Cruise and Maritime Voyages

Lying some 75 miles from the Seine estuary, Rouen is the historic capital of Normandy. Victor Hugo called Rouen ‘the city of a hundred spires’. Its Old Town is a delightful maze of narrow, cobblestone streets lined with fine half-timbered houses and wonderful gothic churches including the magnificent Cathedrale Notre Dame and the Eglise St. Maclou. Rouen’s Place du Vieux-Marche is famous as the site where Joan of arc was burned at the stake in 1431. Further upriver is the village of Giverny and the home of Claude Monet, who captured the beauty of Rouen in many of his paintings.

Until the 18th century St. Helier consisted of a string of houses, shops and warehouses stretching along the coastal dunes on either side of the Church of St. Helier. Today it is a major international finance centre and capital of the largest and most southerly of the Channel Islands, which lies in the Bay of Mont St. Michel. With its Norman-style farmhouses, narrow winding lanes, small fields and French street names, there’s more than a hint of France to this delightful island. Though remnants of German defences are a reminder of occupation during the Second World War.

Zeebrugge is an important port in Flanders and a coastal gateway to Belgium and your gateway to Bruges. Picturesque Bruges is a delightful little city of canals and stone bridges, winding cobbled streets and medieval Flemish architecture. Cosmopolitan Brussels is an historic and royal city divided into the Lower and Upper Town. The Lower Town has gothic, baroque and renaissance-era buildings dating from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. Whilst the picturesque Quartier Royal, surrounded by 18th and 19th century palaces, is the most distinctive plaza of the Upper Town.