Rouen; Saturday, 07 July, 2018

I got about three hours sleep, but with the combination of car alarms going off (despite drivers being told not to set their alarms as the movement of the ship would set them off) and the general sounds of the ferry it was disrupted. At about 4:30 wake up calls were made to all the cabins, which was a shame as I was in relatively deep sleep at that point – about the worst time to be suddenly woken up. Looking out of my cabin windows it was still dark outside, but the lights of Dieppe harbour were clearly visible, so I had a quick shower, packed, checked out of the room and headed to the disembarkation point.

By the time I got through the terminal building at Dieppe it was just after 05:45, at which point I found out that unlike the daytime ferries, there is no shuttle bus into town for the morning arrival, so instead I walked the 20 or so minutes pas the port into town and then back out again to Dieppe station to pick up my train. Given my train was at 06:15 this did cut it a bit fine.

Thankfully I made the train with a couple of minutes to spare. I collapsed into the seat and missed a lot of the journey down to Rouen as I was struggling to stay awake. On arrival into Rouen I had a quick look around the station area to see if there was a café open to get some breakfast, but because there was a partial SNCF strike on, nothing was open. Instead I caught the metro down a couple of stops to the Cathedral area and eventually, after a bit of walking, managed to find a boulangerie that was open and serving coffee.

Two strong coffee’s and a couple of pastries later I was ready to face the day, and immediately started by heading to my hotel for the night. I’d paid for a 9am check-in, so was able to drop my bags off, have a quick freshen up and then head on out into town.

First stop was the Panorama XXL – a large painting of the city at the time of the execution of Joan of Arc, which can be viewed from multiple levels. Having looked at that, the main feature of which is the cathedral, I headed back into the centre of town to see the real thing. I was going to go into the cathedral, but there appeared to be a large tour group just going in, and at the same time the landtrain turned up, so I decided to hop on that instead.

The train tour took in many of the key sights of the city and gave me a better idea of the layout of the city so it would be easier to plan my afternoon, as well as giving some facts on the city which at one point was the second city of France. Back at the cathedral I stopped for a pleasant lunch before heading into the cathedral to look around.

Having taken in the cathedral I wandered round the corner to the exhibition in the former bishops palace that tells the story of Joan of Arc, from her rural upbringing to her trial, execution and the retrial that took place around 30 years later that found her innocent. The museum then goes on to look at the role Joan of Arc has played in French society and identity over the years being used by all sides to promote a particular type of French ideal.

Leaving the museum, I had a wander through town heading over towards the market place where Joan was burnt at the stake, and the impressive – if slightly weird looking – 1970’s church that now stands near the spot. As it was mid-afternoon by now I stopped to have a quick drink, before heading back towards the cathedral and stopping off at the Great Clock to take a tour of the museum and the view over the city from the top of the belfry.

From the clock I headed up to the only remaining part of the castle of Rouen, where Joan of Arc was held prior to her execution. Today it’s just one tower that remains and that is now used as a venue for an escape game, but you can still look around the outside and get an idea for how impressive the castle would have been.

I headed back into the centre of town and grabbed a light dinner, but by now the effects of very little sleep and being up since around 4am were taking their toll and after dinner I headed back to the hotel to get an early night and some needed sleep.