UNDISCOVERED FRANCE ❘ THE LITTLE VENICES


who cast their nets as far as the Seine estuary. Some of the leather that equipped William the Conqueror’s army in the 11th century was tanned on the banks of Pont-Audemer. In the Middle Ages, flat-bottomed barges, called échaudes, used to transport lime or grain. “The canals were used to supply private mansions. Each mansion had a direct access to the docks. You can still see remains of wooden piers here and there,” says Nathalie Delanney, director of the Pont-Audemer Tourism Office. “And today, as in Venice, pedestrians can go from one canal to another through medieval streets. And there’s a signposted route where they can walk in the footsteps of Thierry Hermès, founder of the luxury design house Hermès. In 1821, he was apprenticed to a saddlery craftsman and learned the trade here.” Further north, in the former province of Picardy, the Somme has earned Amiens its nickname ‘Little Venice of the North’. The river, one of the longest


56 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Feb/Mar 2023


IMAGES © OT ISLE-SUR-LA-SORGUE, OT GRANDS LACS DE CHAMPAGNE; OT AMIENS, GILLES PIEL, GILLES ALLEAUME


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