A quite day in Lisieux
Today we took it easy and just enjoyed being tourists in Lisieux, the town we live in. We started with a visit to the tourist information centre.
Sightseeing for beginners in Lisieux
Just follow the blue line:
In Lisieux, they’ve made it simple — they’ve just painted a blue line that runs past all the sights in the town. It starts and ends outside the tourist office. Sightseeing for dummies!
Lisieux has three main churches, but the newest and most impressive of them is the Basilique de Ste-Thérèse. It is situated on a hill, easily visible from many parts of the town. One of the early stages of this year’s Tour de France was completed right here on the incline leading up to the basilica.
The church was built in honour of Thérèse Martin, a young peasant girl from Alençon, who entered the monastery at the age of 15. She died of tuberculosis at 24, but before she died, she wrote a book called “The Story of a Soul” which has become one of the great classics among Catholic writings. You can read her story here.
The church is quite a sight, both from the outside and inside.
Market in Lisieux
We followed the blue line down towards the town again, and found out there was a market day in the centre. Apparently, there is a regular event in the town on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
It wasn’t particularly large, but there were many different things to see. Lots of homemade products, such as cheese, honey, caramel(lle)s and sweets. Additionally, there were some craftsmen present—a glassmaker and an old man making river boats. And there were embroidered and painted items available for purchase.
We bought some sweets and went to have lunch, but since it was after two o’clock, it was impossible to find anywhere open. So we ended up with a sandwich and a cola on a bench by the market.
Dinner at Grand Hotel el’Esperance
In the evening, we went out for dinner. It is incredibly quiet in Lisieux in the evening. There are some restaurants and cafes, but there isn’t much nightlife here, even on weekends. We ordered a three-course meal at el’Esperance. I had a tomato and mozzarella salad for starter, and Finn ordered smoked salmon with a pâté on the side. It was delicious!
For the main course, we both ordered steak. It was delicately cooked, but the steak itself was not good. There’s nothing wrong with the garnish, but the steak was as chewy as rubber! The chef must have been in a really bad mood. It tasted burnt, and even with sharp steak knives, it was difficult to cut it. If we were as tough as Ramsey or Hellstrøm, we would have sent it straight to the trash, but being polite, we said nothing and tried to swallow it.
Eplene?
Goodness, they were represented today as well. This time as an aperitif. We had Pommeau, a blend of cider and calvados. It’s apparently common to serve it as an aperitif here, but I think it would have been better suited as a dessert wine.
We didn’t manage to see the entire “blue stripe”, but there is actually quite a lot to see in Lisieux. Most guidebooks just mention the basilica and recommend driving on to the next town. I agree that the town centre here is quite dull, but there are some gems here and there. One of the attractions is a historic museum in Lisieux that looks incredibly beautiful. It’s a long row of buildings in the typical half-timbered style. But that will have to be for another time.
