The village of Barfleur, with its picturesque granite houses, has a long maritime history and is listed as one of the Most Beautiful Villages of France. The small fishing port dominated by the silhouette of its 17th-century church makes a charming scene.
Barfleur is a coastal town of the English Channel in the Normandy region, northeast of the Cotentin peninsula, 27 km east of Cherbourg. At first occupied by Vikings, Barfleur knew a prestigious era when the locality became in the eleventh century the official port from where the dukes of Normandy and the British sovereigns embarked to return to England. The city has a population of 9,000 and is proud to be the first port in Normandy. However, in 1346, King Edward III ravaged the region. Barfleur is ransacked and destroyed. This is the beginning of the Hundred Years War. It was not until the nineteenth century that the present port was redeveloped, the sea having meanwhile gained on the land.
Fishing (notably the so-called open-sea mussel) remains one of the centers of activity of the small town which only has about 650 inhabitants but has retained an authentic charm, with its many granite houses and covered with Schist from the 16th to the 19th century.
Member of the Association of Most Beautiful Villages of France, Barfleur has preserved other elements of historical heritage. With its cultural vitality, its port of "postcard" as the beauty of its landscapes, this makes the small town a major tourist pole of the Cotentin.
Like the painters Antoine Guillemet and Paul Signac, the writers Victor Hugo and Jules Renard, among others, who appreciated it since the 19th century, thousands of visitors discover and now enjoy this character station.
Barfleur is a coastal town of the English Channel in the Normandy region, northeast of the Cotentin peninsula, 27 km east of Cherbourg. At first occupied by Vikings, Barfleur knew a prestigious era when the locality became in the eleventh century the official port from where the dukes of Normandy and the British sovereigns embarked to return to England. The city has a population of 9,000 and is proud to be the first port in Normandy. However, in 1346, King Edward III ravaged the region. Barfleur is ransacked and destroyed. This is the beginning of the Hundred Years War. It was not until the nineteenth century that the present port was redeveloped, the sea having meanwhile gained on the land.
Fishing (notably the so-called open-sea mussel) remains one of the centers of activity of the small town which only has about 650 inhabitants but has retained an authentic charm, with its many granite houses and covered with Schist from the 16th to the 19th century.
Member of the Association of Most Beautiful Villages of France, Barfleur has preserved other elements of historical heritage. With its cultural vitality, its port of "postcard" as the beauty of its landscapes, this makes the small town a major tourist pole of the Cotentin.
Like the painters Antoine Guillemet and Paul Signac, the writers Victor Hugo and Jules Renard, among others, who appreciated it since the 19th century, thousands of visitors discover and now enjoy this beautiful place.
