WWII Normandy – a whistle stop tour

Following a few days in Paris, we headed to Normandy for the last 2 nights of our trip.  The drive was easy, as is usually the case on brilliant French roads.  The idea was to visit the D-Day landing beaches, the cemeteries, Arromanches and Bayeaux and to learn some more about the area and a monumental part of our history.

We stayed at a small hotel in Port en Bessin, a small working harbour village just 15 minutes drive west of Arromanches and the same distance north west of Bayeaux.  Port en Bessin is perfectly located to enable exploration of the principal memorial sites as well as the charming and historic town of Bayeaux.

We only had one and a half days in Normandy so our tour was always going to be a whistle stop. We wanted to get the most out of our stay so here’s what we did;

The WWII sites

Arriving in Port en Bessin after lunch, we checked in to our hotel and headed to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial at Colleville sur Mer.  It is a breathtakingly beautiful cemetery, located along the shores of Gold Beach where the first troops landed on 6^th June 1944.  It is striking in its enormity too as over 9,000 graves are marked by pristine white crosses on immaculate lawns.  The memorial is quite beautiful and incredibly detailed in its description of the landings and the Battle of Normandy.  We spent some time there, walking under the glorious sunshine and absorbing the incredible history of the place.

The harbour in Port en Bessin has a vibrant bar and some good restaurants.  We had dinner (on both nights!) at Restaurant L’Ecailler which offers excellent seafood, some other dishes too, and very good desserts.

Our plan the next day was to visit Arromanches and Gold Beach, the Bayeaux War Cemetery and Bayeaux itself, via lunch of course.

The Bayeaux War Cemetery is the largest Second World War cemetery of Commonwealth soldiers in France.  Located just outside Bayeaux, the cemetery is not as manicured as the American cemetery however it is still pretty and extremely evocative.  Although there was no actual fighting in Bayeaux, it was the first French town to be liberated so it is particularly poignant that 4,144 commonwealth soldiers are laid to rest here as well as over 500 of other nationalities.   The Bayeaux Memorial, opposite the cemetery, bears the names of more than 1,800 men of the Commonwealth land forces who have no known grave.  They all died during the landings in Normandy, during the intense fighting at the start of the campaign.  More poignantly, 338 of the soldiers buried there are unidentified.

On our arrival in Arromanches, we found an ice cream and strolled amongst the remaining German defences, along Gold Beach.  Gold Beach is the middle of the 5 beaches targeted by the allies as D-Day landing sites at the start of Operation Overlord, the code name for the battle of Normandy.  It is a beautiful, sweeping beach, even lovelier in the glorious sunshine and so hard to imagine what happened there less than 100 years ago.  Whilst in Arromanches, Arromanches360, a circular cinema experience, is well worth a visit.  On the day we visited, Arromanches360 was showing a 20 minute film detailing the first 100 days of the Battle of Normandy, which was incredibly interesting.

During longer stays there are the other beaches worth visiting that were historic D-Day landing sites for the US, Canadian and British forces on 6^th June 1944.  We managed to see Omaha (US) and Gold (British) beaches but there are also Utah (US), Juno (Canadian) and Sword (British) beaches to visit as well as the famous Pegasus Bridge.  There are several museums throughout the area and you can almost sense the impact of the war on the surrounding countryside and rebuilt towns and villages. It is a beautiful and thought provoking place to visit and even the most avid historian would learn something about WWII and leave with a sense of utter gratitude and respect.  The short time we spent in Normandy really brought such an important part of our history to life and taught us all, interested teenagers included, so much more about these defining days of the Second World War.

Bayeaux

Having previously visited the Bayeaux Tapestry as a teenager on a school trip, us adults were keen to visit it again and enable the teens to enjoy the same experience so we headed there on our second afternoon in Normandy.  It’s a simple but very well done interactive experience complete with audio guides explaining what you are looking at as you move along the tapestry.  We also visited the cathedral in Bayeaux which is very beautiful inside and thankfully completely intact having not witnessed any fighting during the war.  Quaint shops line the cobbled streets where you can buy artwork and plenty of chocolate! There are several good eateries in Bayeaux  – we found possibly the best bagels we have ever eaten at a colourful, retro café called Chez Paulette.

Returning to Port en Bessin that evening, we felt we had made the most of our short time in Calvados country.

Do get in touch if you would like to know more about visiting Normandy.