After Le Verdon and our day on the coast at Soulac-sur-Mer, Cherbourg was the last port on this cruise. Arriving on a Sunday meant that a lot of the shops would be closed but I had checked and the museum by the terminal would be open.
Day 7: Sunday 14th April 2024: Cherbourg
Sky Princess arrived at the dock in Cherbourg at around 7:30 am. After breakfast we entered the cruise terminal.
This was just like stepping back in time as we walked through.
The ferry port was on the other side of where Sky Princess was docked. This had been where we had often arrived in France before setting off for a long drive to stay much further south of Bordeaux. Cherbourg had always been somewhere where we drove through without stopping.
Walking into Cherbourg old town we passed WW2 bunkers, a row of small houses and several car parks. One of the car park was full of motorhomes.
We crossed over the water between the keys and walked along the Quai de Caligny. This being Sunday and early morning just a handful of cafés were open.
The street after the place Notre Dame well deserted. This seems to have been a theme for us in France this trip. The shuttered shops did have art on them though.
This art was just around the corner from the church.
The most excitement we observed was a couple of policeman overseeing the removal of a car from the pedestrian street called Rue de la Paix. On the walls of the café nearby there was a large piece of artwork of a photographer. As we passed the church, this interesting piece of art was on the wall opposite.
Street art on an abandoned shop
I did find some more Art in an alley on the walls of a boarded up shop. This was down a narrow alley and the houses looked abandoned.
I had to take multiple images because of the narrow alley.
The Café du Port
By now we are giving up looking at the clothes shops in the old town and headed for the Café du port on the corner opposite the bridge over the inner Harbour. Quite a few tables were reserved and we had to settle for a small table by the door to rest our feet and have our coffees.
Place Notre Dame
We tried again to find open shops and walked again to the Place Notre Dame. On our way we passed a junk shop and several souvenir shops that were now open. The square had lots of people enjoying the sunshine. Just as in the small streets around the square there were boarded up shops in there as well as lots of roadworks.
The old town of Cherbourg was definitely was not a destination that we would choose to return to there was a Carrefour opposites where we were but by now we had decided enough was enough and started our walk back to the cruise terminal.
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