Monks and Beer

 

On the fourth we sailed up the river to the little town of Caudebec. We stopped for two nights there as it was the furthest north we would go on the Seine. Actually Paris is only 80 miles away if you go by helicopter, but on the river we had traveled about 160.

 







 

We opted for a leisurely tour of the little town with its half-timbered houses and then a tour of a Benedictine Abbey. Other passengers went on a longer bus tour of the coastal town of Honfleur but we decided to chill it a bit.

 

 

In the town was this former gas station now converted into a restaurant. The menus were inside the gas pump fronts ... not particularly historic but really innovative.

Then on to the Jumieges Abbey which is an ancient ruin and then to the Sainte-Wandrille abbey where we were escorted around the place by one of the Monks who had been a plumber in his civilian life. He was quite a character and actually funny as he explained their role through the past centuries and what they contributed to the village.

The main area of the church was particularly stark and functional compared to most other churches we have toured in Europe. These are Benedictine Monks living, working, and worshiping in this particular abbey.

After the abbey tour you have to go to their gift shop of course and logically I bought a bottle of one of their beers, the Sainte-Wandrille named after their abbey.

A really relaxing day and a nice beer before we went off to the Normandy beaches the next day.