Honfleur, France

So here goes our honeymoon snippets!

Upon landing in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, we picked up our rental car and started driving towards our first accommodation. It wasn't an easy drive for the both of us firstly because Wk had to drive on the left side and keep to the right side of the road for the first time. And then there was the rain. Plus after all that flying (total of 19-20 hours of travelling+transit) we were both exhausted. 

The thing I hate about roads in France in the cities or towns is there aren't many cross junctions with traffic lights, instead, they have roundabouts. LOTS of roundabouts. I usually only get motion sickness on winding roads, but the amount of roundabouts in France was enough to give me a really bad motion sickness. So bad.

However, the moment we stepped into our hotel room all that suffering disappeared. Stepping into our room felt like the biggest reward we have received in our lives after a really long, painful struggle. I know I sound dramatic and like I'm exaggerating but I'm not.

Our room Chambre Or, was divine! It was warm, clean, spacious, comfortable for 2, well facilitated and very tastefully decorated.

It is an 18th century property which Aline, our lovely host, bought and renovated. Aline herself used to be a film director, who enjoys a bit of interior designing. 

 

Pictures below is the living area on ground floor where guests are served organic, continental breakfast. Eggs can also be requested, she will cook it to your liking.

The stairs to get to our room was the most narrow and steep stairs I've ever climbed! 

A picture before we said our goodbyes.

Aline insisted I must stand slightly aside so that the camera can see the fireplace behind us XD

Maison de Honfleur

06 78745993

21 rue Saint-Leonard, 14600 Honfleur

maisondehonfleur@orange.fr

Read my review here on Tripadvisor (to be linked when it's approved)

After checking out from the hotel we explored the town a little before moving on to our next destination.

Our companion for the entire France trip

Apparently most Europeans, or maybe just the French, drive manual cars. The only auto the company had was this Citroen C4, which unfortunately wasn't a very good car for us; very slow pick up - a pain in traffic lights and parking and can be very 'jerky'. The size also isn't ideal when entering historical towns with narrow streets - absolute nightmare! Other than that, it's spacious inside and comfortable enough when the car isn't jerky.

Back to Honfleur. We walked along the port which has a beautiful view, went into a few churches, got lost in the stone-paved laneways and admired some of the timber walled houses. 

Honfleur is a small maritime town situated in Normandie, a region in France known for its dairy products eg. milk, cream, and cheese. Especially the soft cheeses such as Brie and Camembert. There's actually a place in Normandie called Camembert! Assuming it's where Camembert cheese originated. We didn't get to go there because it was a bit off from our travel plans.

 

 

Most of the churches were built based on naval construction, out of chestnut wood which according to Aline, is a natural spider repellent. Whatever that is, we NEED it. Our house is full of spiders! Anyway, if you look at the ceiling in the picture above, it's looks like an upside down ship's hull.

 

For lunch Aline recommended and kindly helped us make a reservation at this restaurant which serves traditional Norman cuisine - exactly what we were after since we were in Normandie!

Complimentary peanuts and marinated olives for appetizers

Foie gras terrine

Some kind of shellfish baked with garlic butter

Scallops (or St. Jacques in french) with lemon butter

Grilled beef with potato galette, salsa and salad

Norman cheese plate

A concoction of Nutella sauce, creme Chantilly aka sweetened whipped cream and nuts

Tarte Tatin

Restaurant L'homme de Bois
02 31897527
30-32, rue de L'Homme de Bois
14600 Honfleur

We had the 4 courses menu (own choice of entree, main, standard cheese and dessert) each (so 8 plates in total) which sent us into a food coma! 

Our favourites would be the mains. My scallops were so sweet and succulent. Wk's beef were cooked a bit too rare and it wasn't a good cut of beef but the highlight was the potato galette - SO delicious. The foie gras terrine wasn't what I expected to be and to be honest isn't the kind of foie gras I enjoy. Wk's shellfish was good. The desserts although nothing wrong with them, they were forgettable. The cheeses as we have expected, were really good cheeses since it's the main produce of the region. Unfortunately it eventually upset my tummy :( More about that in future post. 

We took a short stroll after the lunch to get some digestion going since it was such a heavy meal, before driving to Mont Saint-Michel.

  

I won't pretend I know or am interested in history (lol) so from my understanding, Mont Saint-Michel is a tiny island with an ancient town in Normandie which has a famous abbey and a beautiful view. And lots of Japanese tourist, which is not a problem or anything but we found it odd that it's as though this place is frequented by Japanese tourist that the souvenir shops have Japanese words and Japanese speaking sales assistants.

 

Our tiny room and tiny beds

 

The red arrow points to our room's balcony which overlooks the bay

I remember clearly I didn't sleep well and woke up feeling sick in my stomach the next day FML. I'll leave the rest of the details of our stay in Mont Saint-Michel in the next post.

Till then!