Rouen France

We had a very smooth crossing of the English Channel and, not surprisingly, a smooth journey up the river to the old city of Rouen, arriving there mid to late morning. We had travelled passed Rouen by car in the past many times but this was the first time that we were going to spend some time in the city and we were looking forward to the two night stay. We did not have much opportunity of seeing the landscape surrounding the river on our journey to the city as a lot of the journey was undertaken overnight, but we will have more chance on our return.

We took the shuttle bus from the ship and were dropped off quite close to the cathedral but we wandered off through the narrow streets and passed the many old and beautiful buildings that dominate the old part of the city. We eventually arrived at the ‘Place du Vieux Marché, where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake on 30th May 1431. There is a memorial commemorating her death. The square is dominated by very old buildings, the oldest dating back to the 14th century. We carried on walking to the cathedral and spent some time inside looking at the architecture and the tomb of King Richard the Lionheart. There is a lot of interest in the city and we intended to walk further the following day.Read more