Calva and Friendship

Friday

Today we leave Honfleur and head to the town where our friend, Bénèdicte, grew up. The town is La Haye du Puits and to get there, we will cross through a region known as Calvados. This a very special place for those who love spirts.

Once you leave a city or town in Normandy, the countryside becomes extremely rural. Agriculture appears to be the main source of employment throughout this region.

There are two agriculture products that standout - Camembert Cheese and Calvados. The later of these items is a libation made from apples that is served mostly as a digestif. It can be procured with 2 to 50 years of aging in a barrel. Some would compare it to Brandy or Cognac, but it would be on the top of the list in my humble opinion.

Taking back roads, we arrived at the Calvados Experience around 1030. The parking lot was empty except for… two large tour buses. 

 With no reservations we walked in with hopes of being able to get an English tour. The French tour had just begun and a herd of people disappeared behind some automated doors. The wait for the English tour was only 20 minutes and we were the only two in the group. The museum is fully automated and filled with audio-visual aides and movies so you can understand how Calvados is made, and why it is so special.

And of course, the best part was when the tour finished, a Calvados tasting was provided as a part of the experience. Being a party of two we were able to ask a lot of questions and even enjoyed a couple of extra offerings that were not part of the tasting. 

This was a really great experience!  Oh yeah!  Shopping for this apple nectar was also available.

Hunger had come upon us once again, and we headed to a small town named Cambremer, not to be confused with the cheese. Cambremer is the home of a very famous Calvados house that offers a good tour. Unfortunately, it was lunchtime, and everything closes until 2 pm. A small family restaurant provided us a hardy lunch that brought us back to life. 

The town was preparing for a festival and the streets were lined with tents. We would have loved to stay for the event, but our next destination was calling.

We cannot describe to you how beautiful is the Normandy countryside. Riding past horse farms, small villages, and large manor houses we made our way to Beuvron du Auge. 

This small town has been recreated to look like a village of yester year. It has an art museum and few shops, but we were headed to Aux Trois Damoiselles, which was a cidre (cider) bar in a lovely courtyard. Once again with apples, this drink is very popular in the region. Much less alcohol than its brother Calvados, cidre usually contains less than 5% Alc. There were some relics of the past around town that were used to make cidre on display. After enjoying some of the region’s finest we loaded up once again and began to make our way to La Haye du Puits.

Arriving early, we decided to head downtown and enjoy a cup of coffee. La Haye du Puits is a busy small town, and it was fun to watch the traffic and people as we enjoyed sitting in the sun with our coffee. We also were confused on exactly which house our friends lived in. On the way in, we drove right past it but it had a different number than their address. Google maps said it was the house, Tom thought it was the house, but the number was different. We finished our coffee and headed back to the suspected house. We were happy to find our host, Rui, in the backyard.

Sabrina, Bénèdicte’s sister, arrived home from work and the four us laughed and told stories of our adventures to date. Sabrina made a very special dinner of bulots and a fish cake. Bulots are like small conch and are a delicacy in this area. Whipping up some homemade mayonnaise to be enjoyed with the bulots, the meal was fantastic. Jocelyn, Sabrina’s brother had also joined us for this seafood feast. 

Approaching midnight, it was time to do the dishes and go to bed. Our day had been one of exploration, discovery, and rekindled friendships.