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NORMANDY
Dieppe-A visit in town, surprise!
Visit of town, surprise!
Let's now take a look at Dieppe as touristy city. Honestly, it's not so much tourism about and that's for the better. Marvelous city at the seashore, where the beach cobblestones are eternal witnesses of the constant ferries shuttles. Where the green, blue and gray colors vary depending the way the sunrays fall on its white cliffs. You will discover a different Dieppe, its herring festival, its kite festival….
Indeed, nowhere in Europe kite enthusiasm is greater than in France... where kites are called cerf-volants and where, during festival week in Dieppe, the newspaper arrives each morning filled with festival details.
It's only at the beginning of the 19th century, that the popularity of sea bathing started under the patronage of the duchesse de Berry, and that great passenger traffic started between England and France. After the WWII adventures and destructions the new harbor extends from the port entrance ready to embrace the future with foresight and optimism.
The boulevard along the sea is dominated by the 15th century CHATEAU. Built at the location of an ancient fort, it is open to the public as municipal museum since 1923. You can have a look at the maritime history of Dieppe, but also many important 
paintings and potteries. A moveable feast of the arts, mounting splendid exhibitions against the background of the permanent collection where the Pissarro, Sisley, Renoir and Courbet are well represented. Prints of Braque, who was also a local resident, are on
display. Very fine items are the beautiful ivory art objects. This raw ivory came into the port from the 17th century onwards and was fashioned or scratched by sailors into keepsakes. In the hands of artists it was made into objects of great delicacy.
As you leave the chateau by the bridge over the moat, you can share this wonderful view with the great painter Delacroix. He wrote in his Journal on 30 August 1854:" A heavenly morning; I went out alone and climbed the hill behind the castle. I sat down in a field where corn had just been raped, and made a sketch of the castle and the view---not that it was particularly interesting, but so as to retain the memory of this exquisite moment"
The picturesque harbor, at the right bank of the Arques, with its restaurants and terraces has a lot of atmosphere, under the galleries of the ancient center. Small alleyways and stairs.
You are now near the church of SAINT-JACQUES, Dieppe's only high rise building. Very important church, historically seen, it shows clearly the different architectural influences from the 12th up to the 17th century. Although the gothic is predominant. Quite a lot of restorations took place which to see on the façade.
Overhead, gargoyles grimace, buttresses fly, rose windows bloom and statues shelter in the niches. A special mention for the twenty small chapels in the lateral naves. Treasures abound all around. Presiding over all from below the rose window is the Louis XIV organ with its 2,800 tubes and the mute support of two carved figures with trumpets.
Suite of this surprising visit of a town, you wouldn't expect to hide so many treasures, in my next article.
Bibliography
"The Dieppe Connection:The Town and Its Artists from Turner to Braque by Press Herbert (1992) Rendezvous at Dieppe by Ernest Langford (1998), Ville de Dieppe information leaflet, "Hoog Normandie" by Sandra Vermoolen( ANWB reisgidsen,Den Haag)
Even more surprising, charming town!