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Top Attractions in Normandy

Le Havre

Le Havre is an urban French commune and city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Upper Normandy region of north-western France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel south-west of the Pays de Caux. Modern Le Havre remains deeply influenced by its employment and maritime traditions. Its port is the second largest in France, after that of Marseille, for total traffic, and the largest French container port. The name Le Havre means "the harbour" or "the port". Its inhabitants are known as Havrais or Havraises. Administratively the commune is located in the Upper Normandy region and, with Dieppe, is one of the two sub-prefectures of the Seine-Maritime department. Le Havre is the capital of the canton and since 1974 has been the see of the diocese of Le Havre. Le Havre is the most populous commune of Upper Normandy, although the total population of the greater Le Havre conurbation is smaller than that of Rouen. It is also the second largest subprefecture in France . The city and port were officially founded by King François I in 1517. Economic development in the Early modern period was hampered by religious wars, conflicts with the English, epidemics, and storms. It was from the end of the 18th century that Le Havre started growing and the port took off first with the slave trade then other international trade. After the 1944 bombings the firm of Auguste Perret began to rebuild the city in concrete. The oil, chemical, and automotive industries were dynamic during the Trente Glorieuses but the 1970s marked the end of the golden age of ocean liners and the beginning of the economic crisis: the population declined, unemployment increased and remains at a high level today. Changes in years 1990–2000 were numerous. The right won the municipal elections and committed the city to the path of reconversion, seeking to develop the service sector and new industries . The Port 2000 project increased the container capacity to compete with ports of northern Europe, transformed the southern districts of the city, and ocean liners returned. In 2005 UNESCO inscribed the central city of Le Havre as a World Heritage Site. The André Malraux Modern Art Museum is the second of France for the number of impressionist paintings. The city has been awarded two flowers by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom.

Caen

Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. The city proper has 108,365 inhabitants while its urban area has 420,000, making Caen the largest city in Lower Normandy. It is also the second largest municipality in all of Normandy after Le Havre and the third largest city proper in Normandy, after Rouen and Le Havre. The metropolitan area of Caen, in turn, is the second largest in Normandy after that of Rouen, the 21st largest in France. It is located 15 km inland from the English Channel, two hours north-west of Paris, and connected to the south of England by the Caen--Portsmouth ferry route. Caen is located in the centre of its northern region, and it is a centre of political, economic and cultural power. Located a few miles from the coast, the landing beaches, the bustling resort of Deauville and Cabourg, Norman Switzerland or Pays d'Auge, Caen is often considered the archetype of Normandy. As the city of William the Conqueror, the city has a long and complex history. Caen is known for its historical buildings built during the reign of William, 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. The city has now preserved the memory by erecting a memorial for peace.

Bayeux

Bayeux is located 7 kilometres (4 miles) from the coast of the English Channel and 30 km (19 mi) north-west of Caen. The city, with elevations varying from 32 to 67 metres (105 to 220 feet) above sea level – with an average of 46 metres (151 feet) – is bisected by the River Aure. Bayeux is located at the crossroads of RN 13 and the train route Paris-Caen-Cherbourg. The city is the capital of the Bessin, which extends north-west of Calvados. The city was known as Augustodurum in the Roman Empire. It means the durum (Celtic word duro- 'door', 'gate', Welsh dor, Breton dor 'door', 'gate') dedicated to Augustus, Roman Emperor. The Celtic word duron, Latinised as durum, was probably used to translate the Latin word forum (Compare Fréjus Forum Julii, dedicated to Julius (Caesar)). In the Late Empire it took the name of the Celtic tribe who lived here : the Bodiocassi, Latinized in Bajocassi, Bajocasses, and this word explains the place-names Bayeux and Bessin. Bodiocassi has been compared with Old Irish Buidechass 'with blond locks'. Founded as a Gallo-Roman settlement in the 1st century BC under the name Augustodurum, Bayeux is the capital of the former territory of the Bodiocassi people of Gaul, whose name appears in the writings of Pliny the Elder. Evidence of earlier human occupation of the territory comes from fortified Celtic camps, but there is no evidence of any major pre-existing Celtic town before the organization of Gaul in Roman civitates. Any settlement was more likely confined to scattered Druid huts along the banks of the Aure and Drome rivers or on Mount Phaunus where they worshiped. Cemeteries have been found on the nearby Mount Phaunus indicating the area as a Druid centre. Titus Sabinus, a lieutenant of Julius Caesar, subjected the Bessin region to Roman domination. The town is mentioned by Ptolemy, writing in the reign of Antoninus Pius under the name Noemagus Biducassium (for *Noviomagus Badiocassium 'New market of the Badiocassi') and remained so until the time of the Roman Empire. The main street was already the heart of the city. A pair of spas under the Church of St. Lawrence and the Dairy Street Post Office and a sculpted head of the goddess Minvera have been found attesting to the adoption of Roman culture. In 1990 a closer examination of huge blocks discovered in the cathedral in the 19th century indicated the presence of an old Roman building. Bayeux was built on a crossroads between Lisieux and Valognes, developing first on the west bank of the river. By the end of the 3rd century a walled enclosure surrounded the city until it was removed in the 18th century. Its layout is still visible and can be followed today. The citadel of the city was located in the southwest corner and the cathedral the southeast. An important city in Normandy, Bayeux was part of the coastal defence of the Roman Empire against the pirates of the region and a Roman Legion was stationed there. The city was largely destroyed during the Viking raids of the late 9th century but was rebuilt in the early 10th century under the reign of Bothon. In the middle of the 10th century Bayeux was controlled by Hagrold, a pagan Viking who defended the city against the Franks. The 11th century saw the creation of five villages beyond the walls to the north east evidence of its growth during Ducal Normandy. William the Conqueror's half brother Odo, Earl of Kent completed the cathedral in the city and it was dedicated in 1077. However the city began to lose prominence when William placed his capital at Caen. When King Henry I of England defeated his brother Robert Curthose for the rule of Normandy, the city was burned to set an example to the rest of the duchy. Under Richard the Lionheart, Bayeux was wealthy enough to purchase a municipal charter. From the end of Richard's reign to the end of the Hundred Years' War, Bayeux was repeatedly pillaged until Henry V of England captured of the city in 1417. After the Battle of Formigny, Charles VII of France recaptured the city and granted a general amnesty to its populace in 1450. The capture of Bayeux heralded a return to prosperity as new families replaced those decimated by war and these built some 60 mansions scattered throughout the city, with stone supplanting wood. The area around Bayeux is called the Bessin, which was the bailiwick of the province Normandy until the French Revolution. During the Second World War, Bayeux was the first city of the Battle of Normandy to be liberated, and on 16 June 1944 General Charles de Gaulle made the first of two major speeches in Bayeux in which he made clear that France sided with the Allies. 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. Royal British Legion National, every 5 June at 1530 hrs, attends the 3rd Division Cean Memorial Service and beating retreat ceremony. On the 6th of June, it holds a remembrance service in Bayeux Cathedral starting at 1015 hrs, and later at 1200 hrs, the Royal British Legion National holds a service of remembrance at the Bayeux Cemetery. All services are open to the public, all Standards RBL, NVA, RN, ARMY, and RAF service and Regimental Associations are welcome to attend and parade. Details can be found at www.rblsomme.org The French town of Bayeux is also the home of a memorial to all of the journalists who have lost their lives while reporting. The memorial was designed by Samuel Craquelin, who is a French architect. The memorial lists the names of 1,889 journalists killed between 1944 and 2007. The memorial was established in Bayeux because of its historic liberation on 7 June 1944.

Cherbourg

Cherbourg-Octeville is a city and commune situated at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It is a subprefecture of its department, and was officially formed when the commune of Cherbourg absorbed Octeville on 28 February 2000. The city is a Maritime prefecture and sub-prefecture of la Manche. Due to its union, it is the most populated city in its department with 37,121 inhabitants making it the first city of the department before the Saint-Lô prefecture and the second in the region after Caen. Cherbourg-Octeville is protected by Cherbourg Harbour, between La Hague and Val de Saire, and the city has been a strategic position over the centuries, disputed between the English and French. Cited as one of the "keys to the kingdom" by Vauban, it became, by colossal maritime development work, a first-rate military port under the leadership of Louis XVI and Napoleon, and holds an arsenal of the French Navy. A stopping point for prestigious transatlantic liners in the first half of the twentieth century, Cherbourg was the primary goal of US troops during the invasion of Normandy in 1944. Along with its use as a military, fishing and yachting port, it is also a cross-Channel ferry port, with routes to the English ports of Poole and Portsmouth, the Irish port of Rosslare Harbour and St Helier on Jersey. Limited by its geographical isolation from being a great commercial port, it is nonetheless an important shipbuilding centre, and a working-class city with a rural hinterland.

Le Mont-St.-Michel

Le Mont-Saint-Michel is an island commune in Normandy, France. It is located approximately one kilometre off the countrys northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. 100 hectares in size, the island has a population of 44 . The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times and since the 8th century AD has been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name. The structural composition of the town exemplifies the feudal society that constructed it: on top, God, the abbey and monastery; below, the great halls; then stores and housing; and at the bottom, outside the walls, fishermens and farmers housing. Its unique position of being an island only 600 metres from land made it readily accessible at low tide to the many pilgrims to its abbey. Equally, this position made it readily defensible as an incoming tide stranded, drove off, or drowned, would-be assailants. By capitalizing on this natural defence the Mont remained unconquered during the Hundred Years War with a small garrison successfully defending it against a full attack by the English in 1433. The reverse benefits of its natural defence were not lost on Louis XI, who turned the Mont into a prison. Thereafter the abbey began to be used more regularly as a jail during the Ancien Régime. One of Frances most recognizable landmarks, Mont Saint-Michel and its bay are part of the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites and more than 3 million people visit it each year.

Chêne chapelle

The Chêne chapelle is an oak tree located in Allouville-Bellefosse in Seine-Maritime, France. The oak tree is between 800 and 1,200 years old. It is 15 metres high and its base has a circumference of 16 metres . Its hollow trunk hosts two chapels, which were built there in 1669 and are still used: Notre Dame de la Paix and the Chambre de lErmite . A spiral staircase around the trunk provides access to the chapels. When the tree was nearing 500 years of age, it was struck by lightning; the resulting fire burned slowly through the center and hollowed the tree out. The local Abbot Du Detroit and the village priest, Father Du Cerceau, claimed that the lighting striking and hollowing the tree was an event that had happened with holy purpose. So they built a place of pilgrimage devoted to the Virgin Mary in the hollow. In later years, the chapel above was added, as was the staircase. During the French Revolution, the tree became an emblem of the old system of governance and tyranny as well as the church that aided and abetted it: a crowd descended upon the village, intent on burning the tree to the ground. However, a local whose name is lost renamed the oak the "Temple of Reason" and as such it became a symbol of the new ways of thinking and was spared. Today, a number of measures are necessary in order to counter problems caused by the age of the tree: poles shore up the weight of some branches, and wooden shingles have been used to cover areas of the tree that have lost their bark; still, part of its trunk is already dead. Twice a year, mass is celebrated in the oak. The oak is the site of a pilgrimage on August 15 .

Deauville

Deauville is a commune in the Calvados département in the Normandy region in northwestern France. 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. As the closest seaside resort to Paris, the city and its region of the Côte Fleurie has long been home to French high society's seaside houses and is often referred to as the Parisian riviera. Since the 19th 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.

Sées Cathedral

Sées Cathedral Basilica is a Roman Catholic cathedral, and national monument of France, in Sées in Normandy. It is the seat of the Bishop of Sées. The Gothic cathedral dates from the 13th and 14th century and occupies the site of three earlier churches. The west front, which is disfigured by the buttresses projecting beyond it, has two stately spires of open work 230 ft. high. The nave was built towards the end of the 13th century. The choir, built soon afterwards, is remarkable for the lightness of its construction. In the choir are four bas-reliefs of great beauty representing scenes in the life of the Virgin Mary; and the altar is adorned with another depicting the removal of the relics of Saints Gervais and Protais. The church has constantly been the object of restoration and reconstruction. The cathedral has a magnificent organ by Cavaille-Coll which has recently been restored. Sunday afternoon recitals are held during July and August. The choir organ is also by the same maker.

Lisieux Cathedral

Lisieux Cathedral is a former Roman Catholic cathedral, and a national monument of France, in Lisieux. Built between 1170 and the middle of the 13th century through the initiative of Bishop Arnulf, the cathedral was the seat of the Bishop of Lisieux until the diocese of Lisieux was abolished under the Concordat of 1801 and merged into the Diocese of Bayeux. The west front of the building consists of three portals surmounted by two towers. The south tower was built in the 16th century and at the top bears a 17th-century flèche. Buttresses were added to the south face in the 15th century. The cathedral survived World War II wholly intact. An earlier cathedral is presumed to have existed since the 6th century, as there was a Bishop of Lisieux from that time, but nothing is known of the earlier edifice. It is the burial place of Pierre Cauchon, who prosecuted Joan of Arc.

Jardin botanique de Caen

The Jardin botanique de Caen, more formally known as Le jardin des plantes et le jardin botanique de Caen, is a botanical garden and arboretum located at 5, place Blot, Caen, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. It is open daily. The gardens earliest plants were collected in 1689, and its first catalog published in 1781 . It was established on the site of an old stone quarry as a university botanical garden, but in 1803, after the French Revolution, it was extended by 3.5 hectares to become a municipal park. In 1860 two large greenhouses were constructed, and a botanical institute added in 1891, but all were destroyed in World War II. New greenhouses were built in 1988. Today the garden contains more than 8,000 species laid out in two sections. The lower section contains native plants of Normandy, a medicinal garden, horticultural collections, rockeries, an arboretum of trees and shrubs, and a greenhouse of about 1,500 exotic species. The upper section is a public park containing remarkable tree specimens including Sophora japonica, Sequoiadendron giganteum, and Cryptomeria japonica .

Jardin des Plantes de Rouen

The Jardin des Plantes de Rouen is a municipal botanical garden located at 7, rue de Trianon, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Upper Normandy, France. It is open daily without charge. The garden dates to 1691 when Louis de Carel acquired forest land within which he built a walled garden and pavilion. Scottish banker John Law purchased the garden in 1717, and in 1741, after several other owners, it was opened to the public. In 1806 Sophie Blanchard made a solo balloon ascension from the grounds, in 1811 Napoleon purchased the garden to establish the Sénatorie de la Seine-Inférieure, and in 1817 Elisa Garnerin parachuted from a balloon launched on the site. In 1820 English horticulturist Crac Calvert set up greenhouses for dahlias. The municipality of Rouen purchased the site in 1832 for its botanical garden, to designs by Désiré Lejeune and construction by Guillaume Dubreuil, which in 1840 opened to the public as the Jardin des Plantes. In 2004 the garden was recognized by the Association des jardins botaniques de France et des pays francophones. Today the garden contains over 5600 plant taxa, representing 600 species, with a notable collection of fuchsias . It contains a rock garden, garden of iris and hemerocallis, rose garden, squares of medicinal plants, as well as an orchard and collections of aromatic and carnivorous plants. Buildings include an orangery, the central greenhouse, seven additional greenhouses including a palmarium, and tropical greenhouses . The garden also contains statues of local writer Eugène Noël, a runic stone from Denmark placed in 1911, and a bust of the god Pan.

Château de Dieppe

The Château de Dieppe is a castle in the French town of Dieppe in the Seine-Maritime département. The castle was founded in 1188, and was destroyed in 1195. The site was restored in the 14th century. The castle was later in large part reconstructed in 1433 by Charles des Marets. The castle is composed of a quadrangular enclosure with round flanking towers and a lower court adjacent. The large west tower dates perhaps from the 14th century, and served as the keep. Several architectural styles are represented, and flint and sandstone are used in the buildings. A brick bastion and various other buildings have been added to the original enclosure. The town walls were built around 1360. The walls were extended between 1435 and 1442. Although the town was largely destroyed by an Anglo-Dutch naval bombardment in 1694, the castle survived. Until 1923, the castle housed the Ruffin barracks. It was bought by the town in 1903 and today is home to the Dieppe museum with its collection of ivories, maritime exhibits and the papers and belongings of Camille Saint-Saëns. The castle offers a panoramic view over the town and the coast. The Château de Dieppe has been officially classed since 1862 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

Château de Pirou

The Château de Pirou is a castle in the commune of Pirou, in the département of Manche, France. The castle was initially built of wood, then of stone in the 12th century and belonged to the lords of Pirou. It was constructed near the shore of the English Channel, and used to watch upon the west coast of the Cotentin, to protect the town of Coutances. The castle was transformed into Lord Adnans penthouse during the 18th century, and then began to deteriorate. In 1968 the castle was listed in the Inventaire supplémentaire des Monuments historiques by the French Ministry of Culture. Restoration was begun on the initiative of the abbot Marcel Lelégard . The castle now lies in the middle of an artificial pond. The drawbridge has been replaced by a stone bridge. The curtain walls from the 12th century enclose two residential houses from two different periods .
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