Caen Things to Do

Let's not make ourselves guilty of discrimination. When one visits the Abbaye des Hommes (Men's Abbey), then also visit the Abbaye des Dames (Women's Abbey). On the other side of the city centre, a beautiful abbey is next to an even more beautiful church, the Sainte-Trinity. Here too the interior should be not left aside, however this time because often interesting expositions are held in the abbey.

Every abbey has it's church. In Caen the Abbaye des hommes (Men's abbey) has it's highlight in the Saint-Etienne, with it's towers rising high above the roofs of the houses in Caen. I just had to seperately mention this most extravagant part of the abbey in this tip.

Even more then with the Abbaye des Hommes, the abbey church of the Abbaye des Dames (Women's Abbey) is the masterpiece of the old buildings. The Sainte-Trinity is full of grace and has two towers that are fully decorated with beautiful sculptures and pinnacles. Here too the Normandian Gothic style rules.

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The terrain of the old castle of the Normandian dukes holds many surprises to the visitor. Besides the museums that I will mention later, there are small gardens (former vegetables and herbes gardens), a playground for children, the castle chapel, remains of the donjon where the dukes lived and several other buildings with a variety of functions. At the ticketoffice in the building at the gate, one can obtain tickets for guided tours around the whole castle interior, during which many details of the building and the history is explained.

The museum wich is located in the historic Abbaye aux Hommes built by William the conqueror offers a first step towards discovering the fauna and flora of Normandy. There, you will be able to look at birds of the towns, ducks ans others birds of the ponds and the coastlines. You will learn everything on normand landscapes and natural habitats. Walking through the norman garden, you will recognise the particular busches aud trees of which the norman bedgerows are made, as well as various shrubs, medicinal ans poisonous plants and regional rocks.

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The Benouville-Pegusus Bridge is a must-see if you are visiting World War II sites. Pegasus, the flying horse, was the emblem of the 6th British Airborne Division and they captured the bridge on June 6, 1944 thus maintaining a vital transportation link for the Allies.

It's a drawbridge and it's fun to see it go up and down. It is also on the beautiful river Orne. It is a very peaceful place today and you wll see ducks swimming on the river and men fishing there.

There is a Memorial on one side of the river that is worth a visit. It is not open in January. Check the web site listed below for hours at other times.

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Eglise Saint Pierre sits near the center of Caen near the castle. It was built from the 13th to 16th Century. The original Gothic bell tower was built in the 14th Century but was destroyed in WWII. From 2004 to 2006, the church underwent a massive restoration project to stop damage from water, pollution, and deterioration of the stone.

June Beach is a six-mile wide expanse of ocean front property, second from the west of the five invasion beaches. June sits directly between the British beaches called Gold and Sword. This beach was attacked by the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division, under command of British 2nd Army.

The assault forces here landed later then planned and had to deal with a difficult high tide that hid German mines. After landing on the beach, the Canadians again took heavy casualties, but were able to push inland and secure their objectives. At the end of the day, 21,000 soldiers landed on this beach but they suffered 1,200 dead, wounded, or missing.