DIVES SUR MER - Normandy/France

I have been on holidays in Normandy for a week and discovered the "côte fleurie" (the blooming coast). We visited several towns along the coast and the first one was Dives sur mer.

This historic harbour town is located in the Calvados Department. Apart from the harbour and port of Dives-sur-Mer, its main appeal is its history as a base for William the Conqueror’s fleet and subsequent conquest of England in 1060 before he started the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
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It is full of typical architectural heritage of the Middle Ages and Normandy. Wooden structures blend with the clay and straw of the walls in a number of houses still standing.

The most impressive place was the "William the Conqueror Village", although he had never put a food in there. It was an ancient staging post in the middle age and now it contains exhibitions and restaurants and the tourist office. It is also a place for artists.



The tourist office





Restaurants and shops



Exhibitions



an old pub like café



the specialities are crepes, they are not round but square and filled with whatever you want. We went in a "Creperie" and I had salmon and vegetables inside. It was delicious.

The 14th century market hall is the other main attraction, still used for the Saturday market and with incredible carpentry work in the roof





I visited it when it was empty and was impressed by the variety of beams !



On Saturday's it comes into life and it's packed with people. There are only food stalls where you can find all local food.



There is also a more recent hall, in which fish is sold on Saturdays.



All around the market hall in the little streets are stalls where you can buy everything from clothes to flowers.



Also on the market square you can see the 17th century Maison de Bois Hibout, a substantial stone manor house on five levels, today you can taste and buy Calvados in there.



We also had a look on the Church of Notre Dame which had been originally a small roman church built in the 11th century but was largely replaced in the 14th century by a grander gothic style church. It was in a rather bad state and we couldn't get inside the door was locked probably too dangerous. The gargoyles were all more or less broken and therefore didn't look very dangerous.



All through the city you see these half timbered houses. Here is a butcher's shop.



We walked through the old streets to my car, unfortunately we didn't have nice weather.