A Normandie Whelk Festival (Foire aux Bulots) takes place in the small coastal village of Pirou (50 Manche., Normandie) 27 – 28 April 2024
Over two days festivities will include the direct sale of seafood by fishermen, a local farmers’ market, exhibitions, car-boot sale and an open-air seafood banquet with music on the Sunday afternoon.
Pirou is on the Cotentin or Cherbourg peninsula to the west of Saint Lô – a quiet little hamlet just inland from the Bay which looks across to the Channel Islands.
The western coast of the peninsula, known as the Côte des Îles. The region is also famous for its shellfish culture, notably oysters from Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue and Pirou, and the production of alcoholic beverages like cider and calvados, made from locally grown apples and pears.
The Chateau of Pirou is a 12th Century fortress, one of the oldest Norman fortified castles and among the best preserved thanks to the remarkable restoration initiated in 1966
Built in the 12th century on an artificial island surrounded by three moats and five fortified gates, the defensive gates open onto an exceptional set: the bakery, the press, the room of Plaids (with the Embroidery of Pirou), the old house (guard room, dining room, kitchens) and the rampart walk with its beautiful shale roofs.
Many tourists visit the D-Day invasion beaches, including Utah Beach in the Cotentin. At Sainte-Mère-Église a few miles away from the beach, there is a museum commemorating the action of the 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division. The Cité de la Mer in Cherbourg is a museum of oceanic and underseas subjects. The main attraction is Redoutable, the first French nuclear submarine, launched in 1967 and an exhibition about the Titanic: “Titanic, return to Cherbourg”, about the history of European emigration to the New World and about the legendary liner that called at Cherbourg on 10th April 1912.
more info on the Whelk Festival see http://www.ville-pirou.fr/foire-aux-bulots.htm
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