Ouistreham

The beach and the ferry

The lighthouse

The chirch

The movie theater

Arromanches-les-Bains

Remaining Phoenix caissons from the Mulberry harbour

Arromanches is situated approximately 16 miles northwest of Caen. It is located on the coast in the heart of the area where the Normandy landings took place on D-Day, on 6 June 1944.

The town lies along the stretch of coastline designated as Gold Beach during the D-Day landings, one of the beaches used by British troops in the Allied invasion.

Arromanches was selected as one of the sites for two Mulberry Harbours built on the Normandy coast, the other one built further West at Omaha Beach. Sections of the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches still remain today with huge concrete blocks sitting on the sand, and more can be seen further out at sea.

These concrete blocks are called Phoenixes. They are reinforced concrete caissons constructed by civil engineering contractors around the coast of Britain, collected and sunk at Dungeness, the Cant and Pagham.

The engineers were unable to refloat the Phoenixes and US Navy Captain (later Rear Admiral) Edward Ellsberg, already well known for quickly refloating scuttled ships at Massawa and Oran, was brought in to accomplish the task, though not without obtaining Churchill's intervention in taking the task away from the Royal Engineers and giving it to the Royal Navy.

Today, Arromanches is mainly a tourist town. Situated in a good location for visiting all of the battle sites and War Cemeteries, there is also a museum at Arromanches with information about Operation Overlord and in particular, the Mulberry harbours.

Bayeux

Detail of the Bayeux Tapestry

Bayeux is located 4 miles from the coast of the English Channel and 19 miles north-west of Caen. It was the first city of the Battle of Normandy to be liberated during the Second World War.

The buildings in Bayeux were virtually untouched during the Battle of Normandy, the German forces being fully involved in defending Caen from the Allies.

The Bayeux War Cemetery with its memorial includes the largest British cemetery dating from the Second World War in France. There are 4,648 graves, including 3,935 British and 466 Germans. Most of those buried there were killed in the invasion of Normandy.

Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England.

The tapestry consists of some fifty scenes with Latin tituli (captions), embroidered on linen with coloured woollen yarns.

French legend maintained the tapestry was commissioned and created by Queen Matilda, William the Conqueror's wife, and her ladies-in-waiting. Indeed, in France it is occasionally known as « La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde » (Tapestry of Queen Matilda).

However, scholarly analysis in the 20^th century concluded it was probably commissioned by Bishop Odo, William's half-brother, and made in England – not Bayeux –, in the 1070s.

In 1729 the hanging was rediscovered by scholars at a time when it was being displayed annually in Bayeux Cathedral. The tapestry is now exhibited at Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux.

Bénouville

Pegasus Bridge in Bénouville

Bénouville is located on the Canal de Caen à la Mer close to Caen and Ouistreham. Bénouville was the scene of the first – and possibly most vital – battle of the Allied invasion of Europe on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

A reinforced company of glider-borne troops from the 2^nd Batt. Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, led by Major Reginald John Howard, landed around the bridge over the Caen Canal at Bénouville in three Horsa gliders and captured it from the Germans in a swift and dramatic attack.

Control of this bridge was vital to the success of the whole Operation Overlord invasion, because it would be the route of any German counter-attack against the seaborne forces which were due to start landing a few hours later on Sword Beach.

The Caen Canal bridge was later renamed Pegasus Bridge by Royal Engineers, in honour of the winged horse symbol of the Airborne Forces, after the gliders which carried the men to war.

Today, Pegasus Bridge and the nearby Gondrée Café are known worldwide and are the scene of many pilgrimages and commemoration ceremonies, particularly around June 6.

A few hundred yards from Pegasus Bridge, there is the Musée de Pégasus Bridge created in 1969 by Françoise Gondrée with the will of the actors of D-Day.

Caen

Part of the Château de Caen

Caen is known for its historical buildings built during the reign of William the Conqueror, who was buried there, and for the Battle for Caen – heavy fighting that took place in and around Caen during the Battle of Normandy in 1944, destroying much of the city.

Two hours north-west of Paris, and connected to the south of England by the Ouistreham-Portsmouth ferry route, Caen is located in the centre of its northern region, over which it is a centre of political, economic and cultural power.

As the city of William the Conqueror, the city has a long and complex history. The castle, Château de Caen, built circa 1060 by William the Conqueror, who successfully conquered England in 1066, is one of the largest medieval fortresses of Western Europe. It remained an essential feature of Norman strategy and policy.

At Christmas 1182, a royal court celebration for Christmas in the aula of Caen Castle brought together Henry II and his sons, Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland, receiving more than a thousand knights.

Caen Castle, along with all of Normandy, was handed over to the French Crown in 1204. The castle saw several engagements during the Hundred Years' War (1346, 1417, 1450) and was in use as a barracks as late as the Second World War.

Bullet holes are visible on the walls of the castle where members of the French Resistance were shot.

In the Second World War, Caen was a key site of the Battle of Normandy, and suffered considerable destruction. The city has preserved the memory by erecting a memorial for peace.

Colleville-sur-Mer

The American Cemetery

The beach next to the coastal village was one of the principal beachheads during the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, designated Omaha beach.

The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial is a World War II cemetery and memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer that honors American soldiers who died in Europe during World War II.

On June 8, 1944, the U.S. First Army established the temporary cemetery, the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. After the war, the present-day cemetery was established a short distance to the east of the original site.

Like all other overseas American cemeteries in France for World War I and II, France has granted the United States a special, perpetual concession to the land occupied by the cemetery, free of any charge or any tax.

This cemetery is managed by the American government, under Congressional acts that provide yearly financial support for maintaining them, with most military and civil personnel employed abroad.

Embedded in the lawn directly opposite the entrance to the old Visitors' Building is a time capsule which has been sealed and contains news reports of the June 6, 1944 Normandy landings. The capsule is covered by a pink granite slab upon which is engraved : « To be opened June 6, 2044 ».

Affixed in the center of the slab is a bronze plaque adorned with the five stars of a General of the Army and engraved with the following inscription :

« In memory of General Dwight D. Eisenhower and the forces under his command. This sealed capsule containing news reports of the June 6, 1944 Normandy landings is placed here by the newsmen who were here, June 6, 1969 ».

Deauville

The beach

With its race course, harbour, international film festival, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels, Deauville is regarded as the « queen of the Norman beaches » and one of the most prestigious seaside resorts in all of France.

The closest seaside resort, when coming from Paris, the city and the nearby region of the Côte Fleurie (Flowery Coast) has long been home to French high society's seaside houses and is often referred to as the Parisian riviera.

Since the 19^th century, the town of Deauville has been a fashionable holiday resort for the international upper class. Deauville is also a desirable family resort for the wealthy.

In France, it is known perhaps above all for its role in Proust's In Search of Lost Time.

The Deauville American Film Festival is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, taking place since 1975 in Deauville. It was established by Lionel Chouchan and André Halimi.

Although not competitive at its origin, the festival began to award prizes in 1995, for feature films, and 1998 for short films.

Home to the Deauville-La Touques Racecourse, the countryside around Deauville is the main horse breeding region in France and home to numerous stud farms. As a result, the city is twinned with Lexington, Kentucky and County Kildare in Ireland, both of which are world leaders in breeding thoroughbred racehorses.

The important Ventes de Deauville yearling auction is held in mid-August each year at Deauville.

Honfleur

The harbour

Honfleur is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie.

It is especially known for its old, beautiful picturesque port, characterized by its houses with slate-covered frontages, painted many times by artists, including in particular Gustave Courbet, Eugène Boudin, Claude Monet and Johan Jongkind, forming the école de Honfleur (Honfleur school) which contributed to the appearance of the Impressionist movement.

The Sainte-Catherine church, which has a bell tower separate from the principal building, is the largest church made out of wood in France.

The church is dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria as evidenced by a wooden sculpture above the porch of the bell tower which separates the two naves. She is shown holding a wheel and a sword.

The first nave is the oldest part of the building, dating to the second half of the 15^th century, constructed right after the Hundred Years War. It was built on the model of a market hall, using naval construction techniques, which gives the impression of an upside-down ship's hull. Then the bell tower was built a good distance away, so that parishioners would not be burnt in case of a fire.

Lisieux

The Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse

Lisieux is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland, where there is a mix of livestock farming (mostly milk cows) and cider apple cultivation (from which cider and calvados are made, not forgetting pommeau).

Since the Middle Ages Lisieux has been the seat of one of the seven Roman Catholic dioceses of Normandy under the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical province of Rouen.

The bishopric was abolished in 1801 before being recreated and merged with that of Bayeux in 1855, under the new name of “Bayeux and Lisieux”. The most well known of the Bishops of Lisieux is probably Pierre Cauchon who had a decisive influence during the trial of Joan of Arc.

About 60 percent of the town was destroyed in 1944, so few of the monuments have been preserved.

Lisieux’s Saint-Pierre Cathedral is a rare monument which survived the 1944 allied bombardment. Even though the cathedral has been around since the 6^th century, the church we see today must have been constructed between 1160 and 1230 by Bishop Arnoul.

From the outset, the architect designed quadripartite rib vaults and flying buttresses, making it one of Normandy’s first gothic buildings. The nave is fairly austere and is inspired by the Gothic style of the Île-de-France whereas the most recent parts of the building were constructed in the 18^th century (the chevet, the lantern tower and the western façade) in Norman style.

The Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse de Lisieux was constructed in honour of Sainte-Thérèse de Lisieux, who was beatified in 1923 and canonized in 1925.

It was built for pilgrims who came in increasing numbers to venerate the new saint in the town where she had lived and died. Devotion to Sainte-Thérèse has made Lisieux France's second most important site of pilgrimage, after the Pyrenean town of Lourdes.

Le Mont Saint-Michel

Mont-Saint-Michel seen from the Couesnon River

Le Mont-Saint-Michel is an island commune in Normandy, France. It is located approximately 0.6 miles off the country's northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches.

According to legend, the Archangel Michael appeared in 708 to St. Aubert, the bishop of Avranches, and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet. Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel's instruction until Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger.

In 1067, the monastery of Mont Saint-Michel gave its support to Duke William of Normandy in his claim to the throne of England. This he rewarded with properties and grounds on the English side of the Channel, including a small island off the south-western coast of Cornwall which was modelled after the Mount and became a Norman priory named St Michael's Mount of Penzance.

When Louis XI of France founded the Order of Saint Michael in 1469, he intended that the abbey church of Mont Saint-Michel become the chapel for the Order, but because of its great distance from Paris, his intention could never be realized.

Mont Saint-Michel was previously connected to the mainland via a tidal causeway, i.e., a trackway covered at high tide and revealed at low tide. This connection has been altered over the centuries.

The coastal flats have been polderised to create pastureland, thus the distance between the shore and the south coast of Mont Saint-Michel has decreased, and the Couesnon River has been canalised, reducing the dispersion of the flow of water, and thereby encouraging a silting-up of the bay.

In 1879, the tidal causeway was converted into a raised or dry causeway. This prevented the tide from scouring the silt around the mount.

On 16 June 2006, the French prime minister and regional authorities announced a €164 million project to build a hydraulic dam using the waters of the river Couesnon and of tides to help remove the accumulated silt deposited by the rising tides, and to make Mont Saint-Michel an island again.