The Armada in Rouen 2023

[kerouac2]

The Armada takes place in Rouen every 4 years (they were able to skip covid!).  I went there once before, maybe 20 or 24 years ago, so it was time to return.  It is one of the major tall ship event in the world.  It's hard to get these vessels together at the same time;

I nearly always start my report with a shot of the train station if I used the train to get there.  So here it is.

There was a bus line and also the metro (just one line in Rouen), but I preferred to walk down rue Jeanne d'Arc to the Seine.

These ships are so majestuous.

It's impossible not to imagine all of the young sailors running across the mast lines to do stuff.

[mickthecactus]

Oh that is terrific!

[kerouac2]

There were lots of other boats swarming along.





You'd think all of these boats would be in perfect condition, but they have such busy schedules that some maintenance has to wait.

[fumobici]

Good stuff, maybe we should still be using sail power. Most cargo isn't in that big of a hurry.

[kerouac2]

All of the ships are open to visit at certain hours, and everything is free.





I have never seen so many elementary school groups in my life.



There were some other ships across the Seine.



This was the smallest sailing ship on display. It was absolutely dwarfed by its companions.









The rigging totally fascinates me.

[kerouac2]

I did not want to spend any of my day queueing to visit a ship. The exterior of these things is enough for me.



This must be for the officers only.











This building across the river intrigued all of us who were not from Rouen.

[bjd]

There is definitely a fascination with those sailing ships. The Hermione, is being repaired in Bayonne and when it was moored along the river and could be visited, the lines were long.

And I am thrilled to see a picture of La Recouvrance -- our son-in-law has suggested we take a sailing trip on it. It is something I would love to do and the Belem is booked for years in advance.

[kerouac2]

This one at least displayed a map of all of its journeys.





















I'm sure you need a damned good reason to get this cable drawbridge to lift up. The Armada was certainly one of them.

[kerouac2]

I had already been walking two kilometres along the Seine by the time I reached this bridge.



Here is the Belem, perhaps the most famous French sailing ship, built in Nantes in 1896.  Rescued in Venice in the 1970s when it was falling to pieces.













This non sailing ship sneaked in somehow.

[kerouac2]

There were food stands, pop-up restaurants and sellers of all sorts of sea related merchandise everywhere. Since the Armada lasts 10 days and gets six million visitors during that period, I'm sure that I was correct in avoiding a weekend, but Monday was already pretty damned crowded, especially with the schoolkids, and this was at 10 a.m. It just got more and more crowded as the day went by. No event in Paris receives crowds this big.

Most of the time, the industrial action in Rouen takes place in the huge concrete silos.















This is the ship of the Polish Maritime University.

[kerouac2]

I was not going any farther. It had already been 4 kilometres.





time to walk all the way back







There was a French Navy bagpipe corps rehearsing in back for when the real activities of the day would begin.

I of course had to look up this building, which becomes more stunning as the sky changes throughout the day. It is "Hangar 108" and is the headquarters of the Rouen-Normandy Metropole. The coloured panels are glass solar panels, and the building produces more electricity than it uses. The colours are supposed to remind us of the range of colours used by Claude Monet.

[htmb]

Nice report, Kerouac! What a great time to visit Rouen. The last time I was there I only saw two tacky cruise ships down on the river. A very boring sight. I’m also fascinated by Hangar 108!

[bjd]

I noticed that the Polish ship had a Ukrainian flag on it.

[whatagain]

I spotted some I had seen 4-5 years ago.
Rouen is a fantastic city and the ships make a nice addition.
I think there were some Russian ships back then.
Where could they be now ?

[kerouac2]

It is easy to get entangled.





On my way back to the station, I went up on one of the bridges (Guillaume le Conquérant) to get an overview.





Back down on the other side, I saw there was an army recuiting station to sign up people who don't like that sissy sailing stuff.



Briefly back in the streets of Rouen...



I would have visited the cathedral again, except...



... that this is provincial France, so it closes 2 hours for lunch!



I sat in this park for about an hour, resting my feet after 20,000 steps.



And then it was back to the train station.



One short minute of the crowds on the quay.

[lugg]

What a fantastic report. your photos are just wonderful. I love the ones of the rigging which are silhouettes against the sun in particular.

[kerouac2]

Thanks to everyone for your comments.

[fumobici]

Fantastic sights. The Mexican bark featured in a Seattle report I did a number of years back, hasn't aged a day!

[kerouac2]

Time for the Armada to gracefully return to the ocean.



And even in 2023, the sailors still have them in every port..

[bixaorellana]

Came in here to finally comment on this excellent & really different thread, but found this on the first of your two videos above:

Video unavailable
Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner
Watch on YouTube

Clicking on the play button does not take me to the video on youtube.

[kerouac2]

I have the same message, but the video works when I click on the prompt.