Many of our guests and subscribers know that we led a trip to the magical city of Venice late last year.  It was our first-ever “Dublin Decoded” overseas excursion and was a terrific success, enjoyable, highly convivial, and stuffed with beautiful art treasures.

This was just the first of a long serious of overseas tours we have planned for the next six or seven years.   It is anticipated and planned that-  over that time – we will lead different tours to Rome, Florence, the Veneto (Verona, Padua, and Vincenza)  to Ghent and Bruges and several other destinations.  In the very short term however,  I’m delighted with our upcoming, 4-Night, 5-day trip to Rouen and Normandy.

To celebrate the trip in May,  and help fill the last 3-4 places, we hosted a free online Art History talk on THURSDAY, 12th of MARCH.  The talk was recorded and it’s still available to view free (up until up to approximately Thursday 19th or Friday 20th March)    To watch our recent online talk, on the upcoming Art of Rouen Art Lovers trip, press here. 

See below for more details, for prices, and for how to apply to join our Rouen and Normandy trip, just see below.

Our approach. 
We tend to focus on quite high-end, small group tours, staying in a very good hotel, using good restaurants and plenty of cultural “inclusions”  and quite small groups, typically no more than 10 to 12 guests.

Our 2026 overseas art trip takes place very soon,  this May,
from 18^th to 22 May inclusive.   

Why Rouen and Normandy?    If you know this beautiful region of France well, the reasons may be obvious.
The local Seine valley region, for example, is littered with some of the most renowned medieval Monasteries and Abbeys in France. One highlight of our trip is a full-day excursion down the beautiful Seine valley,  following that wide river, as it snakes through the French countryside, to visit three lovely ancient Abbeys. On another day, we’ll also visit Monet’s beautiful home and world-famous gardens of Giverny. You may feel like you’ve stepped inside one of his Impressionist, Water-lily paintings.

Perhaps the icing on the cake is the beautiful city of Rouen itself: our base together on this whole trip, full of stunning medieval, and renaissance architecture, all while staying in our beautiful hotel, which itself dates from the Renaissance, the Hôtel de Bourgtheroulde.

Our time in Rouen includes tours of the cathedral and several ancient, local churches, a workshop on “reading” biblical stories in stained glass windows, and of course, three separate, private expert art tours, exploring and discussing in details the impressive collection of old master paintings at the local Musée de Beaux Art Rouen. (Expect works by Clouet, Caravaggio and Rubens, Poussin, Velázquez and Monet)

To join our upcoming Art Lovers Tour of Rouen and Normandy,  please write a short email to  arran@dublindecoded.com and if possible, please use one of these two subject headers:    If you want one place and a single-occupancy room, then please use the subject header “One place for Rouen please”    If you want two places on the trip, (please specify with a double or twin room) then please use the subject header “Two places for Rouen please” 

We will send you details of recommended flights arriving to Paris Charles de Gaulle (flights not included)and a long list of things that are included (airport transfers Paris airport to and from Rouen, several bus and on-foot expert tours, 4 nights accommodation at the Hôtel de Bourgtheroulde., breakfasts every day, several other meals, all entrances, tours, your own art historian, etc, etc)

Remember, last chance this week, just email arran@dublindecoded.com and please use one of those subject headers: “One place for Rouen please”   or if you want two places on the trip, (please specify with a double or twin room) please use the subject header “Two places for Rouen please” 

See you there. It’s going to be great.

images below, from top left, Jumieges Abbey; Monet’s waterlilly garden at Giverny; scenes from the city of Rouen including the typical timber frame cage houses, the gothic church of Saint-Maclou, the Renaissance courtyard at Hôtel de Bourgtheroulde, the Grand Horloges public clock, and several artworks at the Musée de Beaux Art Rouen, including works by Delacroix, Velásquez and Claude Monet (one of his many famous views of Rouen cathedral) Arran leading an art tour at the National Gallery of Ireland last autumn.