The Marne: Meaux

Wanderlust at a pontoon in Meaux

From Mary-sur-Marne Wanderlust continued downriver to the city of Meaux.  It was for us a return visit to a favorite stop on the Marne.

At the edge of the season the weather alternated between cloudy with rain and sunny with clouds.  The best days of autumn are as good as it gets for cruising but this day was not one of the best; it was more rainy than sunny.  C’est la vie.

To reach the port in Meaux, boats heading downstream continue on the River Marne past the lock on the left bank that leads to the 12-kilometer-long Canal de Meaux à Chalifert.  The Meaux à Chalifert would ultimately be Wanderlust’s through navigation route to Paris but for now we continued downstream about 700 meters to the commune’s pontoon moorings.  In early October the port was empty save one left cabin cruiser.

The city of Meaux is situated on a horseshoe bend of the Marne.  On the inside of the bend, on the side of the river the port’s pontoons are attached to, is the newer portion of the city.  The main attraction here for us is an excellent marché couvert or covered market, which is open twice a week.   As usual, we were mentally contractually obliged to shop there before we departed.

Meaux is without doubt one of our favorite moorings.

Across the bridge, on the far side of the river from the Market Quarter and port, is the commune’s historic core.  The name Meaux originated with the Meldi, the Latin name of the original Gaulish tribe who once occupied this place on a bend of the Marne River.  The name hints at the settlement’s long history; Meaux’s historic core truly is historic.  Indeed, archeological evidence of Meaux’s long past can be seen in and around its old town today. 

Today, there’s little doubt that history has shaped Meaux.  The city’s historic defensive walls defined the perimeter of what remains as the center of the city today.  It’s the type of place where we can take a kilometer of walking to “sight” navigate to a destination that in a straight line is just 200 meters away.  It seems impossible, but at each intersection our instinctive choice of streets stood a better than even chance of leading in the wrong direction.  The upside of sight navigation is that we got to see way more of the interesting old town than if we simply followed a map or let Google direct us to our destination.  In this case we saw some of the “more” parts of Meaux several times.

• 

  Meaux’s cathedral

• 

  Gig is not a big fan of cathedrals.

• 

  Inside the cathedral in Meax

• 

• 

Meaux is famous for its namesake cheese, Brie-de-Meaux.  It must be possible to buy really good Brie de Meaux outside of Meaux, but we’ve never been able to.  Like many things in France, cheese is often at its very best when acquired close to its source. 

When you eat the cheese is also a factor.  Brie-de-Meaux, as is typical with the best young cheeses, changes quickly with age.  For this reason, a fromagerie with a knowledgeable fromager and a cave d’affinage is the ideal place to find Brie at its best.  Timing is everything with Brie-de-Meaux and fromageries that hold the cheese for exactly the right amount of time before selling bring out the very best of the cheese.  We found La Fromagerie de Meaux in the historic center to be a great place to buy Brie. 

I’d say we beelined to the fromagerie soon after we arrived in Meaux except I doubt that bees get as confused by medieval street plans as we do.  But we did in fact succeed in buying cheese soon after we arrived.  It was necessary. 

Back aboard Wanderlust we ate what we bought and then returned the next day to buy more.  If we didn’t continue on to Paris soon, the availability of good Brie in Meaux may have led to our early demise.

Inside Meaux’s cheese museum

Everyone needs a Brie de Meaux hat.

While we were in Meaux, we also visited the Maison de Brie de Meaux, a new addition to the commune’s attractions since we last visited.  In truth, the cheese museum is a little underwhelming.   But it would have to suffice for us as our Brie pilgrimage destination.

As we reached Meaux, Port Arsenal in Paris, our final destination, was just 40 kilometers as a crow flies away.  From Meaux’s station, Gare de l’Est in Paris is just a 40-minute train ride away.  By river it’s a longer journey, 60 kilometers or for us, two cruising days.  Either way we were very close to the end of our 2021 season.

—————–

Log:

The leg from Mary-sur-Marne to Meaux is 23 kilometers long.  There’s just one lock.  On this section Wanderlust’s engine ran for 2.7 hours.

Wanderlust was previously in Meaux in 2015 and 2016.

A map of this day of Wanderlust’s travels is available here.