NORMANDY PRESS PACK Honfleur © S.Lorkin Anibas photography 2021 1 Contents Travelling to Normandy If you fly from Nordic countries to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport or to Paris Orly 2021 – Bicentenary of the birth of the great Airport, you’ll either have to rent a car to travel to Normandy or take a taxi to one of Normandy author Gustave Flaubert p. 04 the Paris’ train stations. It’s also possible to travel from Paris to Normandy by train. New in 2021 p. 08 Editorial Normandy, for sustainable tourism Tourist trips around Normandy p. 12 Pressing issues now affecting everyone make it necessary for all of us to question the impact we make on the environment, on the economy, on society, socially… Tourism, given - Unmissable trips to Normandy p. 12 its economic importance and expansion, is fully implicated in such considerations. - Artistic trips to Normandy p. 16 All the more so in 2021. The Normandy Tourist Board is fully aware that today’s visitors and those of the future will - Gastronomic trips to Normandy p. 20 come with expectations and demands as regards such environmental and societal issues, - Family trips to Normandy p. 24 and that we should play our part in contributing to much-needed changes. - Trips off the beaten track in Normandy p. 28 Across the world, individual and institutional initiatives are emerging to conserve the resources of the planet. - Magical trips around Normandy p. 32 Normandy is committed to sustainable development in order to collectively prepare for the tourism of tomorrow. It is our responsibility to stand alongside professionals, Welcome to Normandy p. 36 encouraging them to be more responsible in this regard, and to improve what they have on offer to the visiting public. These green initiatives will enable us to better manage the flow of tourists and to limit the environmental effects that risk overwhelming Map of Normandy p. 38 our ecosystems. Tomorrow’s generations will be increasingly demanding how Normandy can be visited without having to fall back on the car. Responsible tourism has been identified by the Normandy Tourist Board as one of its key values. Taking on this initiative, we wish to open up a dialogue with our visitors and all those involved in choosing our services and products. Now is the time to rediscover destinations close to home that are easily accessible and to head off the beaten track, to forge links with local people, enjoying the exchanges, the sense of sharing and the authenticity that come from such encounters. Discover a new form of inspiration in Normandy! www.normandy-tourism.org The tourist offers featuring a little green leaf are committed to Rouen 2© Vincent Rustuel environmentally friendly, sustainable tourism. Diary Diary 2021 2021 Bicentenary of the birth of Biography of Gustave Flaubert 1821: Gustave Flaubert is born in Rouen. 1857: Publication of Gustave Flaubert’s In childhood, he lives at Rouen’s Hôtel-Dieu, novel Madame Bovary, an instant sensation! the great Normandy author or hospital, where his father is head surgeon. Further masterpieces follow, Having embarked on law studies in Paris, as Gustave comes to be regarded as Gustave Flaubert Gustave gives up on them to dedicate the inventor of the modern novel. himself to writing. 1844: Gustave sets up his writing studio 1880: Gustave dies at Croisset. April in his garden pavilion at Croisset, beside 2021 - the Seine just west of Rouen. Living from June private means, he divides his time between stints in his Normandy studio, regular 2022 stays in Paris and the odd trip abroad. Musée Flaubert et d’histoire de la médecine This museum, located in the house where Gustave Flaubert was born, has a dual Statue flaubert © JF Lange vocation, being both medical and literary! Visitors can see Gustave’s bedroom, The year 2021 sees the celebration of the bicentenary of the birth of Gustave containing a few childhood mementoes as Flaubert. His arrival into the world and his life in Normandy, together with his well as family portraits. You can also view attachment to the region, especially as a place where part of his writing is set, make startling, unique historical collections of Flaubert an exceptional writer in Normandy’s history. medical equipment and re-creations, including From April 2021 to June 2022, some 40 events will be staged across Normandy for of a cabinet of curiosities and an apothecary’s. the general public to enjoy, including exhibitions, shows, conferences, informative End your tour in the medicinal plants garden. events, guided tours and theatrical walks… www.chu-rouen.fr/le-chu/culture-et- patrimoine/le-musee-flaubert/ www.flaubert21.fr Musée flaubert © Rouen Normandie tourisme JF Lange 4 5 Diary Diary 2021 2021 Salammbô Exhibition at Rouen Museum A literary walk to immerse yourself in Gustave of Fine Art, in 2021 Flaubert’s most famous novel, Madame Bovary From 30 April to 20 September 2021, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen is staging an exhibition entitled ‘Salammbô’ to mark the bicentenary of Gustave Flaubert’s birth. From 2021, leaving from Vassonville, the 12km hiking circuit or loop entitled This exhibition’s main themes revolve around the power of creativity and the impact a L’Arbalète et le Bosmelet, laid out and signposted by the Office de Tourisme Terroir de work by Flaubert could have on his period’s art and cultural production. Caux, will be enriched by cultural additions to enhance your literary discoveries on a Flaubert’s historical novel Salammbô, set in 3rd century BC Carthage, presented a special trail, ‘A la Rencontre de Flaubert’. vision of an idealised, exotic, sensual, enchanting Orient, but also one marked by This trail, taking you via a plain, a section of the French national GR210 hiking violence and oppressive heat. The exhibition displays 250 works gathered from path, and a portion with views of the Château de Bosmelet, will be dotted with six public and private French and European collections, including pieces from the Louvre interpretive panels and provide downloadable sound tracks, bringing together the and the Musée National d’Art Moderne-Centre Pompidou. Archaeological discoveries places you pass through with relevant sections from the novel Madame Bovary. from Carthage will add to the range of this exhibition, organised in association with Hiking loop L’Arbalète et le Bosmelet – 12km – 3hrs Marseille’s Mucem and Tunisia’s Institut National du Patrimoine Culturel de Tunis. www.mbarouen.fr www.quibervillesurmer-auffay-tourisme.com Following in Flaubert’s footsteps through Normandy Head out to discover Plunge into the settings of Flaubert in Normandy: Flaubert’s novels: - at the Musée Flaubert de Rouen - in Le Havre (the writer’s birthplace), (L’Education Sentimentale / Musée des Beaux-Art © V. Joannon - at the Pavillon de Croisset at Canteleu Sentimental Education) (the writer’s studio beside the Seine), - in Tôtes and the surrounding area - at Trouville, where Flaubert stayed 15 (Tostes in the novel Madame Bovary) times during summer seasons from - in Pont l’Evêque, Trouville and Honfleur 1834 on, and along the Côte Fleurie (Un cœur simple / A Simple Heart) - in Falaise and Caen (as he also stayed in Deauville (Bouvard et Pécuchet) and Honfleur) - in Lyons-la-Forêt (used in 1991 as the setting for the filming of the movie Madame Bovary, © V. Mulard OT Terroir de Caux directed by Claude Chabrol) 6 7 New in 2021 New in 2021 Opening of Les Franciscaines, An innovative, hybrid cultural venue In this new cultural venue, the various spaces interconnect. For example, in the heart an innovative cultural of the multimedia library you’ll find an exhibition area that’s free to visit and focuses on themes dear to Deauville, such as memories of the beach resort, horses, the arts and venue in Deauville shows, as well as a certain stylish way of living associated with the place! The collections on display consist of paintings and art objects from the 19th and 20th centuries, including a few Impressionist works, along with exceptional Spring photographs (from the Deauville festival, Planches Contact). 2021 One museum space is specifically dedicated to works by the figurative painter André Hambourg (1909 – 1999). In addition to the permanent exhibitions, Les Franciscaines A tip to bear in mind: will also put on three temporary exhibitions Deauville is easy to get a year, for which there will be an entrance fee. Interactive stations will allow visitors to to by train from Paris. create their own digital exhibitions, to be © Agence d’architecture et de scénographie Moatti & Rivière projected on the screens in the Great Gallery. Guided tours will be put on by staff at In Spring 2021, a new cultural venue called Les Franciscaines is opening its doors Les Franciscaines as well as by Deauville in Deauville. Housed in buildings dating as far back as 1876 and originally made for Tourist Office. a congregation of Franciscan sisters, it now contains a variety of spaces covering 6,500m² in total that include a multimedia library, a museum, an auditorium in https://lesfranciscaines.fr the former chapel with 250 seats, conference rooms, a fab lab, a 400m² atrium, www.indeauville.fr a cafeteria and a shop. All these spaces and the way they interrelate will create a unique, multi-purpose venue, and a permanent cultural scene in Deauville. The project to develop Les Franciscaines Constructed from 1876, this convent for Franciscan sisters served by turns as an orphanage, a school and a hospital, as well as the place where the sisters lived. Now, the renovated buildings harmoniously combine tradition and modernity. The project, while preserving the place’s past identity and respecting its history, also demonstrates a very contemporary approach, grafting cutting-edge architectural additions onto the old walls, for example with the Haut-Portail at the entrance, equipped with an immense digital screen that greets visitors on arrival.