Photo : Jörg Braukmann / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Les Falaises d'Etretat
Étretat, in Seine-Maritime, lies on the Alabaster Coast. Its chalk cliffs are hollowed out by marine erosion and underground rivers, which has produced three natural arches: the Porte d'Aval, with its needle 55 metres high, the Manneporte, the largest, about 500 metres to the south-west, and the Porte d'Amont, the smallest. A shingle beach, sheltered by the cliffs, stretches between them.
The site has inspired many artists, notably Claude Monet. Maurice Leblanc featured it in "L'Aiguille creuse" in 1909, which made it a place of pilgrimage for fans of Arsène Lupin. The needle was first climbed in 1936 by the mountaineer Pierre Allain. You can also see the remains of oyster beds dating from the time of Marie-Antoinette, visible on the foreshore, as well as the Trou à l'Homme, a karst passage that serves as a tunnel between two beaches.
The cliffs have been a Grand Site de France since 2012 and are part of Natura 2000 areas. Powerful night lighting, however, disturbs the seabirds nesting in the cliff. A walk on the paths at the top of the cliff offers views of the arches.
