Oysters, omlettes, and crème brûlée are all culinary synonyms of France. We should obviously add frog legs to this list, but we won’t as we haven’t managed to find them on our way in any menu… Or maybe we actually have but didn’t know what they were as we don’t speak French? 🙂

Ah yes — it’s time for the first word of advice for everyone who chose to learn foreign languages other than French: on a trip take a small dictionary with you and learn the names of your favourite dishes. This will help you to avoid disappointment (“this fish was supposed to be meat!”) and easily find what you want in the menu, for example something I love most — chèvre chaud, a salad with warm goat’s cheese 😉

But let’s go back to our journey. I have to say we like going to popular spots, such as Zakopane, Paris and Lisbon but at the same time we love discovering and exploring new places — and this is how we came to the north of France.

This part of France is really wonderful, attracts like a magnet and is intriguing even with its constant drizzle… or maybe it is because of this rain, which add to the atmosphere of mystery and magic in all those picturesque towns?… Normandy, Brittany: small harbours, houses like from a fairy tale, delicious food and peace — no crowds of tourists, small hotels, all this makes it and ideal place for travelling and tasting life…

Honfleur — a must see

Honfleur

Honfleur

If you go to Normandy, Honfleur, a picturesque port town, is a must — with all its charming streets, small shops selling wine, souvenirs, chocolates, and modest art galleries. There are also a lot of very welcoming restaurants that offer you a chance to eat a good meal and regain some energy and continue your sightseeing.

Seafood fans will be delighted at a hotel restaurant called Entre Terre et Mer (12 place Hamelin). Important! a small Polish-French glossary is really necessary in order to understand the menu. We started with a mussel soup with saffron, followed by oysters and a lobster which was granted a 10/10 note by Łukasz — and he really does have high expectations when it comes to food! We finished with no other but the traditional French crème brûlée with a crackling sugar top (yummy!), perfect texture and this delicious caramel taste. The dessert was decorated with only one small strawberry but, on the other hand, why over-decorate a perfect dish?

Mont Saint Michel

Mysterious Mont Saint-Michel

Mysterious Mont Saint-Michel

We wanted to escape the rain and so we left Honfleur and went to the abbey in Mont Saint Michel, located on a beautiful island. The view there takes your breath away as the island connected to the mainland with a 2 km causeway. The abbey, rising on the island, looks a bit mysterious and sinister at the same time — yet only if you look at it from a distance. Once we enter the gates of the town, we’ll see shops with souvenirs, lots of small restaurants and loads of tourists. Wikipedia says that Mont Saint Michel is the second most popular tourist attraction in France (after Paris of course) and looking at the number of people, cars and campers around it’s hard to disagree with this opinion 🙂

We also decided to take a walk — a very short one though as it turned out not to be a good place for walking with a baby in a pram… First stairs and we were forced to give up. Still, I was very excited by the vision of eating an omlette in the very famous and recommended by travel guides La Mere Poulard (located just at the entrance to the town) — no luck again this time, as it was the moment of siesta. In other words, remember to plan your visit outside this afternoon nap time not only in hot Spain and Italy but also in rainy Normandy.

Dinan

Another

charming streets of Dinan

charming streets of Dinan

must see on the way through the North of France, this time in Brittany. Pretty, small streets, old houses made of stone, cobblestones and this picturesque, romantic almost fairy-tale like atmosphere… like as if time stopped here long ago. One important thing — most of these lovely streets are not easy to walk on with a pram as they are cobblestoned and quite steep. Here a strong man is a must! Thank’s God I had one such man with me 😉

Our journey through the north of France did not end in Dinan. We went as far as to the border with Spain in the Basque country. But today we’ll take a moment and take a rest in the beautiful, small Dinan… tbc.