Rouen, France – steps of Jeanne d’Arc 🗡

Jubilee in Liechtenstein

My little jubilee, the 50th country visited was Liechtenstein. And boy what a ceremony happened. The Principality of Liechtenstein and the Swiss Confederation were celebrating the 100 years of their common Dounae contract. We were about to cross the bridge that was built over the river Rhine, but we were stopped as the celebration was just…

by RED RIDING HOOD May 6, 2023

Krapina and Zagorje – a fairytale at hand 🧚

Krapina is my hometown. Zagorje runs through veins. Kajkavian dialect is spoken out loud by my core. So please, allow me to show you a portion of heaven given to us people from Zagorje to enjoy, nourish, and remain proud. Krapina Krapina was first mentioned in 1193. It has always been a favorite site for…

by RED RIDING HOOD April 25, 2023April 26, 2023

Dijon, France 🍯

This is a post of a lovely, walkable city that will charm all wine, gastronomy and history lovers. From Markets to Mustard! This capital of Burgundie is calling you to get all its tastes. And you will not know all of these existed! The province was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until…

by RED RIDING HOOD April 5, 2023April 3, 2023

A-a-avignon, France

Avignon is a city on the Rhône river in the south of France. It is surrounded by walls of Avignon (French: Les Remparts d’Avignon) – a series of defensive stone walls that were originally built in the 14th century during the Avignon papacy and have been continually rebuilt and repaired throughout their subsequent history. We entered through Porte Saint-Michel. The…

by RED RIDING HOOD April 4, 2023April 3, 2023

Vineyards of Provence 🌱

This historical province of southeastern France, extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It largely corresponds with the modern administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur . The largest city of the region and its modern-day capital is Marseille. Known for its diverse landscapes, miles of…

by RED RIDING HOOD April 3, 2023

Salon-de-Provence, following Nostradamus’ prophecies

Michel de Notre-Dame, as we all know as Nostradamus, was an apothecary by profession, and published in the year 1555 a book called Les Prophéties (The Prophecies). In his collection of 942 poetic quatrains, he predicted various future events that experts, and many amateurs, find a way of interpreting into related events occurring in the present day. Some historical evidence suggests…

by RED RIDING HOOD April 1, 2023

Sanremo with stitches

This is going to be a short post. Sanremo is a city on the west coast of Italy, in the province of Liguria. It is the capital of the Riviera dei Fiori or Riviera of Flowers. Its casino also makes it a sort of Italian version of Monte Carlo. This large building in Art Nouveau…

by RED RIDING HOOD March 31, 2023

Genoa, Italy

Vivid green pesto, great wine and fabulous walks … Genoa is a city of indulgence. Driving in the city, noticing it’s fabulous big secession buildings it reminded me of the importance of Italy: banks, trades, imports of goods and businesses… Genoa was a medieval rival to Venice. It’s not been primped for tourists like Venice, though.…

by RED RIDING HOOD March 30, 2023March 30, 2023

Rapallo, Italia

Rapallo was never on my list. I never thought there could actually be something about this city. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, just between Cinque Terre and Genoa. As a girl from Croatia, I know it from the history books as the Treaty of Rapallo was signed there, in Villa Pagana, formerly known as Villa Spinola. A treaty…

by RED RIDING HOOD March 24, 2023March 22, 2023

Cinque Terre 💕 Italia

The five Cinque Terre villages are situated in northern Italy on the Mediterranean Sea, just 3 hours by train from Milan, Pisa and Florence. I have arrived by car and totally enjoyed the national park that spreads across the five villages. La Spezia My journey started in La Spezia. This was the very first stop as I…

by RED RIDING HOOD March 23, 2023March 22, 2023

San Marino

Tintine was slowly climbing up the hills of San Marino. Not much pressure should have been put on this car as she had enough of the shocks in the last year or two. The hills around us were rising and soon we found ourselves surrounded by an amazing view. It was San Marino surrounded by…

by RED RIDING HOOD March 22, 2023

Tutti i Trulli di Alberobello, Italia

My Life in Sicily finished after a year spent on this island. It was time to turn on my Tintine (a beautiful red car), hop on a ferry and say goodbye. I was nostalgic as a was driving through Reggio Calabria. But soon I was in Puglia – the region with the best Italian cheeses.…

by RED RIDING HOOD March 21, 2023March 21, 2023

Rouen is a city on the River Seine in the north of France. It is the capital of the region of Normandy. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy during the Middle Ages.

We made a short stop in this city to have lunch and spread our legs from the long ride as coming back to Brussels. Bad for me, I soon realized this city deserves much more attention. So I promised to come back – event though I do not re-visit. Life is to short! World is to wide!

The first stop was Le gros horloge (The Big Clock) recently restored, located in the middle of the Rue du Gros Horloge.

It is a 14th century astronomical clock.

The clock is installed in a Renaissance arch. The mechanism is one of the oldest in France. The Renaissance facade represents a golden sun with 24 rays on a starry blue background. The dial measures 2.5 metres in diameter. The phases of the moon are shown in the oculus of the upper part of the dial. It completes a full rotation in 29 days. The week days are shown in an opening at the base of the dial with allegorical subjects for each day of the week.

Already in love? Me too…

The little cobbled pedestrianised streets will accompany your weekends, holidays… These incomparable charming streets are decked on both sides with timber-framed houses dating from the Middle Ages were so cozy to my traveller heart…

Then the 16th century glory of the Palais de Justice… no it is not a cathedral, yet…

Now, this is the Cathedral… Ready?

It started on the site of the 4th century local church. Then, all the buildings perished during a Viking raid in the 9th century. The Viking leader, Rollo, founder of the Duchy of Normandy, was baptised here in 10th century and buried as well. The next generations of his sons were re-constructing the building to become greater and greater.

The gothic church became the Cathedral in 15th century . In the late 16th century the cathedral was badly damaged during the French Wars of Religion: the Calvinists damaged much of the furniture, tombs, stained-glass windows and statuary.

The relics from the baptizing ceremony of Viking king who brought the Christianity later to Baltics

Time for lunch. We went typical Norman: the neck of the beef… yuck! But apparently the favourite dish of the former French president Jacques Chirac.

The last rushy thing we did was the Place du Vieux Marché – famous again for the timer houses but also for being the burning site of Joan of Arc. Yes, I am a total fan of this discussible icon so the feeling was weird. Ebven more, when I realised that the marking place was some badly recognized statue and modern church… Not enough for this French saint who ran the battles against English to free the nothern France.