Normandy, France

After our 3.5 months in Belgium, we were excited to get back on the road and continue our travels. First stop, Normandy, France.

Saint Nicolas d’Aliermont

We spent the first week in a small town called Saint Nicolas d’Aliermont near Dieppe. It was a really cute town with tons of medieval houses, several mansions and a chateau in the middle that effectively splits the town in two.

We stayed in a really cute little medieval gite which had been renovated but still retained a lot of medieval flavour – beams in the ceilings, slanting floors, etc.

Chateau d’Eu

We took several day trips from our gite to explore the area. First up, Chateau d’Eu. This chateau was bought and extended by Louis XIV’s niece – La Grande Dame. It was in the royal d’Orleans family until it was sold to the town of Eu in the 1950s. The chateau still has a lot of its original furniture and decorations.

Mers-Les-Bains and Treport

Chateau d’Eu is very close to the seaside towns of Mers Les Bains and Treport. Mers Les Bains became a hot bathing spot for rich Parisians once a train line was built to here in the 1800s. The town had a lot of really cool architecture from some famous Parisian architects.

Dieppe

Dieppe was the site of a catastrophic “invasion” by the Canadians during WWII. The German’s slaughtered them and those that didn’t manage to escape were taken as prisoners. There was quite an interesting Memorial museum dedicated to this event which is located in an old medieval theatre. Dieppe also has a nice castle on the hill (which we didn’t bother to go into) and quite a nice cathedral which was rebuilt after WWII.

Rouen

We also visited the town of Rouen where Joan of Arc was famously burned alive at the stake. She was killed in the main town square which still retains several medieval buildings, a food market, and a church built in the 1970s and dedicated to her. In addition to this main square, Rouen also has a very notable and historic cathedral which still retains part of its Roman as well as Gothic architecture.

After a week, we left our little town and drove towards Bayeux where we spent the next few nights. On the way, we stopped in a cute little town medieval called Honfleur. However, there was a cruise ship in town and a LOT of tourists. Also, the weather was terrible – raining constantly. Nevertheless, we stopped for a couple of hours, had lunch and looked around. The church was really cool and is apparently the oldest wooden church in France.

We stayed in a bungalow at a caravan park about half an hour south of Bayeux. It rained the whole time so I didn’t really get out and explore, but the kids walked around the park and had a play and visited the petting zoo.

D-Day

We spent a couple of days learning more about D-Day during World War II. The city of Caen has a really great WWII museum where we spent a few hours. Then, over two days, we visited Juno and Omaha beaches, various casemates, bunkers, and the American and German cemeteries. There was a serious drop in temperature with temps only reaching 15C / 60 F and even colder in the wind so we had to break out the winter clothes.

Bayeux

The kids were really excited to see the Bayeux tapestry and ‘meet’ our relative (the one with the red beard drinking soup). We weren’t supposed to take pictures, but I couldn’t resist. 😬 We really liked the town of Bayeux – it has lots of cute buildings and the cathedral was gorgeous!

After a few nights in this area, we travelled further south. We stayed at a really beautiful gite on a farm near the town of Lolif. We had a wood-fired stove which was amazing since it was so cold at night – just above freezing! The hosts were an English/Scottish woman married to a French man and they were really friendly and funny. This was our favourite place that we have stayed so far!

Mont St. Michel

Of course, no trip to Normany is complete without a trip to Mont St. Michel. The last time I was there was in 1987 (or 88?) and the last time R was there was in the late 1990s so we were both pretty excited to go back. It didn’t disappoint. The weather was nice (stopped raining finally!) and in the sun it was quite warm. This is such a special place and we had a great time exploring the abbey, and the shops and seeing the sunset.

After 2 weeks in Normandy, it was time to head to the next destination. On our travel day, we found a great place to pull over by a lake and eat our baguette sandwiches which is a staple in our lives. We bring them with us pretty much every day to eat wherever we happen to be at lunchtime.

Next stop: The Loire Valley