In my earlier blogs I’ve mentioned about bicycling the
entire north-west France and its coastline. And now, still in Normandy passing
through Etretat then entering into the port city: La Havre, France. And then
connecting to lower Normandy town Honfleur by the bridge of Pont de Normandy.
La Havre was kind of a mind boggling for me at first as I
was entering into the city. Of course I was still on my bicycling tour of
Europe and riding my bike right into the city through the outskirts and
approaching from north-east direction. But at that very right moment, I was
puzzled actually! I asked myself “where is everybody?” There were neither
people nor any cars on the streets. It just looked as if I just entered into a
ghost town. I stopped on the side of the road and strapped my head cam on my
head (helmet video camera) just in case if there was something unusual or some
type of festival going in La Havre. It was weird and strange that I was just
arriving to La Havre which has a population of about or close to 300,000 and
yet, I hadn’t seen anyone. I began pedaling quicker and harder just to see any
road sign which would lead me into the city center. Finally, I start to see a few people, several
cars and a tram going by. As I got closer to the center of the city, I began
seeing more people and cars, but still, numbers weren’t enough to make me
believe this city’s population was around 300,000 at all. These streets and
roads had hardly any cars and hardly any population. And on the top of that, it
was Saturday. I was never able to understand the reason why this city looked so
empty. But actually, this was fine for me. I loved it! This place had no
crowds, no traffic and it was quite enough for anyone to relax at any time of
the day.
Honfleur, France. Magnificent scene to its marina and port. Photo: F.Aksoy-Aug-2013
Le Havre which is located in upper Normandy region (Haute
Normandie) a city which has the second largest port in France in traffic was
completely destroyed during the World War-II and rebuilt again after the war in
a span of 20 years which lasted until 1965. French Architecture Auguste Perrets
planning of rebuilding La Havre with modern structures have earned the city
UNESCO world heritage status. It was a fishing village until 1517, but then
deciding to build a new harbor to accommodate bigger vessels and ships what
made Le Havre expand rapidly. Even in the mid-1800s, this port was a major
departing point for thousands of German and French immigrants to the United
States of America and Canada. Most of the traffic to Le Havre port is import,
especially crude oil. Besides ferry services to and from England and Ireland to
this port, this port also includes an industrial zone for oil refining,
chemical, cement, and aeronautical-component industries. Apart from its huge
busy harbor, its big size university, yachting harbor, service and tourist
industry brought many opportunities for employment. However, it’s important to
mention that after the postwar boom, especially during and after the 1970s,
economic crisis began. This crisis led to a high unemployment and decline in
population. And today this area still struggles with high unemployment.
Le Havre, France. City Town Hall near the city center. Photo: F.Aksoy-Aug-2013
I filmed this video from my head cam and put it on youtube. This was the exact moment while entering into Le Havre and right before the city center, going through a funky tunnel.
La Seine River which rises from northeastern city Dijon is
about 776 kilometers long flowing through Paris then into the English Channel
at Le Havre and Honfleur on the left bank northwestern, France. It’s France’s
second longest river and its history goes back as early as 250 B.C. In 885 A.D
Vikings used their long boats by rowing them on Seine River to get to the
heartland of France during their invasions. Of course again, Le Havre was the
beginning place for their long adventure. And people who loves river cruises,
La Seine River cruises is ideal which begins from Le Havre through the orchards
of Normandy, crossing the city of Paris, then part of the World War II country
sites following all the way to northeastern France.
Le Havre was quite, laid back and ideal for me to relax for
a couple of days before heading down to lower Normandy. After all, I was very
tired riding my bicycle through some stiff hills of north-west France. I
decided not to camp out in Le Havre and instead I checked into a hotel for two
days. Accommodation and food were both reasonable in north-west of France
compare to southern France which I will talk about it in a later blog. At least
it was for me. Food markets, sandwich shops and bistros can definitely keep a
budget traveler happy and satisfied. Service at this hotel was amazing!
Breakfast and dinner was included and on the top of that they even do your
laundry for you. Wow, how amazing was that!
City center and nearby streets were all fun and entertaining. There were
many specialty restaurants, cafes which had live bands including Jazz.
North-west France and this city Le Havre hardly had any crime. You can
basically walk at 3:00 AM in the morning and no one would bother you.
The Pont de Normandie is a cable stayed road bridge which spans the Seine River linking Le Havre with Honfleur. Photo: F.Aksoy- Aug-2013
Almost my entire
life, I wondered why crime rate is always higher in America compare to Europe
or other countries and regions around the world including most of the third
world nations. This was always puzzling to me. Actions really do speak louder
than words. I think respect, manners and behaving were some of the basic
answers in my head. This has a lot to do with the way we are raised by our
parents then being taught by our teachers and others who we look up as role
models. In my opinion and perspective, teaching kindness, responsibility,
social skills, manners, respect and raising children polite has so much to do
with your kid’s future and his/hers adult years. I can’t say this for every
family in America, but this is where America’s problem with crime begins. I’ve
been to 5 different continents and 112 countries. I’ve spent many months and
sometime year at a time in different countries. What I’ve witnessed so far
comes down to respect, manners, discipline and behaving. I’ve seen these with
my own eyes with different cultures. Why is it that most travelers feel much
safer traveling in some of the third world nations than in the United States of
America? Why is it that I feel much more comfortable traveling in Europe, Asia,
Australia, New Zealand, even South America than traveling in the east coast of
America? Even though I love taking risks and love traveling remote and risky
areas around the world for an adventure, still something about America most
feel uncomfortable. I’ve talked to many Europeans and others which most of them
stated that they weren’t interested traveling to America. Yes, some do travel
here in America to the airport then to hotel then to touristic sight seen. That
is easy to do, however, I’m mostly speaking about long term adventure style
traveling or backpacking.
Honfleur, France. Again an amazing view to the marina and the port. Photo:F.Aksoy-Aug-2013
Honfleur, France. Different angle. Photo:F.Aksoy-Aug-2013
The morning I left my hotel in Le Havre was cold and
windy(August), but still, as I was packing my bags onto my bicycle I was very
excited and looking forward to crossing the Le Seine River by crossing the
bridge of Pont de Normandie. But there are times things just don’t happen the
way you plan. And it was one of those days. It didn’t take that long to leave
the city of Le Havre, but the outskirt of the city and the back streets while
crossing the port was taking a while to get to the bridge. I began speeding and
I was really going pretty fast on my bicycle. I passed a group of bicyclists on
my right and they probably said “this guy is flying” I finally arrived to an
intersection where there was a sign which was directing me towards the Pont de
Normandie. But there was one problem: there was a huge red sign telling me that
bicycles are not allowed! When I saw this sign, I got pretty upset and mad. I
asked myself, but what’s next? I looked at the map and saw another bridge which
was far in distance from this bridge and that meant going there then once
crossing the bridge coming back to same direction to Honfleur. And I knew this
was going to take some time. I really
thought about doing something illegal and against to law by riding through this
bridge. But I couldn’t do it as I have so much respect for laws. Before I knew
it, the bicycle group I passed earlier came right behind me and they too
stopped and puzzled about the road sign. I finally told them hello. They were
from England and they were here for a weekend. They too thought about crossing
this bridge illegally to save time, but we all decided to take the second
bridge. So we rode our bicycles together to the other bridge. We were chatting
on the way and this turned out to be very nice actually. I’m usually a solo
traveler which I really like traveling alone, but there are times while
traveling other countries I meet travelers or others I become friends with and
I also enjoy this pretty much. Nevertheless, the excitement and enjoyment I get
from being a solo traveler is different and intense which I love it. By the
time we got to the Tancarville Bridge, my new British friends were tired and
they wanted to stop by at a pub and have a few beers. I told them that I must
continue and that I probably see them in Honfleur. After an hour, I was by
myself again. Over the years I got so used to traveling alone that I really
love traveling solo and traveling alone really taught me so much about life.
Tancarville Bridge was downhill so my bicycle speed reached
up to 65 kilometers an hour. It was an intense speed while your bicycle is
packed up. But this trekking bicycle able to carry lots of load. And it has 24
gears which is very fast. By the time I came down to the base of the bridge I
had to turn around again to the opposite direction towards the town of
Honfleur. I lost so much time by taking this second bridge, but had no other
choice. I was finally arriving to Honfleur and it was getting dark.
Clocktower of the Church of Saint Catherine, Honfleur. Photo:F.Aksoy-Aug-2013
I didn’t know that much about this town Honfleur. In fact I
didn’t even get a chance to read about it at all. But I like surprises, so I
was ready. I arrived at Honfleur in an early evening hour which everyone was
outside walking around the marina. And most were wearing jackets, sweaters and
rain coats. Very first thing got my notice was the marina and the port. It was
situated right at the center of the town and it was romantically beautiful
picturesque. This marina and port completely takes you over and makes you want
to stare at this scene for hours. And I’m not kidding about it at all. Ask many
artists and painters who sits hours and hours drawing the picture of this
beautiful port and its background. I took many photos of it from different
angles and positions and still couldn’t take enough of it. Honfleur also
belongs to Cote Fleurie (Flower coast) which has 13 other towns along the
coast.
Out of these 14 coastal towns Deauville is known by its
famous and prestigious seaside resorts. French super rich and high society
mostly keeps and prefers their summer houses in this beautiful town. Deauville
is also famous with its international film festival usually in early September
every year. It’s actually called Deauville American film festival. I stayed 3
days and 3 nights in Honfleur, Deauville and the flower coast. All three nights
I camped out at the beach and again relaxing and sleeping with ocean sounds
waves. Neither any local police nor anyone else bothered me at the beach. In
fact police women who I talked to in front of a bakery, were very happy that I
was traveling their country (hahaha). In France mostly in the mornings or at
any time of the day you can go to a bakery and purchase fresh baking goods and
sit down in front of the store sitting area enjoy your breakfast with coffee,
tea or other beverages. You can smell those bakeries (Boulangerie) from miles
away. That fresh bread or chocolate croissant would smell all day and that was
the best part of my mornings.
I love this entire coastline. I was on my way to World War
II Normandy amphibious landing beaches, the American cemetery and memorial and
I was very happy to travel the north-west France with details. My next blog
will cover Normandy landing beaches
Honfleur, France. I was on my bicycle and riding towards the Light House. Photo: F.Aksoy-Aug-2013
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