12 Issues To Do In Rouen, Normandy, That Will Enrich Your Tradition

Rouen is a type of cities we’ve all heard of – however in fact, I had by some means uncared for to go to. I reside on the different finish of France, and Normandy was a stretch. When the town’s vacationer workplace invited me to spend a few days exploring Rouen, I used to be on the prepare virtually earlier than hanging up the cellphone: I used to be curious to see whether or not it might reside as much as its repute.

That repute included many superlatives – the “capital of Impressionism”, the “Metropolis of 100 Bell Towers”, Metropolis of Gastronomy…

Town left an impression on me so I might prefer to share it right here.

Normandy is without doubt one of the 13 areas of “metropolitan” France and is a part of the “département” of the Seine-Maritime, northwest of Paris, going through the southern coast of England. (France has 101 départements, or administrative items.)

Normandy is the place William the Conqueror sailed from in 1066 on his strategy to the Battle of Hastings, the place the Allies made their largest landings in World Conflict II, and the place the Seine River throws itself into the English Channel.

High issues to do in Rouen

Rouen is break up in two by the Seine, its formal founding courting again almost 9 centuries to the yr 1150. Town carries reminders of each period since, from its medieval streets and Gothic buildings to its Belle Epoque inspiration and fashionable post-war rebuilds.

Listed here are some unmissable sights price visiting and intriguing issues to do in Rouen.

1. Discover Notre-Dame Cathedral

Rouen’s cathedral wasn’t at all times the “Flamboyant Gothic” edifice we all know at the moment.

The primary non secular constructing right here dates again to the daybreak of Christianity, within the 4th century CE, and whereas we don’t actually know what it appeared like then, we do understand it was destroyed by Vikings in 841. 

It was rebuilt in Romanesque model beginning in 1030 however most of that’s gone too, aside from a chunk of the previous wall on the left once you face the cathedral’s most important entrance. And so it went, the cathedral ageing, being ransacked, struck by lightning, broken by fireplace, raided throughout the French Revolution, rebuilt.

The most recent harm got here from the Allied bombings of Rouen in 1944 as they fought to repel the occupying Germans. As bombs fell on the town, a big a part of the cathedral was destroyed. It could take a dozen years to revive it.

Resilient via all of it, Notre-Dame de Rouen stays the town’s most prestigious monument, a significant attraction that has misplaced none of its magnetism.

Tomb of Richard the Lionheart in Rouen’s Cathedral ©OffbeatFrance/Leyla Alyanak

2. Observe the façade of the cathedral as Monet did

Should you’ve been to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, you’ve undoubtedly seen a few of Monet’s “Sequence of Rouen Cathedrals”. He painted 30, of which 5 are on the Orsay, and one is in Rouen, on the Museum of High quality Arts.

Monet was fascinated by gentle, and all you must do is stand in entrance of the cathedral for a minute or two to grasp what motivated him. Rouen’s climate modifications shortly and might go from rain to summer season solar virtually immediately, at completely different instances of day. The filigree-like façade of the cathedral accelerates that change as gentle bounces off the layers of carvings and its many sculptures.

I could not resist the chance of being in the identical body as Monet

His work are one of many most important causes Rouen has turn into often known as the “capital of Impressionism”.

3. Admire the spectacular assortment of Impressionist work on the Musée des Beaux-Arts

Monet wasn’t the one impressionist who painted Rouen: he simply occurred to be probably the most well-known. Normandy being the Nineteenth-century artists’ magnet it was, many others had been taken by what they noticed – like Sisley, Pissarro, Caillebotte, Renoir…

In consequence, the museum now hosts the most important assortment of Impressionists in France outdoors the Musée d’Orsay.

An impressionist present, the Ecole de Rouen, was born within the metropolis, and the High quality Arts Museum shows a number of of its main representatives, together with Joseph Delattre, Léon-Jules Lemaître, Charles Angrand and Charles Frechon. Not shocking, because the museum hosted the primary impressionist assortment outdoors Paris.

4. Relive the trials of Saint Joan of Arc on the Historial 

Joan of Arc’s life was short-lived, a mere 19 years which got here to abrupt halt right here in Rouen, the place she was tried and located responsible of heresy, witchcraft, and dressing like a person. She was burned on the stake nearby of La Couronne, France’s oldest inn, which was already standing in 1431 when Joan met her destiny. 

Joan of Arc, France’s patron saint, has left her mark on Rouen. Almost 600 years after her loss of life (she died in 1431), you’ll be able to’t go wherever on this metropolis with out seeing her title – on streets and squares and statues, but in addition on store home windows, as pastry names, or on plaques scattered all through the town.

An intriguing monument to her is the Historial Jeanne d’Arc, a contemporary interactive museum that tells the story of her preliminary trial – and of her re-trial, which occurred 1 / 4 century after her loss of life. That second trial would rehabilitate her, discovering fault with the primary tribunal, a narrative stunningly advised along with her personal phrases from official transcripts of the time. As a result of visits are timed, you’d be clever to e book your tickets early.

5. Stroll amongst Rouen’s 2000 half-timbered buildings

Rouen is house to just about 2000 half-timbered homes (there have been almost 1000 extra earlier than the town’s partial destruction by bombs in 1944) so when you like medieval buildings and slim cobblestone streets, take your time in Outdated Rouen’s preserved quarter.

See the white areas between the wooden frames?

These had been historically full of a combination of clay, straw and animal dung, however had been finally changed by plaster, brick or stone.

This half-timber approach, often known as “colombage” in French, was extremely sensible. Wooden was plentiful, and homes may very well be constructed shortly, typically in comparatively shiny colours. 

One of many many colourful half-timbered blocks in Outdated Rouen ©OffbeatFrance/Leyla Alyanak

You may discover some homes jut out into the road above the bottom flooring. That is referred to as “jettying” and was a method used to guard decrease partitions from rainfall, but in addition to extend scarce dwelling area for an increasing inhabitants, and generally to decrease taxes, which had been calculated on the premise of a dwelling’s floor floor.

A few of the streets are so slim they’re extra passage than road, stretching silently from one road to the subsequent, a bit just like the well-known traboules of Lyon. One of many final you’ll be able to stroll via is the tiny rue des Chanoines, as a result of most of those have been closed off to all however residents.

So when you see an open door, take a peek.

The tiniest little road! ©OffbeatFrance/Leyla Alyanak

6. Discover the culinary delights of this UNESCO Metropolis of Gastronomy

Rouen belongs to UNESCO’s Artistic Cities Community, the one metropolis in France included within the “gastronomy” class (and solely considered one of seven French cities in any class).

The rationale? 

• Rouen’s culinary excellence and repute
• Normandy’s produce range and excellence
• Its meals festivals, particularly the annual Fête du Ventre
• Its academic establishments (Nationwide Bakery Institute)
• Town’s many food-related well being and sustainability initiatives

And that’s all of the official stuff. However the meals right here is phenomenal. I didn’t have a nasty meal throughout my keep. And I ate lots (see restaurant suggestions on the backside of this web page), together with strolling into eating places sight unseen, with out trying issues up on an app.

This is a enjoyable reality: Rouen has 650 eating places for its inhabitants of round half one million, and 196 bars – it ranks third in France when it comes to bars per capita!

7. Have lunch in a former ossuary as soon as stuffed by plague victims

Talking of meals, and chances are you’ll suppose this slightly ghoulish, an uncommon venue for lunch is hidden away within the Aître Saint-Maclou (from the Latin phrase “atrium”, which implies central courtyard). 

What’s sudden is that the courtyard was as soon as a cemetery and ossuary, a repository for the our bodies of those that perished in varied waves of the plague in Rouen. The poorest had been thrown right into a mass grave within the middle, whereas the wealthier had been buried underneath the varied wings which they constructed to encompass the mass grave.

An off-the-cuff lunch within the Aître Saint-Maclou ©OffbeatFrance/Leyla Alyanak

As we speak, the atrium’s metamorphosis is full. Not solely is it the positioning of concert events and performs, however it’s also house to the Café Hamlet, an intriguing little restaurant whose menu is the work of Gilles Tournadre, a Michelin-starred chef who handed again his stars in alternate for a much less irritating life. 

8. Benefit from the iconic meal Julia Little one ate in France’s oldest inn, La Couronne 

Equally odd in environment is La Couronne, if you concentrate on it.

It’s located on the sting of the Place du Vieux Marché (Outdated Market Sq.), in full sight of the spot on which, in 1431, Joan of Arc was burned on the stake. (It’s stated that the rooms within the inn above it going through the sq. had been full on the evening she was put to loss of life.)

However that’s not the declare to fame I wish to discuss right here.

It was Wednesday 3 November 1948 and July Little one, who had docked in France simply hours earlier than, skilled what she referred to as “probably the most thrilling meal of my life”.

“It was an epiphany,” she stated, in her e book My Life in France. “In all of the years because the succulent meal, I’ve but to lose the sentiments of marvel and pleasure that it impressed in me. I can nonetheless virtually style it. And considering again on it now jogs my memory that the pleasures of desk, and of life, are infinite–toujours bon appétit!”

You, too, can expertise Julia’s “epiphany” by sampling the Julia Little one menu, which was common at a number of tables the evening I used to be there (I needed to be completely different and tried an beautiful risotto with walnut emulsion…)

Julia Little one ate right here! ©OffbeatFrance/Leyla Alyanak

9. Inform time with Le Gros Horloge

Should you’ve ever seen {a photograph} of Rouen, there’s each likelihood it included the 14th-century Gros-Horloge, or Large Clock Tower, one of many oldest astronomical clocks in France. I feel solely the clocks in Cluny, Strasbourg and Lyon (examine it right here) are older.

What the road of the Gros Horloge actually seems like ©OffbeatFrance/Leyla Alyanak

The very first thing you’ll spot is the clock face and its single hour hand (sure, they solely had one hand within the Center Ages), a solar and moon to point the tides of this port metropolis, the day of the week, and the lambs on the town’s coat of arms.

Round to the facet, a fountain symbolizes the union between Rouen and the Seine River.

One of the best half is that you may go inside.

Climbing into the small sq. tower – which additionally housed the house of the clock’s Governor – you’ll be able to see all of the interior workings, together with gears and bells.

Proper on the very prime, a tiny ledge (fortunately protected by a excessive parapet) opens up onto a spectacular view of Rouen.

A view of the Rouen Cathedral from the highest of the Gros Horloge ©OffbeatFrance/Leyla Alyanak

10. Pay homage to the town’s literary giants

Rouen additionally enjoys a wholesome literary custom as the house of Seventeenth-century playwright Pierre Corneille, who wrote The Cid, and Gustave Flaubert, creator of Madame Bovary.

You’ll be able to go to the home wherein Corneille was born, simply off the Vieux-Marché sq., and his “nation house”, now the Corneille Museum, is a ten-minute drive from Rouen, in Petite-Couronne.

As for Flaubert, he spent his first 25 years in Rouen, a lot of it in a wing of the Lodge-Dieu, or hospital, the place his father was head surgeon. The hospital, inside strolling distance of the Vieux-Marché, incorporates his room (closed to visits) but in addition a museum of the historical past of medication.

11. Rummage via brocantes and vintage retailers

This go to is the simplest of all of them: stroll out your door, head for Outdated Rouen, and window store. I don’t know if that is specific to Normandy however I used to be shocked on the variety of vintage retailers scattered across the historic middle… I needed to enter each single one!

Whilst you’ll discover them all through the previous city, they’re concentrated in regards to the Church of Saint-Maclou church alongside the rue Damiette.

12. Go to considered one of Rouen’s oddest museums, situated in a former chapel

The primary time I noticed {a photograph} of this uncommon museum, I knew I must go to. If I’m trustworthy, this museum was in all probability what prompted me to go.  

Trying down on the principle exhibit room of the ironworks museum ©OffbeatFrance/Leyla Alyanak

Welcome to the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles, a wrought iron assortment set in a disaffected church, the Eglise Saint-Laurent.

Based greater than 100 years in the past, the museum’s distinctive ironworks come from Henri Le Secqu des Tournelles and his father and contains every part from architectural components to slacks and instruments and stitching equipment. 

An early Swiss Military knife model? ©OffbeatFrance/Leyla Alyanak

Right here’s a simple strategy to go to: Spend the morning on the Museum of High quality Arts of Rouen having fun with Monet. Then have lunch at In Situ across the nook, and at last, cross the road to the museum after lunch (it’s closed within the mornings).

Should you like odd collections displayed with originality, chances are you’ll not wish to go away. I used to be caught there for longer than deliberate when a thunderstorm made it troublesome to go away – however definitely amplified the sense of thriller I felt inside.

…and some different claims to fame

• The Maison Elegant, France’s oldest Jewish monument, is situated right here (though you’ll be able to solely go to it by way of guided tour on Saturdays and I had left, so was unable to see it)
• Rouen is Western Europe’s prime cereal exporter
• its 12 city-owned museums are FREE
• it’s house to the Armada, the world’s largest tall-ship gathering

Attending to Rouen

Rouen is a simple day journey from Paris, whether or not by automotive or by prepare.

Rouen from Paris by automotive

Rouen is a two-hour drive from Paris, some 135km/84mi, alongside the A13 (though there are additionally different routes). Listed here are Michelin’s driving directions.

Should you don’t have your individual automotive, you’ll be able to examine rental costs and availability right here.

Rouen from Paris by prepare

Rouen by prepare is straightforward. Some 28 trains go away each day from St Lazare prepare station in Paris and the trip lasts about 1h40. Rouen-Rive Droite station, the principle Rouen prepare station, is inside strolling distance of the previous city. You’ll be able to e book your prepare right here.

Locations to eat in Rouen

Rouen is a delight for the palate]. I can advocate the next eateries:

• Gill Pastry store, with the identical house owners because the Café Hamlet, on the principle road close to the doorway of the Aître

• In Situ, across the nook from the Musée des Beaux-Arts. The chef, Laurent Blanchard, is a member of the Membership des Toques de Rouen, a neighborhood culinary affiliation which represents the town’s finest cooks.

• Café Victor, when you’re able to expertise Canard à la Rouennaise, a world-famous native specialty of duck cooked in its personal blood

• For some snacks, attempt the award-winning Fromagerie Jollit, additionally member of Membership des Toques de Rouen, or Ma Boulangerie, whose chef Christophe Cressent is a Meilleur Ouvrier de France (the elite of France’s culinary scene, with extraordinarily troublesome entry necessities)

The place to remain in Rouen

I stayed on the Finest Western Lodge Dieppe, proper throughout the road from the prepare station. Tremendous handy, and residential of the Café Victor, of Canard à la Rouennaise fame.

Different really helpful inns embody:

• The Radisson Blu, additionally close to the prepare station, with its famend Le Jehanne restaurant

• The luxurious Bourg Theroulde, a Marriott property, proper of the Place du Vieux-Marché

• Should you’d slightly keep in a price range house, this one is close to the River Seine however nonetheless downtown 

Earlier than you go…

Going again in time, we should not overlook that as Rotomagus, Rouen was Gaul’s second most essential metropolis (after Lugdunum, or Lyon).

However what has remained most seen are its medieval roots, which you will spot all through the previous city. Do wander round by yourself, or if you would like to know the tales behind the locations you see, take a guided tour and go to corners you won’t in any other case see.

It is also a fantastic metropolis for consuming, and has loads of bike routes for these of you who have to burn off all that good meals. I, then again, was completely content material with sitting in a café and watching the Rouennais go about their enterprise.

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