Taxi Rouen → Vernon

Vernon is a charming Seine valley town, world-famous as the gateway to Giverny, the village where Claude Monet lived from 1883 until his death in 1926 and painted his most celebrated masterpieces: the Water Lilies, the Japanese Bridge, the irises, the wisteria. The Claude Monet Foundation in Giverny (Monet's house, studios and gardens) is France's most visited Impressionist site, attracting over 700,000 visitors per year. The gardens, designed by Monet himself, are a living painting: the water garden with its lily pond and Japanese bridge (painted 250 times by Monet), and the Clos Normand with its brilliant flower beds changing with the seasons. The Impressionism Museum Giverny, nearby, hosts temporary exhibitions on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Vernon itself has discreet charm: the medieval old mill perched on a former Seine bridge (one of Normandy's most photographed images), the Notre-Dame Collegiate Church (11th-16th c.) and half-timbered houses of the old town. The Château des Tourelles, a medieval fortress facing the old mill, guards the former bridge.