Etretat

Etretat

Etretat is a large village situated on what is known as the 'Alabaster Coast', west of Dieppe and north of Le Havre. in Normandy. Its high, white cliffs, the Falaises d'Etretat, are as well known to the French as the White Cliffs of Dover are to the British.

Etretat has been a draw for artists and writers since the nineteenth century. Victor Hugo loved it here and Guy de Maupassant lived here. Courbet, Degas and Matisse all came here to paint, but it was Alphonse Carr, the editor of Le Figaro, who made it fashionable with Parisians. Today, it is still a popular little resort in summer, but in winter it reverts to being the quiet and beautiful place it has always been, with the sweeping promenade and shingle beach empty but for the odd solitary walker.

The western cliff, the Falaise d'Aval, has been formed into a huge arch by the action of the sea on these soft, chalk cliffs. You can climb a path to the top for a fantastic view of the rock formations here, including l'aiguille (the 'needle'), a 700-m (2,300-ft) rock that rises front the water.

At the top of the eastern cliff, the Falaise d'Amont, is a tiny chapel, and behind it is a little museum and a monument in the shape of a wishbone dedicated to the two French aviators. Coli and Nungesser, who made the first attempt to cross the north Atlantic and were lost off the coast here in 1927. At low tide you can see eighteenth-century oysterbeds and walk through natural arches from one beach to another.