theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Thursday Doors: Honfleur
Honfleur is a small port in north-west France, at the mouth of the Seine. Now dwarfed by its neighbour Le Havre, back in the Middle Ages it was a key European trading entrepôt.
We made a detour on our route back from Zeebrugge to home to have a look. Unfortunately, it was the middle of a long bank holiday weekend so, despite it being the end of October, the harbour area was very crowded.
In the back streets, though, and more specifically in the rather menacingly named Rue de la Prison, I came across some interesting old doors, the first one with a highly topical question posed outside:
And finally, with a welcome splash of colour:
Thursday Doors 15 December 2016
theonlyD800inthehameau 
Fabulous set of doors, France has got to be one of the best places for them. :>)
Thank you. I think you’re right about France: the supply of interesting doors seems to be inexhaustible.
Wonderful series – tree bien – and the splash of blue after the. Various woods was a nice effect . And the prison vibe was eerie – and nice slice of history
Normandy is a lovely area, although most of these doors look as though they could use some love. 🙂 It was a welcome surprise to come to the blue in the last shot. 🙂 I did see the message in the first one. But what will the answer be?
janet
Ooh, I love these, my favourite has to the one with all the little holes in it. Why are they there?What purpose do they serve? Fascinating collection…
Thank you. The only thing I can think of for the small holes is ventilation.
Medieval doors are lovely.
They look like you could have pulled them straight out of the middle ages – what a wonderful little discovery 🙂
The fourth door – there’s something about it that I like, but don’t know what … You mentioned Zeebruge – that is in Belgium, right? I grew up in Zeeland (Hholland) – Belgium was so close!
Zeebrugge is indeed in Belgium, quite close to Bruges – which aesthetically is far more appealing than Zeebrugge, although lacking its helpful maritime links.
An appealing set of doors. I have pictures of all of them in my collection after a weekend in Honfleur but none of these made it into my Honfleur Doors selection. Rue de la Prison is a shady corner and my photos from there all lacked definition. You’ve got the textures beautifully.
Thank you. It is a gloomy street, certainly, but Lightroom certainly helped to bring out what was beneath the flat light.
What a street to live on! Would make a great location for historical movies/tv dramas.
I know what you mean: like ‘Les Miserables’ goes to the seaside.
Love these rustic doors …. and that blue one is striking!
Wow! Great find!
Thanks for taking me on another fascinating door journey. I particularly loved the blue doors at the end.
Following up on a previous question about the holes in the door, would this area have been used for animals?
I’m starting to yearn for a trip to France!
Best wishes,
Rowena
Thank you for your kind comments. I still believe that the primary purpose of those holes was ventilation, but the building it’s on is clearly designed for human habitation. However, back in the Middle Ages I think that there would have been all sorts of animals roaming more or less freely around the streets.
Some houses were designed on two storeys, with cattle kept on the lower level so that the heat they emanated served to warm the human quarters above. Nice.