Caen Castle © Travel Signposts

Situated in the northwest of France, Normandy (Normandie in French) is a region blessed with stunning coastlines, windswept beaches and lush pastoral land.

The quintessential image of Normandy is of beautiful landscape, green pastures dotted with brown and white Norman cows, apple orchards, calvados, good food and plenty of beautiful creamy cheeses. But Normandy is also steeped in history, starting from the time of the Vikings to William the Conqueror to the Impressionist painters and to World War II, there is much to appeal to the visitor here.

Normandy D-Day Battlefields

Normandy’s 600 km coastline makes it an ideal place for driving, camping or cycling holidays. It is a very popular holiday region for the French people.  The coastline is dotted with memorials, cemeteries and museums which remind of the famous Normandy Landings in WWII. The Battle of Normandy, the D-D Landing beaches and the role that Normandy played continue to be of huge interest for visitors with many coming on battlefields tours.

Mont-St-Michel

Many visitors come to Normandy to visit Mont-St-Michel, one of the most enchanting sights in France. Once a place of pilgrimage, Mont-St-Michel became a prison after the Revolution, but today it’s a national monument and a much sought after tourist attraction.

Normandy’s Main Places of Interest

For administrative purposes, Normandy is divided into Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy) and Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy). The main places of interest in Normandy – Rouen, Le Havre, Caen and Cherbourg-Octeville are all top destinations for the traveller, each one full of history and interesting sights and attractions. Medieval castles, cathedrals and cobbled streets will take you back to medieval times.

Mont-St-Michel © Travel Signposts

Caen, the capital of the Basse-Normandie region, is William the Conqueror’s city. Its magnificent castles and abbeys highlight Caen’s magnificent heritage.

Rouen, the capital of Haute-Normandie was once the largest and most prosperous medieval towns in Europe, Rouen is especially known for its cathedrals, museums, medieval houses and Joan of Arc.

Le Havre, the largest city in Normandy, is a World Heritage listed site. Le Havre is where impressionism took root and at the many museums visitors can admire paintings by Courbet, Monet Renoir and others. Outside of Paris,the Malraux Museum has the largest collection of impressionist paintings in France.

Cherbourg – Octeville, the largest city in the Manche departement, is a key location for more than 50 of the most prestigious sailing events. Cherbourg also has the largest aquarium in Europe at La Cité de la Mer.

Food, Glorious Food

No one goes hungry in Normandy! Normandy’s vast coastline provides an abundance of fresh seafood.  Meat lovers will want to try the succulent salt-marsh lamb, a Normandy specialty, as well as traditional black pudding.

Normandy Cheeses © Atout France

For cheese-lovers like me, it’s Normandy’s world-famous creamy cheeses that keep me coming back for more – Camembert, Livarot, Neufchâtel and Pont l’Évêque are just some of Normandy’s famous cheeses.  Cider, another famous product of Normandy, is traditionally drunk with your meal and you can end it with shots of  Calvados, if you manage to develop a taste for this potent Normandy apple brandy.

Getting to Normandy

Normandy is just across the English Channel and is an easy weekend destination from England. Visitors have a choice of transportation to get to Normandy – by air, sea, train or road.

For international visitors flying into Paris, most of the major towns in Normandy are connected by rail. Getting from Paris to Normandy is easy on the SNCF. From Gare Saint Lazare, the Paris to Rouen takes 1 hour 30, Paris to Caen 1 hour 45 and Paris to Le Havre 2 hours.  More about Getting to Normandy >

There is a big range of  hotels in Normandy to choose from.   You can read hotel reviews and make your Normandy hotel bookings here >

Normandy tours from Paris and Bayeux >

Mémorial de Caen, Normandy

The town of Caen in Normandy saw a lot of action during World War II, a war which reduced Europe to a rubble.  During the Normandy invasion and the one hundred days of fierce battle, Caen found itself at the centre stage of this battle.

As one of the largest cities in Normandy and with its position astride the Orne River and Caen Canal, Caen became a strategic target for the Allied Forces during the D-Day Landings.

A Museum Dedicated to Peace

Caen suffered heavy bombings during the summer of 1944 and much of the city was destroyed.  To underline its commitment to peace, the town built the Mémorial de Caen (Caen Memorial) in June 1988, in which archive records and documentaries provide accounts of the war from all fronts. This peace project earned Caen the UNESCO “City of Peace” award in 1999.

In this museum dedicated to peace, visitors can learn about World War II history and the events of D-Day Landings are played out, using a host of inter-active and audio-visual techniques. You can also watch films on “D Day” and “Battle of Normandy”.

The Caen Memorial is an award-winning museum and a must visit for anyone interested in the World War II history and the Cold War. And, even if you’ve visited it before, new exhibits are being added all the time providing new insights into the many aspects of the Second World War and the Cold War.  Some of the the 2009 and 2010 additions include:

Mémorial de Caen, Normandy

• In January 2010, a new area was created which is devoted to the D-Day Landings and the Battle of Normandy, a crucial episode leading to the Liberation of Europe. Here you’ll find a large section that’s dedicated to accounts provided by witnesses, both civilians and soldiers, who lived through the hellish Battle of Normandy.

• A new permanent area devoted to the understanding of the use of press cartoons to drive the messages for  world peace, the defence of human rights, ecological threats, different forms of censorship, etc.

• A new section showing objects and films from the Cold War period. It is the only museum in France to have on display comprehensive records of the period from 1945 to 1989.  Visitors can get a glimpse of what life was like before and after the Berlin Wall and how Europe was divided into the Eastern and Western bloc.

The Mémorial de Caen offers various tours of the Museum, the D Day Landing beaches and of the medieval estate of Bayeux, which you can book online.

See Caen and the Normandy Beaches with Travelsignposts
Book Caen Sightseeing Tours and Normandy Battlefield Tours with Viator

Address:

Le Mémorial de Caen,
Esplanade Général Eisenhower B.P. 55026
14050 Caen Cedex 4
www.memorial-caen.fr

A mouth-watering cheese tasting

Today, I was treated to a tasting of three French cheeses that were new to me.  I must say that they were absolutely delicious and confirms that the French are undoubtedly the greatest cheese makers in the world.

The three that I tasted were:

Pont-L’Evêque is a small square-shaped flavourful cheese of a pale yellow color and with a white-orange rind. It was very creamy, but not too strong.  This cheese is made on small farms, using rich salty and almost pasteurized cow’s milk.

The cheese takes the name of the village in Normandy where it is mainly produced.  With its washed rind, Pont-L’Evêque may be the oldest cheese variety from Normandy that is still produced today.   In the past the cheese went by different names, including Angelot and Augelot.

Fromager D’Affinos, produced by the Fromagerie Guilloteau company, is a double-cream soft cheese made from cow’s milk. It is similar to Brie in production, appearance and flavour.  The company is located in the Pilat Regional Nature Park in the Rhône-Alpes region and has a reputation for its culinary expertise.

Saint Agur is a medium strong creamy blue cheese from Auvergne which is made from cow’s milk. The cheese is rather similar to Roquefort and has a very strong and spicy taste when it is ripe.

Of the three, I liked Saint Agur best as it was stronger, more complex than the other two, but really smooth.  Saint Agur will now be one of the cheeses that will feature in our weekly cheese nights.

Where are these Gourmet French Cheeses Produced?

Having looked up the three cheeses above, I couldn’t stop as I now have a need to know where some other favourites come from as well.

Roquefort - A huge favourite of mine comes from Midi-Pyrenees. A true blue Roquefort comes only from the Rouergue and is aged in the caves of Cambalou. Roquefort has been described as the king of blue cheeses and I’m inclined to go with that.

Délice de Bourgogne – I could eat this forever!  Soft and creamy and melts in the mouth.  This triple cream specialilty comes from the Burgundy region.  Rich in texture and taste, matured for 18 days, this cheese is related to Régal de Bourgogne.

Epoisses de Bourgogne is produced on single farm in Bourgogne. Interestingly, each cheese is washed by hand, using a small brush to spread the bacteria over and into the rind. Finally, it is washed with marc de Bourgogne spirit. This cheese can be eaten at different stages of maturation and is best accompanied by a fine Burgundy or a spicy aromatic white wine.

Saint-Marcellin is a farmhouse cheese made from the milk of cows that graze in the mountainous Dauphiné Province in southeastern France. These small rounds with natural rinds, turn from white to light brown as they age. Inside, the pâte is softer and mild, but rich.

Mobier AOC – This cheese is easily recognizable by the horizontal stripes (made from plant coal), through the cheese. Morbier recently became the 38th member of the AOC family. The mountain cheese from the region Franche-Comté had to wait for ten years for this moment. To meet the strict demands of the controlled origin term AOC, the national institute for controlled origin (INAO) needed the time to check if the cheese was able to meet its standards.  I haven’t had this one for a while so it’s worthwhile giving it a try again.

Well I must say I really enjoyed my cheese tasting and being a cheese taster certainly ranks very highly in occupations that I would love doing.  Imagine travelling all around France and other countries and doing cheese tastings and reviews.  Oooh! a job made in heaven.

Normandy; Brittany; the Loire Valley.

Rouen; Caen; Bayeux; Cherbourg; Mont-St-Michel; St Malo; Rennes; Nantes; Angers; Tours; Saumur; Vouvray; Amboise; Le Mans; Chartres; Orleans.

Fruits de Mer, A favourite in Brittany and Normandy. This one is by Tom Dowson at the Basse Copette, his luxury B & B in Normandy

Food in Western France will get you eating and drinking with a vengeance! With such a long coastline, it’s to be expected that seafood and shellfish are popular in Normandy and Brittany (try the Belon oysters).

"Fruits de Mer" simply means a selection of the local seafood, such as oysters, mussels, clams, crabs, shrimps, lobster, even cockles and whelks, all served cold (sometimes on a bed of ice), with fresh rye bread and ideally, washed down with a bottle of chilled Muscadet (one of my favourite wines, actually, especially “sur lie“). The one on the right is by Tom Dowson at Basse Copette, his luxury “Gite” (B & B) in Normandy near Aumale.

Other specialities include salt meadow lamb and poultry, and artichokes are particularly valued. Vegetables blended with pork in a hot pot is Calfedpotfe. Rilettes are pieces of pork or goose meat cooked slowly in lard then shredded and potted; perhaps an acquired taste, like tripe, another northern delicacy.

Crepes and Galettes

Crepes Suzette originally come from Brittany, but the region is also famous for buckwheat "galettes" stuffed with savoury mushrooms, cheese or eggs, as well as a truly amazing variety of crepes filled with sweets like chocolate or fruit (and don’t mention the cream).

Camembert

This is dairy country, and some of the best known cheeses come from here; Camembert, Pont l’Eveque, Livarot to name but a few, and the Loire is well-known for its goat’s cheese.

In the Loire Valley there’s plenty of fish from the river (although not so much now that it is dangerously low) and fried eel is a traditional dish in Nantes. Many fish dishes come in "beurre blanc", a sauce made of white wine, shallots and butter.

As far as drinks are concerned, still and sparkling cider is the local tipple in Normandy and Brittany, with Calvados (apple brandy) for something stronger. Dry white wines such as Muscadet, Vouvray, Pouilly-fume, Sancerre are favoured choices in the Loire. Want something stronger? The orange liqueur, Cointreau, is distilled in Angers.

Food in Western France is a fine introduction to eating and drinking the French way, a good start to your gastronomical tour!

Other pages about food in France:

Food in Northern France: Le Nord; Picardy; Champagne; Alsace and Lorraine

Food in Southwestern France: Poitou and Aquitaine; Perigord, Quercy and Gascony; the Pyrenees.

Food in the South of France: Languedoc-Rousillon; Provence; Cote d’Azur.

Food in Central France and the Alps: Burgundy and Franche-Comte; Massif Central; Rhone Valley and French Alps.

Other France pages:

Travel to France for a Europe Tour with Joie de Vivre!

Tour Routes in France

When to travel to France for your tour: weather and seasons

Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of France

Food in France: a brief gastronomic tour

Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in France online

Book your hotel in France online

TRAVEL TO FRANCE WITH US: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS

Paris: Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees

There’s a lot more to France than Paris and Provence. Travel to France involves a journey into the whole French way of looking at the world, and life. Not for nothing do we use the french words “savoir-faire” and “joie de vivre”!

France lies at the crossroads of European culture

With the mediterranean influences of Italy and Spain in the South, and the more phlegmatic influences of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands in the North, France lies at the crossroads of European culture. A tour of France involves a continually changing landscape, not so much of a physical nature (though that is often true) but rather of traditions, architecture, food and wine, ways of life and even language.

An inexhaustible variety of landscape

Watermill near Bayeux

From the plains of Flanders and Normandy to the rocky coastline of Brittany, the historic Chateaux of the Loire Valley to the green farmland and forests of Bordeaux and the Dordogne, the mountainous Massif Central to Beaujolais, the Rhone and the French Alps, and Provence’s limestone hills to the sun-drenched beaches of the Cote d’Azur, the only stone-cold certainty about a tour of France is its inexhaustible variety. And the rich, memorable experiences you’ll encounter wherever you go in this always-surprising country.

Travel to France for a Europe tour with joie de vivre indeed…and that’s even without Paris!

Our France pages:

Tour Routes in France

When to travel to France: weather and seasons

Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of France

Food in France: a brief gastronomic tour

Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in France online

Book your hotel in France online

Paris City Guide

TRAVEL TO FRANCE WITH US: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS