It took a while but here I am with another road trip recap. Heading into summer 2019 we knew we wanted to drive again a few thousand kilometers around Central Europe like we had done every summer since 2012 besides 2016. Previously we had always taken the long route by driving there all the way from Helsinki but now my girlfriend was quite determined to never do it again after seeing Sweden’s admittedly (mostly, the drive by the Vättern lake is rather nice) boring-as-hell highway E4 and Germany’s never-ending roadworks and resulting traffic jams one time too many.
Thus we would fly and rent a car which meant that I could not buy as much wine as I wanted but as I was given no options really I had to suck it up and try to make the best out of it. There was an advantage to this decision and it was time saved that would allow us to fit all or almost all of France’s coastline into three weeks, which is something we had been thinking about doing for a couple of years. We had never explored neither the north nor the west coasts so we felt like there was a lot for us to see and experience still in France.
In late-June we indeed flew to Düsseldorf Germany and hopped into a brand new Toyota C-HR hybrid: a car that looks excitingly (YMMV) futuristic and has some cool features but would not be anyone’s first choice for drag racing. Without any exaggeration it felt downright comical how slowly it got up to speed and the sad noise the engine made while trying its hardest. Alas, we were there for a marathon, not a sprint, so off we went and headed for Ghent, Belgium first for one night.
We had never stopped anywhere in Belgium before besides a gas station but as it was on our way and we had heard good things about Ghent we thought why not. It was Sunday so it was not terribly crowded - some tourists but mostly young (seemingly) local people.
The city center seemed like a nice combination of beautiful old architecture and a healthy amount of canals. It was quite lively at the restaurant terraces and due to the hot weather there certainly was a constant need for refreshments.
We started our vacation walking a solid of 25 000+ steps on the first day and Ghent certainly offered nice surroundings for this. We closed the day on a good note by having some very decent burgers and IPAs (I know, very Belgian) in a gastro pub type called Uncle Babe’s. Regardless - funny enough - even though we were relatively close to France and lots of people spoke French I felt a strong craving to get to France already. What can I say, I’m a francophile for life.
Next day our destination was the relatively famous town of Deauville but as we did not want to drive 4 hours straight we decided to choose some place on the coast where to stop for lunch. I had never heard of Le Tréport but it was rather strategically placed on the map so that is where we ended up. Three hours of driving does not feel like THAT much but the weather was something totally different than the day before in Belgium. Instead of heat and sunshine it was now around 20 degrees celsius and the kind of grey that strongly hints at coming rain. Sure enough, soon it came. That said we were happy to be in France and experience a different part of the country than what we were used to. Certainly it felt like we had arrived in France!
It was quiet, not a lot of people anywhere to be seen and a large part of the numerous seaside restaurants were closed. The town felt like a place that gets tourists but is by no means a massive destination.
Quite a dramatic looking cliff.
Me at my most artistic.
Despite having never been in this part of my spiritual homeland I had definitely acquired a taste for crêpes salées or galettes or whatever you wish to call them. I just love to have them for lunch together with cider or beer. The cider selection here did not make me feel very confident so a St. Feuillen ale was my choice - can’t go wrong with it. The galettes were made there at the covered terrace a couple of meters from us by a man while his wife was waiting the tables and overall we definitely enjoyed it all despite the rain. As a short first stop in France Le Tréport served us well.