From the cliffs of Etretat to the beach of Dieppe
Trip Start
May 05, 2007
1
7
11
Trip End
May 15, 2007
Dieppe,
Normandy,
France
Thursday, May 10, 2007
We drove into the small resort town of Etretat, famous for the artists it has attracted over the years. Eugène Boudin, Gustave Courbet and Claude Monet came here to paint. Author Maurice Leblanc, creator of the famous French character Arsène Lupin, featured Etretat in his 1909 novel The Hollow Needle.
The pebbled beach does not appear so inviting to barefooted bathers, but where dramatic scenery is concerned, it serves the visitor well. Etretat is nestled in a small valley between two ridges that extend to the sea, each ending in dramatic cliffs and spectacular rocky features where waves crash with much noise and general fracas
Arriving at Hotel de la Plage
. While my parents hung out on the boardwalk overlooking the beach, I climbed the stones steps on the east side of the beach. I could see a small chapel at the top of the steps, and, well, it was something to climb... So up I went, and with every turn of the steps, a new view revealed itself. From the top, I could see my parents down below, tiny figures waving up at me. The town stretched inland in the valley, and the gray skies and steal gray sea stretched out infinitely to my right. It smelled of the ocean, of the salt, of the water, of cleanliness and purity, and there, for the first time in days, I was steeped not in a history of war and violence, but in a history of art, where one after another, talented impressionists had come to capture on canvas this most striking scene.
I made my way back down (never seeing the large parking lot at the top of the cliff, where we could have apparently driven...), and joined my parents in our hunt for a... bathroom. We entered the old-fashioned, old-style casino very much in need of a serious makeover... I enjoyed an espresso while Mom and Dad dropped a Euro or two in the slot machines ("just to try!"), and then we went in search of a place for lunch.
Balcony - Dieppe
Another charming little restaurant, Les Delices de la Mer, served up decent sea food to the few tourists in town. A month later, the place would be crazy, but for now, we were enjoying the tranquility of off-season travel.
Leaving Etretat in the early afternoon, the scenery changed as we left the region of Seine Maritime and entered the department of Calvados. Undulating fields of light and dark green spread on each side, stretching to the horizon.
We reached Dieppe in the late afternoon, and found our hotel, Hotel de la Plage, amongst the row of sea-front properties flanking a very large street that also incorporated a parking lot.
The hotel owners allowed us to park in the garage, reached through a narrow alley at the back of the building. The car would be safe and dry in the garage. The hotel was old, but had recently been renovated, and each room was decorated differently, with very modern bathrooms. Nice, and very comfy!
We went out in quest for dinner, and with little difficulty, found the area of the Quai Henri IV, where all the restaurants line the port area
Dinner around Quai Henri IV
. Another lovely spot to enjoy a good dinner, at Le Sully, where the trout was fresh, and the desserts yummy...The city of Dieppe showed a mix of old and historical blended in with "reconstructed" - a victim of the war that survived gracefully and strongly. The famous beach was an extension of the one we had seen earlier in Etretat -- large pebbles that look painful... Yet, every summer, the beach is invaded by city dwellers looking for a little piece of sea-frontage. The castle sitting on a cliff, to the left of the beach, was an impressive sentinel guarding the entrance to the city.
The weather was once again uncertain - very windy, with clouds blowing across the sky, and a threat of rain... After a quick chat with the hotel owners, we went to bed early, ready for the next day.
