Quai de la Quarantaine

The Quai de la Quarantaine

The Honfleur audio-guided tour takes you onto the Quai de la Quarantaine, whose name recalls the sanitary measures that once protected the city from diseases coming from the sea.

The memory of sanitary measures

The word "quarantine" comes from the Italian quarantina, that is forty days, a duration beyond which it was once thought that a disease could no longer develop. Concretely, ships arriving from afar had to drop anchor, crews and passengers remained isolated, and goods were aired, sometimes disinfected, before entering the city. For Honfleur, a colonial port between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was a vital necessity. The city was severely tested, as during the plague epidemic of 1631, which lasted eighteen months, or the cholera waves of the nineteenth century. The quay keeps the memory of these measures of isolation which, despite their harshness, protected the population.

What there is to see

The Quai de la Quarantaine offers a pleasant walk at the water's edge, while evoking a little-known part of the port history of Honfleur. Its name invites one to imagine the waiting ships and the precautions of the past against epidemics. It is a stage that mixes the charm of the port with the memory of the great sanitary ordeals of the city.

Practical information

The Quai de la Quarantaine borders the port of Honfleur. It can be walked freely on foot at all hours and on the level, along the walk beside the water.

Where does the name of the Quai de la Quarantaine come from?

From the practice of quarantine, the forty-day isolation imposed on ships to prevent the spread of diseases.

What epidemics did Honfleur know?

Notably a plague epidemic in 1631, which lasted eighteen months, and several waves of cholera in the nineteenth century.