The Bretteville Castle at Bretteville-Saint-Laurent in Normandy, France is a little jewel and it can be visited.

In a small town in Upper Normandy called Ermenouville you will find this quite spectacular castle. Ermenouville is a very small village, just some 150 inhabitants, but still they have this very beautiful castle dating back to the 17th century. The gardens of the castle are well known and respected. They have the largest collection […]

Here is the Grande Armada parade sailing schedule for the last day, 16 June 2019.

In the peaceful and quiet village of Gueures in Normandy, you will find a splendid castle located alongside the Saane river. Built around the 18th century on the grounds of a previous fortress, the chateau now is in private hands. And yes, you do see a large windmill in the background of the castle, but […]

Etretat on its own is a place to visit in Upper Normandy. It’s well viewed by the French, and in the summer, even in the spring, you’ll have problems finding parking spaces, that’s how busy it gets. A beautiful, old and very scenic coastal village with several very old buildings, narrow streets, a beach and […]

Fecamp is a quaint small city, full of character. Although in dire need of some TLC, strolling around the sea and harbour side of the city can be very rewarding. Fecamp was once a main hub for commercial fishing, particularly for trawlers crossing the Atlantic to fish for cod in Newfoundland. The cod would be […]

If you are not someone who likes or wants to climb stairs, this article is not for you. On the other hand, if you like a physical challenge, read on. The city of Le Havre is built partially at sea-level and partially on top of the cliffs that adjoin the sea. In the old days […]

The city of Dieppe has quite an active ferry activity. Up to 3 sailings per day, for the four hour crossing (it used to be half the time when they were operating a fast ferry, but those days are gone). The ferry is operated by DFDS (formerly known as Transmanche ferries) and goes between Newhaven […]

Le Havre used to be a busy ferry station, with two ferry operators going to the UK and Ireland. But that has been reduced to one operator going to Portsmouth in the UK. Which is strange, since Le Havre lies geographically the closest to Paris, the main motorway (A13) and the ferry station lies almost […]

The Ouistreham ferry is the ferry operating for the city of Caen, which lies some 15 kilometres away. There is a whole section of the rather small harbour of Ouistreham dedicated to the ferry.   There are 3 sailings daily, taking you to Portsmouth in the UK in about 6 hours. That’s 21 ferries coming to […]

If there was one essential and strategic point during the invasion of Normandy, also known as D-Day, by the Allied troops, it would have been the capture of the two bridges in Benouville and the neighbouring Ranville. The two bridges were essential for the liberation of France and the rest of Europe. The operation was called […]

Continuing its 500 year celebrations in style, and using the latest technology, the city of Le Havre has installed its first two 360° VR (Virtual Reality) terminals for the visiting public. Le Havre is the second city (after Paris) to use these high-tech visitor tools supplied by upstart TimeScope.   The terminals look like they […]

The Utah Beach was one of the D-Day landing beaches, this one mostly staffed with US Army soldiers. It was on the Western edge of the D-Day beaches, and the beach consisted of deep sand and dunes.   3200 soldiers died on the beach that day. To commemorate this occasion, a museum was erected to display and […]

The names Omaha, Utah, Sword, Gold and Juno are names that many WWII buffs will know very well since those are the names of the landing beaches during the D-Day, the Allied invasion of German occupied Europe. 4 years of World War II lead to this massive invasion, by sea and air, of occupied France. […]

Normally speaking the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise should mean nothing to most people. Unless you are a WWII buff or a movie buff. The movie in question is “The Longest Day” starring none other than John Wayne trying to get to Sainte-Mere-Eglise during D-Day. The village itself nowadays consists of some 2,500 inhabitants (that is, after […]

Transport Getting There There is a direct rail line Cherbourg – Paris which makes getting there easy and fast if you are arriving from the capital. By Air Cherbourg has a small airport (Maupertus Airport) but there are no scheduled flights in or outside of France. It is mostly used for private an charter flights. By Ferry […]

One of the few things that are worth a visit in Cherbourg, or even doing a detour to visit, is the Cite de le Mer museum. The museum is quite recent, it opened its doors in the year 2002. But the building is not new. It is the former transatlantic terminal building from the glory […]

Cherbourg, or as it is known officially Cherbourg-Octeville (after having merged with its neighbouring town), can be described as “quaint”. That’s the word I would use if I were to be positive. The real words that come to my mind are “drab”, “rundown” and “uninspiring”. NOTE: Click on the top photo for a bigger panorama […]

Dieppe is a city that was exposed early on to the WWII invasion when the Canadians attempted an invasion called the “Dieppe Raid“, also known as “Operation Jubilee“. It was a sort of “test case” to see if it could be done, and unfortunately, it cost a lot of lives; 1400 died and1946 were captured. […]

Although the Lower part of Normandy saw the biggest brunt of the WWII battles, with D-Day and the immediate battles that followed, the Upper part of Normandy saw its fair share of fighting. And during WWI, it was one of the battlefronts. Therefore throughout Normandy, at almost any hamlet, village, town and city, you will […]

Deep in the rich and wealthy city of Sainte-Adresse, next to the city of Le Havre, there are a few luxurious “villas” from yesteryear. Many of these mansions date back to the days that wealthy people came here for their holidays, people like the famous impressionist painter Claude Monet and the then famous French actress, […]

In a small 800 person village close to Lisieux is a castle that looks like a fairytale castle, the kind kids would draw. The village is called Saint-Germain-de -Livet, and the castle dates back to the 15th century.   The castle was donated to the city of Lisieux in 1957. It is now a museum and a landscaped […]

Transport Getting There Pont l’Eveque lies just alongside the main North-South motorway on the West coast of France. So by car it’s very easy to get there from one of the ferry crossings. By Air There is no airport, the closest ones are Deauville or Caen airport. Within Pont l’Eveque The village is really small, more or less […]

Pont l’Eveque had been badly destroyed towards the end of World War II, and that went doubly so for the Saint-Michel church. But the town rebuilt their beautiful city, and the 15th century church was restored to its former glory.   Pont l’Eveque during WWII saw an epic 3-day battle just after D-Day. 3 days […]