The capture of Pointe du Hoc by US Rangers was one of the most heroic acts on D-Day. The bomb-scarred terrain and battery are open to visitors. The cliff top German gun battery at Pointe du Hoc was one of the prime Allied targets at the start of D-Day on June 6, 1944. US Rangers … Read more
The magnificent Gothic Rouen Cathedral has the tallest church spire in France and a wealth of art, history, and architectural details. Rouen Cathedral (La cathédrale primatiale Notre-Dame de l’Assomption de Rouen) is one of the most impressive Gothic churches ever built. Construction dragged on for three centuries allowing all forms of the Gothic spectrum from … Read more
The Bayeux Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in the Normandy is the largest Second World War British military cemetery in France. The Bayeux War Cemetery, with the graves of nearly 5,000 soldiers, is the largest Second World War cemetery of British war casualties in France. The cemetery has the graves of nearly 4,000 British soldiers … Read more
The Musée Mémorial Bataille de Normandie in Bayeux is one of the best D-Day Landing / Operation Overlord museums to see in Normandy, France. The Battle of Normandy Memorial Museum (Musée Mémorial Bataille de Normandie) in Bayeux covers the invasion of France by the Allies in June 1944 from the D-Day Landings to the end … Read more
The US Military Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer above Omaha Beach is the largest Allied war cemetery in Normandy, France. The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer in France is with 9,387 graves the largest of the Allied military cemeteries in Normandy. The memorial site overlooks Omaha Landing Beach where so many soldiers died on D-Day. … Read more
The Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof at La Cambe is the largest Second World War military cemetery in Normandy. The Cimetière Militaire Allemand / Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof at La Cambe is the final resting place of over 21,000 German soldiers who died during the Battle of Normandy in 1944. The German military cemetery has by far the largest number … Read more
Leonardo da Vinci spent his final three years in Amboise in a chateau now housing a museum with models of his designs. Château du Clos Lucé is a relatively small 15th-century palace in the Loire town Amboise. The chateau was the childhood home of King Francis I but much more famously the palace where Leonardo … Read more
The Arromanches 360° cinema is a popular introduction to touring the D-Day landing beaches. The belvedere gives excellent free views of the Mulberries. The Arromanches 360° Cinéma Circulaire is a circular cinema showing archive footage from the D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy that followed. It is not a museum and visitors will learn … Read more
Getting to Château de Chambord is easiest by car but buses and especially day-trip excursions to various chateaux in the Loire valley are also available. Château de Chambord is the largest castle in the Loire region of France. As a hunting lodge, Chambord was in a forest and as this forest mostly survived as a … Read more
Cathédrale Notre Dame d’Amiens in Picardie is the largest Gothic church in France and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage-listed site. Amiens Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre Dame d’Amiens) is an early 13th-century Gothic masterpiece of superlatives. It is the largest Gothic cathedral in France with the highest nave of any completed medieval church in the country. A … Read more
