Our acquaintance with Normandy began with the town Camembert. More precisely we were heading from the Paris airport Beauvais (Beauvais Tille) towards the Abbey of Mont Saint Michel and remembered that on the way we would meet the homeland of cheeses. The difficulty was that we did not remember what kind of cheeses, and we confidently hammered Rockford into the navigator. Fortunately, Roquefort was very close, but there was no cheese in it.

Now wonder because the birthplace of Roquefort cheese is located in a completely different side of France, and on our way was the city of Camembert. It is difficult to call this tiny village a city. Just a few houses, a lot of green pastures, a museum that we couldn't get into because it was closed for lunch.

Two women who don’t speak English explained to us that they are not yet admitting tourists to production and tastings, not in season. But we asked to cut off a piece of different camembert for us: one that is still hard, a little softer and one that is completely soft.

They took the middle ground and Livarot - a close brother of Camembert cheese, another soft cheese made from cow's milk with white mold. Livaro has a more intense taste and smell, it is not advised to transport it, it is better to use it on the spot with a glass of Calvados. We also tasted Pont-l'Évêque - a mild and rich flavor with a creamy center, better eaten at room temperature and Neufchâtel is not as soft and saltier than Camembert, with a mushroom flavor.

We carefully kept the cheeses we bought on the first day for the entire trip, one might say, gave them a massage... but at the airport it turned out that soft cheeses can only be transported in luggage. And we as you remember did not have it. I kept my promise and each of us took only a backpack. Therefore, all our fragrant souvenirs were seized during the control. They managed to make up for the loss in a boring duty free without tastings and atmosphere. Sad cheese story.

Moral: if you are about to pick up a fragrant suitcase with soft cheeses from Normandy - remember that they must be checked in!

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