Back to France

In the morning we had a short stopover in Honfleur, in the Normandy. Honfleur is a little town located at the river mouth of the Seine and belongs to the French department of Calvados. The department got its name from the “Plateau du Calvados”, but none of us is thinking about a plateau when we hear the name Calvados. Most of us are thinking about the Calvados brandy, which is produced out of apples grown in this area and is so well known all over the world.

There are flowering more than 9 million apple trees in the Normandy in springtime and there are thousands of festivals belonging to the apples in spring and autumn. The inhabitants of the Normandy say that they are famous for their “three C”, the Calvados, the Cider (an apple wine) and of course the Camembert, this fantastic tasty and creamy cheese.

Some passengers choose an excursion to see the hinterland and the beaches of the “côte fleurie” in the Normandy. One of the great charms of this area lies in the diversity of its manors, which are generally countrified, pleasant to look at, and always perfectly adapted to the rural setting.

During a longer stop in Deauville, an important seaside resort, the passengers had the possibility for a short beach walk. 

Afterwards they took the opportunity to visit a calvados distillery where they could even test different vintage.

Honfleur itself is a picturesque fishing port characterized by its tall and narrow houses, many of them with slate-covered frontages, even a bit inclined and its narrow alleys. The little harbor is so charming that you can find many painters sitting next to the water front. They feel in the same way inspired from this silhouette like the famous painters Boudin and Monet before them. 

Sark and Guernsey – A flower power day

The day we spent on Sark and Guernsey. Both islands belong to the Channel Islands which are a British Crown dependency in the English Channel next to the coast of the Normandy. 

We started with Sark in the morning and joined Guernsey in the afternoon. It was an incredible day. The sun was shining out of a clear blue sky the whole day.

Both islands are well known for their flowers and we have been here just at the right time in spring. We had the feeling to walk in an oversized garden – especially in Sark, where it is not allowed to drive a car; even the doctor has to visit his patients with a tractor.

We offered many different excursions during the day, like a horse carriage tour, bicycle tours, hiking tours and on Guernsey also a bus tour. Look at the pictures and you will get a little impression what we experienced.   

Visiting a «Beauty»

Today we spent the day on «Belle Île», (the Beauty Island). Belle Île belongs to a group of islands just in front of the Bretagne. As the island is so small (84sqkm) we could not expect a large pier, where FRAM could go alongside.  It was just the right time to use our PolarCircelBoats the first time. Boat by boat we reached the little harbor of Le Palais, the capital of this small island. 

There we were welcomed – as it is usual in harbors all over the world - by many gulls.

The first impression we got from Le Palais was dominated by the star shaped citadel built in the 16^th century.

Most passengers went on a panoramic excursion to learn as most as possible about the island. The coast shows a variation between steep cliffs in the southwest, the Côte Sauvage (Wild Coast), and wide and flat sandy beaches on the northeast side. The island became very popular during the 1870s and 1880s when the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet started to paint the rock formations at Belle Île. It was nice to stand in front of the rocks of “Port Coton” like Monet and enjoy the same view he had.

Sarah Bernhard t (1844-1923), at here time referred as “the most famous actress the world has ever known” lived for a long time on this beautiful Island. Here houses are still there and can be visited.

As we were here in spring everything was flowering in different colors. Now we understood the name: ”Belle Île” the “Beauty Isle”.

In the late afternoon we left the Island again, companied by many Gannets.

The day ended with a fruit- and ice carving show in the Panorama lounge.

Bilbao – A municipality of art in the heart of the Basque country

This day we spent in Bilbao, the capital of the Spanish province of Biscay and the capital of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. So we should perhaps use instead of the Spanish name Bilbao the Basque name Bilbo. But it does not matter if we say Bilbao or Bilbo, the only thing that was really important for us was the fact, that the town is amazing.

A free shuttle bus brought us from the harbor into the center of this wonderful city.

Bilbo was found in the early 14^th century by Diego Lopez V de Haro. For several hundred years it has been a smaller but quiet important harbor at the northern coast of Spain. During the industrialization throughout the 19^th and the beginning of the 20^th century, Bilbo experienced a heavy industrialization. During this time Bilbo grew very fast from a small harbor to a very important industrial region and became even Spain’s the second largest industrial region.

In the 1970^th the industrial crises hit Bilbao very strong. With a very disastrously flood that over-topped the river banks and destroyed many factories it came to a spontaneous end of the industrial time in Bilbo.

To make it short. Bilbao was able to change in an unique way from a heavy industrial region to an important cultural center. The very famous Guggenheim Museum of modern arts has been only the beginning of this alteration.

 Of course many passengers went on an excursion to the well-known Guggenheim Museum. Everybody was deep impressed about the construction of the museum’s building. Inside the museum we started to ask ourselves “What is art? Where does it start and where does it end?” We made the decision that nearly everything can be art. It belongs to the view you have to the special objects.

 Back on board we had the feeling that our whole day was filled up with art - not only in the museum. There was the art of historical buildings, the art of modern designed houses and bridges, the art of music, the art to make the famous and tasty Basque ham, the presentation of fresh vegetables in the shops and not to forget the art, done by nature, in this great country.

Everybody had its own favorites and that is fine so, as long as everybody enjoyed this day in the magnificent Basque country.

The day ended with FRAM’s very famous fashion show. Has this perhaps been art too?J