Last few days in Normandy

Before we left Normandy we travelled once again to the D-Day beaches and this time visited Arromanche where some of the British landed.
It was here that a harbour was made from hollow concrete blocks which had been towed across the channel and about 60 old ships had been sunk to form a breakwater. Arromanche itself was liberated on 6th June 1944 and the harbour was begun on the 9th June.

One of the concrete blocks which is still visible.

There is even a train that looks surprisingly like the one on Bridlington promenade!!!!










We climbed right to the top of the cliffs to look down over the town where there were a few more monuments as well as a circular cinema.This is where we saw a very moving account of the liberation of the area, and as the screen went all around us it almost felt as if we were there at that time.

From the beaches we drove inland and went to Bayeux which they say was the first town to be liberated and somehow managed to escape a lot of damage. The main reason for going here for me was to see the Bayeux tapestry which I had learnt about at school. During the war it had been hidden by the French at a Chateau near Le Mans. This tapestry is nearly a thousand years old and tells the story of William the Conqueror and King Harold, he is the one who was killed by an arrow in his eye. I am glad I have seen it and it is amazing to see how well it has been preserved but it was spoilt a bit for us as we felt we were rushed through and there were also some noisy British schoolchildren there as well who didn't seem very interested in what they were looking at.

The building where the tapestry is housed

Some of the streets around Bayeux

We also went into the cathedral while we were there

Quite ornate inside.

This was in complete contrast to an Abbey we visited in Lessay. This had been completely destroyed by the Germans in 1944 during the liberation but the people of the town decided to reconstruct it as early as 1945 and services began again in 1958. It however is a very plain church and seemed quite dark inside.

We have certainly learnt a lot from our wanderings around Normandy and I am sure we will come here again one day as there is still a lot more to see. However we felt it was time to move on and see a little more of France so we are heading south next, to the Loire Valley.