Étretat, Normandy, France (© Luis Henrique Boucault/Getty Images)

Facing the vast blue expanse of the English Channel, the cliffs of Étretat raise their arches and spires like a mineral cathedral sculpted by time. For millennia, the sea has carved a masterpiece that no architect could have imagined: white chalk cliffs, pierced by Gothic gateways and punctuated by natural columns that interact with the ever-changing light over Normandy's sky in France.