2017 is a very special year for the harbour city of Le Havre in Normandy. 500 years earlier, the French King Francois I ordered a city and its associated harbour to be built at the mouth of the Seine river. It took a legion of Dutch engineers to dry out the swamps for it to […]

The biggest single sports event in France, even in the word, is the prestigious  bicycle race named the “Tour De France“. There are very few people who will not have heard of the “Tour”, even in the remotest villages in the world. Considered as the most prestigious bicycle race in the world, the Tour has been […]

Every two years, the epic yacht race from Le Havre to South America is held. Called the Transat Jacques Vabre, the first ever race was held in 1993. The race is also called the “Route du Cafe”, since it joins Le Havre with the historical coffee growing places in South America. The main sponsor of the race, […]

Once a year, usually the first weekend of February (or last weekend of January), in the Northern beach resort of Le Touquet, a massive beach enduro is organised. This very heavily attended event consist of qauds and motorcycles racing alongside the very wide and long sandy beach of Le Touquet. This event, that on top of providing […]

Once a year, around May, there is a big aeronautical meeting/exhibition at La Ferte-Alais, a small town located some 50 kilometres South of Paris.. Not as big and high tech as the Paris Air Show, the La Ferte-Alais specialises in vintage aircraft, and they do it very well. The show is all about the old […]

Every five or six years, Rouen receives world’s tall ships, those sail ships with enormous masts often used by different country’s navy as training ship. Some 50 ships, not all of them sail ships since there are also a few modern warships, gather at the Rouen harbour and docks.   For some ten days, all […]

Once a year, mid October, Rouen closes its city centre during a weekend and holds the “Fete du Ventre et de la Gastronomie Normande” festival. The best translation would be “Festival of the Stomach and Normandy Gastronomy“, meaning food, but it’s more than that. It’s also the “stomach” of Rouen, or if you want to put […]

Fecamp was, and probably still is, a large herring fishing city. Several herring smoking factories were located alongside the docks, but all have now disappeared. But to remember the days that tons of herrings were brought to the shores and smoked, once a year the city Fecamp hold a Herring Festival. Called “Fête du Hareng” […]