"Normandy, a turbulent piece of Europa" Top 5 Page for this destination Basse-Normandie by Pavlik_NL

Normandie, or Normandy, is situated in the North-West of France. It has a long rough coastline along the English Channel (La Manche) and an equally long history. It is parted in two French provinces (departments) Haute- and Basse-Normandie. Funny to see that - in landscape - it actually should be the other way around, but these "Lower" (Basse) and "Higher" (Haute) are actually seen from Paris, the capitol of France. The further away from Paris, the lower you go ...
Normandies name is already a historical fact, as this region was a Viking colony in Europe's mainland (Vikings are also known as the Normans). Around the year 1.000 this country emerged from many events and for several hundred years was bound to England. It therefore is still quite different with the rest of France, in traditions, kitchen and style. Even in landscape, Normandy has more similarities to England then to the France that most of us see in mind when thinking of France. A rough coastline, even partly with white cliffs; green gently slooping hills and small villages with rough stone buildings and topped of churches. Normandy therefore is a very special mixture and maybe thus, extremely interesting to see, taste and ... feel.

Old jeeps in Normandy commemorating the active way

Of course for many Normandy immediately has the association with D-day. This largest operation in history, that was a huge offensive on mainland Europe to open up a second front against Nazi-Germany, took place from the 6th of June 1944 on the beaches along the Normandian coast, that since then bare the codenames of Operation Overlord. Utah, Omaha, Gold and Juno beaches are up to today surrounded with the stories and memories of the dramatic events of these summer months of 1944. "Under" my page on Basse-Normandie, you can find many places that have seen incredable tragedy in this D-day times.
Arromanches-les-Bains, a good place for a Mulberry port
Colleville-sur-Mer, where the large American cemetery is situated
La Cambe, the German cemetery
Longues-sur-Mer, the silencing of the guns
Pointe-du-Hoc, a hero's story
Sainte-Mere-Eglise, where the angels fell
Vierville-sur-Mer and some more Omaha beach

Ilja hopping over rocks of the Normandian coast

Our family spend it's holiday of 2006 in Normandy. We choose to stay on a camping near Cherbourg to discover above all the Cotentin peninsula. This page on Basse-Normandie can be regarded as an excerpt from all named places that we have visited on our journey. Besides my personal explorations along the D-day beaches (see above), we together visited several extremely beautiful places that can be seen "under" this page of Basse-Normandie.
Auderville, Bay d'Ecalgrain
Avranches
Barfleur
Bayeux
Bricquebec
Caen
Cherbourg
Unknown Fermanville, but extreme beautiful coastal area
Gatteville-le-Phare
Gonneville, a true hidden secret within the Vallee de Saire
Goury, Cap la Hague
La Hambye Abbey
Nez de Jobourg
La Pernelle and it's magnificent view
Maupertus-sur-Mer, our homebase of this holiday
Le-Mont-Saint-Michel, a wish come true for me
Percy
Port Racine, the smallest port of France
Saint-Pierre-Eglise
Saint-Vaast-la-Hogue, where the oysters come from
Tourlaville
Valognes, the delicatesses of Normandy
Vauville
On our travel to and from the Cotentin peninsula, we also visited some highlights in Haute-Normandy. About them you find pages, such as:
Rouen
Etretat
Yport