1936 On the Continent

St.-Valery-en-Caux, Les Petites Dalles, Veules, etc., all of them hidden among the trees in the dip behind the cliffs.
    Lastly, there is Dieppe, which is the first place a large number of English visitors see and far more worth seeing than most of them imagine. It is a relatively big town of some 25,000 inhabitants, a busy industrial centre, fishing port and bathing resort. In summer, of course, it is rather crowded for those who like quiet and the absence of their fellows, as it is the nearest beach to Paris and one of the nearest French beaches to England. But for all that, ithas all the delightful characteristics of a fishing village, a seaport and a fashionable resort rolled into one, though I wouldn’t lay too much accent on the “fashionable”!
    Dieppe has some lovely buildings too (how few are the French towns which have not!). There is its thirteenth-century church of Saint-Jacques, its early sixteenth-century church of St.-Remi, which marks the passage from the Gothic to the Renaissance style, and then the castle dominating the whole town from the top of the cliff. About 4 miles away there is another castle, the Château d’Arques, which will remind you of the battle fought by King Henry IV at the end of the Wars of Religion. It was built by the uncle of William the Conqueror. Among the many good hotels in Dieppe I would recommend especially the Royal down on the seashore or the Hôtel des Arcades, which is famous for its fish.
    Le Tréport, about 12 miles along the coast, is another very popular resort, and you will see there a very peculiar-looking Hôtel de Ville built in mosaic and another church of Saint-Jacques, this time in the Flamboyant Gothic style.
Calvados and its Beaches
    All the way from the mouth of the Seine to the mouth of the Orne extends an immense plain of sand, a perfect contrast in yellow to the green fields of Normandy behind it. This is the celebrated Norman coast with Trouville and Deauville as its social and popular centres. They have somewhat lost their popularity and renown in recent years, but there are still plenty of people who go there in summer and for week-ends.
    Honfleur, opposite le Havre, on the other side of the Seine estuary, is a typical Norman port with picturesque docks and a lovely old church. The peculiar thing about this church, the Church of Sainte-Catherine, is that it is entirely built in wood, and yet is one of the purest examples of Flamboyant Gothic. The Hôtel du Cheval Blanc is a good hotel to stay at, but personally I prefer the Hôtel St.-Siméon, on the Trouville road crossing the beautiful forest of Touques.
    Trouville-Deauville, which are only kept apart by the small river La Touques, form for all practical purposes asingle vast resort, with everything anyone could possibly wish for a holiday. There are luxurious hotels by the hundred, cafés everywhere, two casinos, magnificent sports grounds, and a hippodrome. Deauville is the smarter of the two, especially along the Boulevard Eugène Cornuché and the famous wooden promenade behind the immense beach. If you want cheaper hotels, I should go to the Hôtel de France in Trouville, 34 Quai de Joinville, or the Hôtel Jouvence in Deauville, 121 Avenue de la République; you could take your meals in the same avenue at the Restaurant Moulin à Vent.
    Lisieux, the holy city of Normandy, is at a convenient distance from Deauville, and even if you do not happen to be interested in Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus herself, and in the many souvenirs of her life, with which Lisieux is crammed, you will find it a charming old town. It has a beautiful cathedral and old church, and there is a simplicity about the people that you will certainly find attractive.
    The whole length of the coast from Deauville onwards is one huge seaside resort frequented mainly by the French upper classes: Villers sur Mer, where the Greenwich Meridian passes, Houlgate and Cabourg. The latter is just nothing but a seaside resort. It was built for that purpose along a magnificent stretch of sand and all its streets point invitingly to the casino.
Caen
    Caen is the second most important town in Normandy. It is a busy metallurgical and commercial centre with some 55,000 inhabitants, but is at the same time a famous university town. It has even been nicknamed the “Norman Athens.”
    In the centre of the town stands the Church of Saint-Pierre. The two other principal monuments of interest are the Abbaye aux Dames (Ladies’ Abbey) and