Honfleur

Slate-fronted houses stand shoulder to shoulder around the Vieux Bassin, their reflections doubling in harbour water so still it looks poured. Honfleur in France smells of rope, diesel, and seafood; the old port is small enough that every table in every restaurant faces the same view. Boudin and Monet both painted this harbour, and the light that drew them here still works.

Honfleur's Vieux Bassin was built in the 17th century under the orders of Colbert as part of France's naval expansion. The Lieutenancy, the sole remnant of the medieval fortifications, guards the harbour entrance. The Église Sainte-Catherine, built entirely of wood by shipwrights in the 15th century, stands as the largest timber church in France — its twin naves resemble upturned hulls. Eugène Boudin, born in Honfleur in 1824, founded the artistic movement that would evolve into Impressionism, and the Musée Eugène Boudin houses works by him, Monet, Dufy, and other Normandy painters. The Pont de Normandie, a cable-stayed bridge spanning the Seine estuary, connects Honfleur to Le Havre and frames the river mouth in engineering steel.