Northern France
Treasures of the Somme Region
By: Zeren Earls - Dec 02, 2009
In late October I travelled to the Somme region of France while visiting my son and his family, who live in Brussels. The major city in the area is Amiens, which is two hours south of Brussels and one hour north of Paris. We spent about a week in this fascinating northwest corner of France thanks to my grandchildren's All Saints Day vacation. Our base in Omniecourt, a rural community near Amiens, was the country house of an 18th-century chateau, restored to provide furnished lodging for visitors. Found on the internet, our three-bedroom cottage came with a fully equipped kitchen and an indoor swimming pool, which my grandchildren enjoyed daily, as it was too chilly to use the outdoor pool.
Our excursions began in the historic Saint-Leu district of Amiens with its many connecting canals. This part of the city, the oldest, used to be the weavers' and dyers' quarter, a source of prosperity. Now small houses with colorful facades, as well as cafes, restaurants and pubs with outdoor terraces line the picturesque canals. People stroll by craft shops, antique stores and second-hand dealers, contributing to the vitality of the area, which overflows with people during the Saturday morning farmer's market. Once a year in June, the market is held as in the old days, from boats and in period dress.
The Saturday market was winding down when we arrived; yet the aroma of the fresh-baked bread made from local-grown wheat still hung in the air. Large radishes, cauliflower and ground artichokes stood out in the stalls. I sampled the macaroons, made with almonds and honey, but not the other local specialty, goose liver pate with pistachios. The macaroons were delicious.
The Notre Dame Cathedral in the same historic district is France's largest Gothic edifice. Begun in 1220, the majestic structure with lacy stonework is 145 m long and 70 m wide, twice the size of Notre Dame de Paris. Its nave is the tallest in the world and its existing spire the oldest. This wooden structure, covered with lead sheeting, rises to a height of 112 m. The main façade has three deep-set portals, featuring groups of carved statues and surrounded by four rows of leaves. One is struck by a sense of immensity upon entering the cathedral with its especially noteworthy statuary. The choir stalls have 4000 sculpted figurines illustrating former trades or representing religious scenes. Noted for the harmony and purity of its proportions, the cathedral was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1981 as an outstanding architectural work, and again in 1998 as a stage on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Amiens prides itself on having the Head of St. John the Baptist in its cathedral. The head, set on a silver tray, is brought out for the congregation to revere every year on June 24.
Jules Verne's house is another must-see site in Amiens. Verne married a woman from Amiens and lived here in 1871, when he was 43 years-old, until his death in 1905. Most of the works that made him famous were written in this house. Renovated in 2005, the house is full of mementos of the author's life and work. The tour of the 19th-century townhouse begins in the winter garden on the ground floor and ends in the rooms of the attic, which have been transformed to look like the cabins of a ship, leading the visitor to relive the adventures of the writer's heroes. Taking an active part in the city's public life, Verne inaugurated the circus that now bears his name in 1889.
The region's houses, museums, churches, gardens and parks are dotted with the charm of the Belle Epoque. Wrought iron balconies, bow-windows, colored facades, and an explosion of ornamentation delight the eye. Decorative brickwork on the facades and roofs of farm houses show individual flair. The Bay of Somme is 45 minutes from Amiens. In keeping with the character of the Belle Epoque period, a local train pulled by a steam locomotive travels between towns around the Bay. We rode the train on its last day of service for the season. The trains run between April 1 and October 31, as it is not equipped to deal with harsh winter weather. One of the windows of our train kept sliding down as we rode, letting in torrential rain.
The Bay of Somme has vast skies and expanses of open water, marshes, dunes and saltwater meadows, which create a landscape of monochromes in gray, beige or white. Harbor seals mix with birds. The Bay is the largest estuary in northern France. At the heart of the bay's nature reserve is Marquenterre Bird Sanctuary, a favorite stopping place for thousands of migratory birds. Bracing sea air and rain kept us from viewing the colony of seals. The local guide we had contacted recommended that we visit La Maison de l'Oiseau, an ornithological center for learning, seeing, and hearing the bay's flora and fauna. We viewed stuffed animals in simulated action in their natural habitat in large, beautifully laid out glass cases. To this observer they were absolutely life-like; a bird in simulated flight looked no different from one in the open sky.
The Somme region consists of the Bay of Somme, the city of Amiens and the Somme Valley. The area, famous for its battlefields as much as its natural beauty, was deeply scarred by the First World War. The battle of 1916 was fought on a vast scale in terms of the numbers of countries involved and of the deaths, missing in action and wounded on both sides, as well as of scars left in the ground: trenches, mine craters, vegetation destroyed and villages reduced to rubble. The Remembrance Circuit is an itinerary linking two cities which symbolize the First World War, Albert and Peronne, northeast and east of Amiens respectively.
The tourist map of this circuit identifies a dozen sites essential to understanding the history of World War I. Among them are Peronne's Great War Museum, depicting the everyday life of French, English and British soldiers and civilians during the conflict; the 1916 Museum in Albert, retracing life in the trenches during the July 1 offensive; the South African Museum and National Memorial in Longueval, paying homage to South African soldiers; the Franco-British Memorial in Thiepval, bearing the names of 73,367 soldiers who died at the front and who lie in unmarked graves; the Newfoundland Memorial in Beaumont-Hamel, featuring a network of well-preserved trenches; the Lochnager crater in Boisselle showing the immense remains of a series of explosions that occurred on July 1, 1916; and the Australian national Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, paying homage to the Australian soldiers who died during the Great War.
The underground city of Naours is a network of three hundred chambers hollowed out of the limestone of the Picardy Plateau. The cave chambers sheltered local people and their livestock during the numerous invasions which took place from the 11th to the 20th century. This complex, which sheltered up to 2600 people at any given time, was well organized and included public meeting places, stables, wells, chimneys and a chapel with three naves. It was used by the British during the First World War and was a command post for the German army in the Second World War.
A thirty-minute drive east of Amiens in the Somme Valley leads to a memorial paying homage to American soldiers who died in the Second World War. Guarded by a stone eagle at the top, the monument, bearing names inscribed on a metal plaque, sits by the roadside, surrounded by fields steeped in the memory of the War. A battleground during both World Wars, these fields offer peace and tranquility at last.
Having two children with us, ages three and five, helped us explore the wealth and diversity of the Somme region beyond its landmarks and heritage sites. We visited apple orchards, fed horses and visited a small aquarium run by a passionate volunteer. The best excursion was to a farm where natural blue dyes are made from the leaves of a plant which thrives in the chalky soil. Here the children observed all the stages in the process of making and using the dyes. The Somme region was the traditional center of blue dye production for all of France since the Middle Ages, and the river was used to transport this main source of wealth throughout the country.
The Somme region, from its bay to its cities and valley, offers much to discover for the visitor. It is an area I would like to return to another time before autumn leaves begin to fall.