Peur. He started by advising him before becoming in-charge of the management of the Duke’s finances. He also became the Second President of the Accounts Chamber of Lille, the Duke’s Chamberlain and the governor of Arras in 1407. On 20th June 1407, Jean Sans Peur gave him oak trees from his wood in Wault, near Houdain, which allowed him to start the castle fortification. Jean de Nielles died a bit before 1423. He was inhumated in the church of Fresnicourt-le-Dolmen. His tombstone is located in the inner courtyard of the castle.

The castle was then entrusted to his first daughter, Marie de Nielles, who married Baudouin de Lannoy, a knight of the Golden Fleece and governor of Lille. He is said to have constructed the big towers or at least to have finished their construction. Marie de Nielles died in 1433 without descendence. Then the castle’s inheritance passed on to her sister Alix de Nielles, who for her second wedding, had married Jean de Berghes, leader of the King’s Hunting and knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece (the most prestigious distinction of Burgundy). When Alix de Nielles passed away, the castle’s inheritance passed on to her son, Jean de Berghes. This is how the Olhain property passed to the Berghes family till 1900.

From 1521 to 1529, the Spanish Emperor Charles Quint, a staunch Catholic, confiscated the castle. As Phillippe de Berghes, the then owner of the castle, and his family belonged to the French side and were Protestants; they could not reside in the castle. Only after their conversion to Catholicism, they got their property back but preferred to live somewhere else.

Around 1634, under French king Louis XIII and Richelieu started the Thirty Years’ War against Spain and the Emperor of Germany. In 1641, the governor of Arras seized the castle with about sixty riflemen from the Champagne Regiment and massacred all the Spanish soldiers who were there. In 1654, the Spanish troops recaptured the castle and blew up the two towers that were located in the fourth side of the castle enclosure. They have never been rebuilt.

Around 1700, Louise de Berghes married the Count “d’Artagnan”, governor of Arras (cousin of the famous King’s Musketeer). He is said to be buried in the middle of the castle’s inner courtyard. In 1710, the castle was once again besieged, and occupied by the Dutch at the time of Béthune’s capture. Ruined and burnt, the castle was restored from 1830 to 1843 and became the second home of the de Berghes family. In 1870, the last lord, Pierre Marie de Berghes, a 20-year-old Squadron Leader was killed during a cavalry charge. Since then, the castle was abandoned.

The castle was sold by auction in Paris. On 26 May 1900, it was bought by Mr Dartois. The land was to be sold with the castle, which was regarded as a ‘burden’. Mr Dartois entrusted the property to his nephew, Mr Jules Dutoit.

The Olhain castle was occupied by troops from the beginning of the First World War. For 4 years, troops and horses from the French, English and Canadian armies successively occupied the castle, as well as the outbuildings, farming buildings and neighbouring meadows. Numerous marks in the right and left wings of the castle testify these successive occupations. Multiple inscriptions from the soldiers are still visible in the attics of the right wing while the first floor of the left wing is riddled with bullet holes.

One of the observation posts.

At the end of the war, Jules Dutoit resumed the restoration work he had started. He started by doing up all the roofs, which had been left in a very poor condition. He also cultivated the lands and improved, little by little, the left wing where he resided with his family. In 1930, he built a house incorporated to the body of the farmyard, where the owners of the castle have been living since then.

Till 2004, it was Jules Dutoit’s son, Mr. Paul Dutoit, who was in charge of the castle’s maintenance and restoration work. During the Occupation, he started by draining the pond in order to repair all the immersed walls and continued to maintain the castle with great care. Today, it is his descendants who take care of the castle with the same passion.

Olhain castle’s drawbridge.

The castle, entirely made of sandstone, comprises two parts that are clearly separated: a farmyard, with its oval shape, and the castle itself. The castle was added to the Historical Monuments’ inventory in 1989. It has been opened to the public since 1954 for seven months a year:

- From April 1st to June 30th, and from September 1st to October 31st: on Sundays and public holidays from 3.00 pm to 6.30 pm.

- From July 1st to August 31st: on Saturdays and Sundays from 3.00 pm to 6.30 pm.

Photo credit : Jeffrey J. Soulliere

• The visitors will be able to walk along the water-filled moats, and to visit the farmyard and the castle: inner courtyard, chapel, vaulted caves, keep (101 steps) with its rooms at different floors, its attics and the observation post. There is a small fee for the visit: (4 € for the adults) and free for the accompanied children (till 12 years old). This amount is entirely meant for the castle’s maintenance. An average visit would take about 1.15 hour. It is not guided. A leaflet is distributed at the entrance to help the visitors. For buses/adult groups and schools, the castle is open the whole year after making an appointment. Ph: +33 (0)1.39.18.33.14 or +33 (0)3.21.27.94.76.

• Access to Olhain castle :

1) from Arras :

- Take the road D341 in the direction of Bruay and go through Mont-St-Eloi.
- Carry on till Camblain-l’Abbé and continue on the road D341.
- Cross the village of Estrée-Cauchy.
- At the entrance of the Gauchin-Legal village, turn right in the direction of Ohlain.
- At the stop sign, turn right toward Fresnicourt.
- At the top of the hill, turn right at the isolated house. The castle is about 100 metres away.

2) from Lille :

- Exit from Lille and take the A1/E17 in the direction of Lesquin/Lens/Reims/Paris/Douai/Centre Commercial/Centre Régional de Transport
- Passing near to Seclin
- Passing near to Carvin
- Take the A21 following the sign notice Douai/Lens
- Exit from A21 direction “Bruay la Buissière” and carry on the D301
- Passing near to Hénin-Beaumont
- Passing near to Lens
- Passing near to Bully-les-Mines
- Go through Hersin-Coupigny
- At the roundabout: turn left and carry on the D57.e
- Enter into Olhain and turn right and carry on D57. The castle is about 200 metres away on left.

For more information, you can visit the official website: http://www.chateau-olhain.com/

The famous bell tower of Arras.

During the Gaul era, Arras was called Nemetocena from the Celt word ‘nemeton’, which meant a sacred place, a sanctuary. In ‘Gallic Wars’ Caesar tells us that it was a campsite where the consul spent two winters.

View from the bell tower (by Jeffrey J. Soulliere)

Later, in the Roman Empire and under the influence of Auguste, the city inherited the name of Nemetacum, which represented a nearby place located on the hill of Baudimont.

The name Arras appeared only in the XII century. The name was initially Atrébates (Atrebatum), which evolved into Atrades, Atradis, Aras and finally Arras. Under Louis XI, the city was called ‘Franchise‘ while the Dutch gave it the name ‘Atrecht‘.

Photo credit : Jeffrey J. Soulliere

Arras earned a reputation for commerce during the Bas-Empire. In fact, its drapery industry became famous across the world. Later, in the XII century, Arras had a rapid economical expansion that gave a strategic position to the city regarding its draperies and famous tapestries, known in Italy as ‘arazzi’.

Joan of Arc, the famous French war heroine of the XV century and religious martyr, spent some time of her imprisonment in Arras during the months of October and November of 1430 before being burnt alive in Rouen’s market square on May 30th, 1431.

Photo credit : Jeffrey J. Soulliere

In 1492, the Spaniards seized Arras and pillaged the city. It was at that time that the grain trade supplanted the cloth industry. In 1659, Arras returned to France with the Treaty of the Pyrenées.

The porcelain of Arras also contributed to the fame of the city. It appeared in the XVIII century thanks to the Delemer sisters, and was famous for its blue cobalt, whose manufacturing secret was rediscovered only a few years back. Some traders have now resumed its manufacture. A room of the Fine Arts Museum in Arras is dedicated to this porcelain.

View of the bell tower with its two famous squares.

During the First World War, Arras was not spared by the German cannons, which razed the city to the ground almost entirely.

A restaurant in Arras…

The Neptune fountain

Photo credit : Jeffrey J. Soulliere (picture above)