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The Normandy landings
On
"D-Day" in June 1944, Allied forces disembarked on the Normandy
beaches, in a massive surprise attack that was to mark the beginning of
the end of the Second World War.
Thousands of Allied troops
– Americans, British, French, Canadians and others, gave
their
lives in the battles to recapture Normandy and achieve victory over the
Nazis. The Normandy beaches and the area inland are today the site of
many memorials and museums in memory of those who fought through and
those who died during this momentous period of history.
For more on the Normandy landings area, and a map, see
Bayeux.
Photo
above : memorial on Sword Beach, Ouistreham, near Caen.
Normandy
is one of the great historic regions of France. In the Middle
Ages, Normandy was one of the great dukedoms which, like Burgundy,
rivalled in
power and prestige with the kingdom of France. Indeed, the dukes of
Normandy managed to achieve the same status as the kings of France, to
whom they owed alliegance. Before he died, the king of
England, Edward the Confessor, named his nephew William, duke
of Normandy, as his successor. But after Harold, William's cousin, took
the English crown for himself, William invaded England in 1066, to
assert his claim to a royal crown. The story of Harold and William the
Conqueror is magnificently told in the historic Bayeux Tapestry, which
can be visited in
Bayeux,
a few miles to the west of Caen.
With their historic links and their
proximity, it is
hardly surprising that the Normandy area has much in common with the
south of England; the rolling countryside is not too different - fields
and meadows bordered by hedges, even bluebell woods.
Furthermore, the historic and vernacular styles of architecture are not
too different either.
The areas of Normandy
Normandy is famous for its beaches and its horse riding.
Recently reunited as a single
region, the area
that was once the dukedom of Normandy was until 2015 divided into two
administrative regions
-
Upper
Normandy (Haute Normandie), capital
Rouen,
with its two departments,
Eure
(27) and
Seine Maritime
(76), and
Lower
Normandy, (Basse Normandie) capital
Caen, comprising the
departments of
Calvados
(14),
Manche
(50), and
Orne(61).
Since 2016, the region of Normandy has
been once again reunited, to the satisfaction of many Normans.
To the south east, the Normandy
area borders on
the Ile de France, the Paris region,
and towns and villages in this area have developed due to their
proximity to the capital. Both Caen and Rouen are sufficiently close to
Paris to benefit from the economic vigour of the Paris region, which is
the most propserous in France, and from their position between two
major hubs of international communications - Paris for air travel
(parts
of south east Normandy are less than 100 km from Charles de
Gaulle airport), and the Normandy port of
Le Havre,
France's
most important international shipping port.
Towns and cities in Normandy
Le
Havre, Caen and
Rouen are the three main
cities in this region. For details of these cities, see below under
Tourist attractions.
There are four smaller cities - or large towns, these being Evreux, in
the Eure, Cherbourg - still an active
seaport, though less than in its heyday when it was France's gateway to
America - Dieppe, a minor seaport, and
Alençon,
capital of the Orne. Two particularly interesting small towns in
Normandy are
Bayeux
and
Honfleur .
Outside the towns and cities, Normandy
is a prosperous agricultural area, specialising in dairy products,
fruit
(notably apples) and mixed farming. The most famous regional products
are the cheese
Camembert,
and two drinks, Cider and the spirit
distilled from it, Calvados. Normandy is also famous for its
racehorses, and the region has many top breeding stables.
Getting to Normandy
:
- By train
from Paris Gare Saint Lazare. Buy tickets online at Trainline.com
- Direct access by ferry
from the UK, to Cherbourg, Caen (Ouistreham), Le
Havre or Dieppe.
- By air:
access by plane to Paris or (for western Normandy) to Rennes, Caen or Deauville See Fly to France
Main
tourist attractions
in
Normandy
Picturesque Barfleur, at the northeast tip of the Cotentin peninsula
- Giverny:
(near Vernon, 27) Visit the home of the greatest Impressionist, Claude
Monet, and the Giverny Museum of Impressionism - formerly the Museum of
American art.
There are more works by the major Impressionists in the museums at
Rouen and Le Havre (see below).
- Caen
(14), a large part of which was destroyed in the Second World War, has
a Memorial
museum of the Normandy Landings and the Liberation
- The
Normandy Beaches
(14) - the site of the D-Day Landings in World War 2 - Omaha Beach,
Juno Beach, Utah Beach and the others. The landings are
commemorated in monuments, museums and the war graves of the thousands
who gave their lives. Normandy beach Coach tours depart from
Bayeux.
- Bayeux
(14),
attractive old Norman town where the historic Bayeux tapestry was made,
and is still preserved, 900 years after it was made. The museum is open
7/7. Departure point of coach tours of the Normandy beaches.
- Falaise
(14) - impressive Medieval
fortress with museum, museum of Civilian life during the War,
birthplace of William the Conqueror.
- The Lower
Normandy seaside
(14) Between the Seine and Caen, the coast of lower Normandy
offers a succession of genteel seaside resorts, including
Trouville, Houlgate and
Cabourg, etc. -
resorts that flourished in the ninetenth century, as the
closest to Paris.
- Honfleur
(14) Attractive small port at the mouth of
the Seine. Old harbour with picturesque quayside; Eugène
Boudin museum.
St
Catherine's church, from the 15th century, is the
largest historic wooden church in France.
- Rouen
(76), with its quays on the river Seine, its picturesque historic
centre, with half-timbered houses, an ancient clock, and a magnificent
gothic cathedral, one of the finest in France. The Rouen Fine
Arts museum
-
musée des beaux arts - has the best collection of works by
the
Impressionists
outside Paris, plus a broad collection of old masters
from 15th
century to the 20th century, including Rubens, Velasquez, Poussin and
many more. There is also the Joan
of Arc museum .
- Le
Havre (76) -In
the 1950's, the old town, destroyed in the war, was rebuilt in concrete
by architect Auguste Perret, to the wishes of the Communist city
council. This example of postwar urban planning is classed as a UNESCO
world heritage site.
- Le
Havre: (76) Musée Malraux :
one of the best museums outside Paris for impressionism
&
fauvism.
Large collection of 19th & 20th century masters including
Monet,
Renoir, Boudin, Marquet, Pissaro and many others
- The
White Cliffs of Etretat (76) - the most famous cliffs in
France.
- Pays
d'Auge (14, 61) - the archetypal Norman countryside, with
its small villages and traditional half-timbered cottages.
- La
Suisse Normande
(14, 61) - the highest hills in Normandy, around 1000 ft., loved by
hikers and ramblers - though they are a long way from being mountains.
- Le
Mont
Saint Michel,
(50) the world famous medieval abbey built on a rock in the
bay
- a UNESCO world heritage site. One of France's most visited
historic monuments.
- Le
Cotentin: (50) countryside, cliffs and sandy beaches, on
this granite promontory jutting out into the English
Channel. The Cotentin coastline, from Juno beach up to Cherbourg, and
then down again to Mont Saint Michel, has numerous attractive beaches
and small seaside towns, many of them free from crowds even in high
summer.
- Granville:
(50) - small town on the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula, standing
on a fortified promontory overlooking the bay of Mont Saint Michel.
Fishing and pleasure port, modern art museum,
aquarium, attractive
old town and a Christian Dior museum of fashion.
- Le
Cité de la Mer, Cherbourg:
(50) Devoted to underwater exploration, the museum includes a visit of
the Redoutable, the biggest visitable sub in the world, plus the
deepest aquarium in Europe.
Accommodation choices
in
Normandy
Hotels
in Normandy
► Hotels in the
Calvados
department (14)
► Hotels
in the
Orne
(61)
► Hotels
in the
Eure
(27)
A
small
hand-picked selection of
hotels in Normandy.
All
these
Normandy hotels have been selected on account of their good
user reviews:
Click hotel name for booking options and best rates.
Cherbourg
area (50) :
Normandy
beaches area (14) :
Deauville
& Côte Fleurie (14) :
Pays
de Caux (76-27- N-E Normandy) :
Rouen
area :
Les
Andelys ☆☆☆
Chaîne
d'Or on the banks of the eine
About-France.com
How we choose which hotels to list:
About-France.com
takes the strain out of finding a good hotel. Before listing any hotel,
we read customer reviews to make sure that it meets our standards or
selection criteria. For our regional lists, the main criterion used is
visitor satisfaction. We only list hotels which are generally
recommended by people who have stayed in them. As a result, our hotel
lists are short and very selective.
Naturally, the type and quality of service
provided will vary
according to the hotel; visitors cannot expect the same service or room
quality in a two-star hotel as in a four-star chateau hotel. Our choice
lists hotels that are generally judged to be above average or well
above average for their category.
Visiting
Paris?
See our selection of
Paris
hotels
Photo
top of page: le Mont Saint Michel
Just a short ferry ride from the
UK, Normandy is a beautiful part of France with fine beaches, bucolic
countryside, and a world famous cultural and historic heritage.
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Photo
top of page: Mont Saint Michel
In 2016, the
Normandy area, the former dukedom of Normandy was reunited into a
single region. Prior to that, it was split into Upper
Normandy (Haute Normandie)
in the east, and Lower Normandy (Basse Normandie) in the west
A small part
of the 11th
century Bayeux Tapestry, celebrating
William the Conqueror.
Monet's
garden - Giverny.
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