Caen. The Ferry Port.

Don't tease the animals!

An evening in Normandy.
The ferry port of Caen (Ouistreham).
In front of the embarkations hall, a lovely life-size figure of a horse  all covered in tourist slogans. 'Welcome to Normandy',
'The land of the impressionists',
'William the Conqueror',
'Bayeux tapestry',
'70 years anniversary of D-Day',
and 'Mont-Saint-Michel.'
All that makes Normandy a top tourist destination in France. All that, and a modified British poster from the second world war, Keep Calm and Carry On, turned into Keep Calm, You are in Normandy.

You just want to jump on it and have a photo of you and yours.

All that, but no, all is spoiled by the stern warning inset in the pavement: 'Property of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Caen. It is strictly forbidden to mount the object.'

Louis XIV the Roman Emperor

The statue of the Sun King – Louis XIV presented as a Roman Emperor in Caen, the capital of Lower Normandy.

Chips on the pedestal are probably from the fighting in the second world war when the city was heavily bombed by the Allies.

Photo by ©Alexander Anichkin

The Satyr of Caen, With Apples

 Photo: ©A.Anichkin

At first I thought it was an imp, but having examined the carving closer, I decided it's probably a satyr. It has goat's horns, traditional for satyrs, and his beard rests on a bunch of fruit, as satyrs often accompanied the god of grape harvest, wine and wine-making Dionysus who is also the god of theatre.

The wood carving hangs on an outside wall of a house in a narrow alley in Caen simply as a decoration. The dark brown of the wood looks stunning against the background of the honey-coloured wall of Caen stone.

What struck me as unusual in this image is that the fruit are definitely not grape shaped. They look more like apples – fittingly for the region of Normandy, famous for its old tradition of making cidre, pommeau and calvados, drinks based on apple juice.

Caen is a fantastic city to explore. The old capital of William the Conqueror was heavily bombed during the Battle of Normandy in 1944. Many medieval buildings were destroyed and never rebuilt, but architectural fragments can be found here and there and everywhere, inside and outside, incorporated into houses still standing today.

The flat top of the carving suggests it could have been a capital, the ornamental top of a column. It may have been inside an important house, or part of the facade decoration. There are a few surviving examples of such elaborately carved facades in Caen.

Let me know if you can further identify the image or the fruit.

Below is the ancient theatre mask of satyr to compare. (Roman artwork, 2 Century AD, photo by Jastrow)

A Sunny Day in Caen

The Abbaye aux hommes (Men's Abbey) shines in the glorious spring sun. The original squat Romanesque church on the right was built in the 11th Century. Gothic elements were added in the 12th Century. The flying buttresses can be seen supporting the narrow tall structures in the centre. The classicist building on the left is the Caen town hall (hôtel de ville).

During the Battle of Normandy in 1944 Caen citizens were hiding inside the church. A hospital was set up there and a large red cross painted in blood on the roof to show Allied aircraft that it was not to be bombed.

Photo ©A.Anichkin