France
Honfleur's Vieux-Bassin harbor, painted by Boudin and Monet, hosts a small Advent market in one of Normandy's prettiest ports.
Famous for
Impressionist harbor and a small market in a picture-perfect Normandy port.
Honfleur is the Seine's Normandy port — a picture-perfect harbor of tall slate-and-timber houses lining the Vieux-Bassin (old dock), painted by Boudin, Monet, and the Impressionists who gathered here. Its Advent market, on the Place de la Mairie and around the unusual wooden St. Catherine's Church (the largest wooden church in France), is small and open on Advent weekends. The local specialty is moules-frites paired with a glass of Calvados, the Norman apple brandy. Honfleur is a common stop on Seine sailings that reach the Normandy coast.
Dates: Advent weekends
Vibe: Picturesque and salty — a working harbor dressed for the season.
Local tip
Have a Calvados at a harbor-side café as the lights come on — the Vieux-Bassin is one of the most painted views in France.
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