All things half-timbered: Honfleur, France

Le Vieux Bassin, Honfleur

Having spent almost 10 weeks on a road trip around France, the style and colours and textures of buildings differ significantly from one region to the next and no more so than here in Normandy. 

We can go no further west on our road trip across France.

Mission accomplished, Menton on the Mediterranean Sea to Honfleur on the Atlantic. From now on its all about getting further north across France, through Belgium and into the Netherlands.

I have always loved the half-timbered buildings that dominate both the urban and the rural landscapes of Normandy!

Combined with hand-crafted wooden shingles the buildings of Honfleur are a joy, we ambled around, poked our noses into quaint shops and browsed happily. I found a scarf to add to my collection too.

Love the colours and the black and white so lets have both!

A retelling of a Normandy story: Le Vieux Bassin, Honfleur

Entrecote and frites, Normandy style!

How Fred loves to tell a story about having steak and chips in Normandy. The huge piece of steak arrived on its own plate as did the mound of fries, and as the expression goes Normandy is for the gourmands not the gourmets.

Our visit to Honfleur today for lunch was an easy choice of galettes for Sally and me. Fred, however, was almost hesitant about ordering steak and chips in case it tarnished his special memory. The photo says it all, the meat barely fitting on the huge oval platter, chips and even salad. 

The reputation of the Normandy generosity is retained for the next few decades.

My delicious galette - rebluchon cheese, potatoes, onions, grilled courgettes...

Sally and Sharon: L'Abbaye, Friardel

Sally and Sharon - still smiling.

Sally and I met in France in 1986. And as is so often the case we meet the right people at the right time in life and so it was with John and Sally. I remember Sally being bemused by the my 'lostness', with our two babies under 18 month, barely speaking any French and they both helped us navigate the foreignness of having left South Africa for Fred to have a work experience in Paris.  

It was a special connection for me and over the decades we have travelled back to France to visit and they also came over to South Africa. Here we are again in Normandy and reconnecting, so much has changed for all of us but its a quiet pleasure to sit at Sally's table, to have her cook for me again, to natter, to recall, to update and to stroll arm in arm through the streets of Honfleur.