Le Havre, France Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

Most ferry passengers head straight out of the port of LE HAVRE as quickly as the traffic will allow to escape a city that guidebooks tend to dismiss as dismal, disastrous and gargantuan. While it's not the most picturesque or tranquil place in Normandy, however, it's not the soulless urban sprawl the warnings suggest, even if the port – the largest in France after Marseille – does take up half the Seine estuary, extending way beyond the town. The city was originally built on the orders of François I in 1517 to replace the ancient ports of Harfleur and Honfleur, then silting up, and its name … more »