Sign in with Facebook
Tram
St.-Sauveur (1988)
The Doors behind a wedding group
Abbaye des Hommes, a wonderful sight
Hi,
We are planning to visit Caen for one day, and may be stay there one night.
Can you advise places to see, restaurants and hotels there? I have heard of a World War 2 museum in Caen. Is it worth seeing. Or where do you advise to see about the Nomandy battle?
Thank you
Everything you need to know, including a good hotel, restaurants and sights can be found on my Caen page. Nearby Bayeux is also worth a look and is closer to the Normandy beaches.
You probably wont have any problems finding activities there this summer. With the 60th D-Day anniversary celebrations starting early may, there will be tours and ww2 related stuff for tourists everyday. Some of the best places to see arent that far away, for example, the new museum in Arromanches or simply visiting the many small communities along the coast willl surely give you a glimpse into history. German bunkers still litter the landscape in some places and the cemeteries will leave you speechless. There are things so see everywhere in Normandy, many of them merely an hour's drive from Caen. The best way is to ask the locals. I hope you end up spending more than one day. Have a nice trip.
Can't tell much about this little church that I saw dedicated to Saint-Laurent in the centre of Caen. I liked it's baroque facade and it's pastel colours, as I saw it from the park in which we played with Ilja.
Sword is the easternmost of the five D-Day landing beaches. It was attacked by the British 2nd Army along with paratroopers & glider troops from the British 6th Airborne Division who landed earlier in the morning. Allied casualties here were very light, suffering only 600 dead, wounded, or missing after landing 29,000 soldiers on the beach. By the end of the day, all major objectives of Sword were accomplished except the planned linkup with the Canadians at Juno to the west.
Caen has seen it's troubles in the world and yet, walking around this capitol of Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy) you hardly notice that. The city is full of monumental historical buildings and breaths an ancient atmosphere. Already in Roman times, Caen was an important regional centre. With the birth of the Viking colonie Normandy it's importance grew, as it became the capitol of this land. Here the duke of Normandy, among them the famous William the Conqueror, found their home in the robust castle that still determines a part of the city.
Already in 1346 the town saw it's first misfortune, when King Edward the Third decided to make a profit by plundering the town. At that moment Caen was the largest and richest Normandian town and got out of the battle a wrecked, plundered and burned town. Many thousand of it's citizens killed, but ... the castle miraculously held out and was not conquered. More then 600 years later, Caen again gets destroyed. During the Battle of Normandy, the fighting around and in Caen are extreme and fierce. This centre of road and rail connections is important to both Nazi and Allied forces, leaving the city liberated yet devistated after June 1944.
Our visit to the wonderful city of Caen, was at the day before the Tour the France (2006) would hit the Basse-Normandian capitol in full force. Already the town was dressed up with lots of flags and banners, predicting a extreme hectic day when the cyclists would arrive. Roads were cleaned and there was a unusual business throughout the town. Nothing compared - of course - to the thing that would rage over Caen the next day, as the Tour de France always is a huge spectacle attracting thousands of bicycle-fans from all over Europe. Cities pay enormous amounts to be taken into this first of all bicycle sport events.
Latest Caen hotel reviews
Sponsored Links
We've found that other people looking for this hotel also know it by these names:
Address: 31 rue du 11-November, Caen, Basse-Normandie, 14000, France
Comments