Vee and I had the fourth of four Easter breaks in north-west France when we visited Caen in 1996. The main themes of the visit were two invasions: the Norman invasion of England in 1066 and the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944.
Caen itself is a very historic town. It houses the Abbaye aux Hommes where William the Conqueror was buried in 1087 (nothing now remains) and the church of La Trinité where Queen Matilda was buried in 1080 (her remains are still there). The Château was originally built by William in 1060 and even the church of Saint Pierre is 14th century Gothic. As a rest from all this history, we enjoyed frequenting a delightful coffee & cake shop called "Roland" on Rue St Pierre.
Since we had taken the car on the ferry journey from Portsmouth to Ouistreham, we were able to do some local travelling. At Bayeux, the saw the tapestry commemorating the 1066 invasion. More than 900 years after it was created, it is still in wonderful condition with 58 scenes and 623 figures occupying a length of 231 feet. As far as the 1944 invasion was concerned, we visited the memorial museum in Caen itself ( which has films on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy); on the outskirts of the town, we saw the famous Pegasus Bridge and the first house to be liberated; and, out at Arromanches, we observed the remains of a British Mulberry harbour and looked around a memorial museum. The other trip we made was out along the Côte Fleurie route to the beautifully picturesque little port of Honfleur.
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