Le Havre is the largest ocean port in France and sits on an estuary of the River Seine; it is only 174km north-west of Paris and located in Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandy region.
Its origins dates back the 15th Century when it was a fishing village, preceding Francis I creating a port which he called the Haven of Grace or ‘Havre-de-Grâce’. By 1944, towards the end of World War II, 3/4 of the buildings being destroyed by the time the Canadian allied forces recapture Le Havre.
Nowadays, Le Havre is a large commercial port and a thriving industrial centre with a little ‘old’ mixed into a lot of ‘new’, but it has a softer side as it boasts of being awarded the ‘Pavillon bleu label’ for its beaches. There is a 600 meter promenade which facilities a pleasant stroll or cycle during the warm days, and as you meander up the coast to Sainte-Adresse you can see views of where Claude Monet painted many of his early works. [edit text][editors]
