This 2,000-year-old city mixes Gothic architecture, half-timbered houses, and contemporary bustle like no other place in France. While its industrial suburbs were devastated by WWII bombs, most of the historic core survived, keeping Rouen a pedestrian haven. Its cobbled old town is a delight to wander.

Joan of Arc burned here, 15th C, market square has cross; 1431 death

Grand cathedral – spire of cast iron, late 1800s. Tallest in france. 

Ornate public clock, 500 years (just an hour hand) Wool is source of wealth

Augy family ceramics

4c’s: cream camembert cider calvados

Giverny: Monet last 40 years in garden, impressionism all the rage in 1870s

SUPPOSEDLY Richard the Lionheart or King Richard I — his heart was buried at Rouen in 1199