The "hortillonnages" of Amiens (by kerouac2)

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The hortillonnages are the marshes in the centre of Amiens which have been cultivated for more than 2000 years. The name derives from the Latin word hortus (garden) which passed into the local Picard dialect in the 15th century. The surface of the marshes was originally 10,000 hectares, but there are only 300 hectares left, now totally protected after a project to build an expressway through the area was thwarted in 1974. Seeing this area is one of the principal reasons to visit Amiens, but today was my very first time because most of my trips to Amiens have taken place in the winter or early spring, and the official visits do not begin each year until April 1st.

It is just a short walk from the Tour Perret, which continues to look like it was uprooted from Le Havre and planted in Amiens.







And so here we are. If anybody says that it reminds them a bit of Xochimilco in Mexico City, I will not contradict them.



The afternoon session of visits starts at 13:30. The morning is reserved for tour groups.



This must happen sometimes or there wouldn't be a sign.



The boat ride begins. Each boat seats 13 people.







The first part is all quite wild and left in its natural state.

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Here is a look at where the hortillonnages are in relation to the city. They are in green on the map.

s19.postimg.cc/ixu1qw177/horti1.jpg

This lets you see the network of waterways and canals. There are no locks so the water all flows as part of the Somme River.

s19.postimg.cc/ed7vbyhhv/horti2.jpg

The islands "float" just like in Xochimilco and are built exactly the same way. The base is made of peat with mud piled on top.







This network of poles and wires is for growing hops for the beer industry.





There are 1200 landowners here. They can have holiday cabins but are not allowed to have electricity or a foundation under the building.











There are still 7 or 8 commercial farmers in this zone.





the last of the winter leeks

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All machines and tractors have to be brought in by boat.





There were quite a few "non-tourist" boats at work.







The numbered signs are for the annual neighbourhood gardening contest, which is held in July.









Waterfowl make their nests on old stumps in the stream.







There are strict rules for maintenance of the embankments and also for regular dredging of the private side canals.

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Some of these submerged zones are to allow smaller fish to grow out of the main current. Then they are gobbled by pike.

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The little houses are in a multitude of styles.



Apparently anything goes.







Factoid: the last flood that submerged everything was in 2001 and it lasted for 7 weeks.

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We are quite close to the cathedral.





This is a former guinguette, now just a restaurant.













And after 45 minutes, the boat completed its voyage.



I thought it was well worth the 6 euro ticket price.



The boat pilot made it extremely clear that he expected a tip, which is why I did not give him one.





looking back towards the Tour Perret



Before going back there I wanted to take a little tour on foot. You can walk most of the route if you want, and actually much more.





There is plenty of low income housing here. People probably call them "swamp dwellers" or something like that.































And that's all for this time. Next time I'll try this other path.

[bixaorellana]

Knock me over with a feather! I believe you could teleport the Amiens dwellers to Xochimilco and vice-versa and it would take them a few minutes to realize anything had changed. I suppose that method of building up ground for agriculture goes back to prehistoric times, but it's just amazing to see it still being carried on in the shadow of a modern city. True, much of it reminded me of Xochimilco, but there are quite a few pictures that made me think you'd visited Madisonville, La. The lawn jockeys did nothing to dispel that illusion. Joking aside, your pictures are lovely and I absolutely love the rural feeling conveyed.

I do think you could make your fortune introducing the trajineras culture to the hortillonnages canals. Think of it: you'd be a local hero, bringing ancient musicians out of retirement to strum their Picardy ballads for the daytrippers and creating extra incomes for housewives who'd take to the water to peddle their pâté de canard and gâteau battu to singing tourists mellow with wine.

Apr 7, 2017 19:11:09 GMT kerouac2 said:

People probably call them "swamp dwellers" or something like that.

Or "frogs" -- they might call them "frogs".

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Apr 7, 2017 22:59:04 GMT bixaorellana said:

there are quite a few pictures that made me think you'd visited Madisonville, La. The lawn jockeys did nothing to dispel that illusion

The guide actually said, as we passed by the chalet with the questionable decorations, "You might think that we have moved from the hortillonnages to Louisiana."

[kerouac2]

I have every intention of returning there this year.

[bixaorellana]

There is so much timeless good stuff on this forum that gets pushed down over time by new stuff. I am absolutely delighted to see this one bounce to the top so I could enjoy it all over again.

[bjd]

I second Bixa's comment. I had totally forgotten this thread and it's so nice to see springtime pictures while it's cold outside.

[whatagain]

The hortillonages are exceptional.
Plus ghey are deeply rooted in my mind.
When Robin was very small he threw his 'doudou' into the water there.
Had to recover it.
(A doudou us a child special thing, mostly a teddy bear, albeit not a bear)
Then much later we stopped at Amiens coming back from tbe baie de Somme.
We had a great evening together.
I had a t bone (côte à l os) on salt (gros sel).
We were laughing the whole evening then Robin said something like ' Dad you drive me to the hospital next tuesday ?' And i answered like 'me, not sure ...'
(He was to have his arm removed that tuesday).
Then he said something like 'what, i am losing an arm and i must take a taxi ?'
And we all roflolled.
Everybody looked at us, we could see they were amused, some not so because we were loud, and we thought they would never believe what we were laughing for/at.
Then i went to the toilet and threw everything up.
Gros sel , stress ?
An exceptional memory.
Thanks for reading this.
This is really a part of my soul.