Normandy D-Day sites

greasedscotsman

Going to be visiting Normandy in a couple of weeks. I know all about the obvious, well known places to go, such as Pegasus Bridge, Omaha, Point du Hoc, but where else is a good place to visit?

surrey_commuter

greasedscotsman wrote:

Going to be visiting Normandy in a couple of weeks. I know all about the obvious, well known places to go, such as Pegasus Bridge, Omaha, Point du Hoc, but where else is a good place to visit?

Arromanches has a good museum and bits of Mulberry Harbour still visible. I found St Marine l’eglise exploitative but other views are available. If you have a good imagination then Falaise Gap.

If you are travelling through the Pas de Calais then there is some awesome stuff there

figbat

Depends how far you want to go and how much time you have. The Montormel Memorial, at the site of the Falaise Pocket is worth a look - this is effectively where the Normandy invasion ended and the start of the end of WWII began.

ddraver

Unrelated, but Bayeux Cathedral is incredible and unlike a lot of the churches in big cities you can actually go in and just wander around so it still feels like a church rather than a tourist trap...

The organist was practising when I was there and it was very special.

The city itself is also very pleasant, and even the tapestry is worth a look. I was lucky with both though that it was out of season, late in the day (post ride) so I had them all to myself. The British cemetary is there too if you need to keep the D-day theme up.

robert88

Surrey Commuter wrote:

greasedscotsman wrote:

Going to be visiting Normandy in a couple of weeks. I know all about the obvious, well known places to go, such as Pegasus Bridge, Omaha, Point du Hoc, but where else is a good place to visit?

Arromanches has a good museum and bits of Mulberry Harbour still visible. I found St Marine l’eglise exploitative but other views are available. If you have a good imagination then Falaise Gap.

If you are travelling through the Pas de Calais then there is some awesome stuff there

Yes D-day memorabilia is a real industry. I did visit St Marie Eglise a few years ago because we were running out of fuel. It's the only place I have ever seen a hippopotamus walking down the street.

You could visit Hill 112. The top is (or was) a small field surrounded by trees and bushes. It was a forgotten battle for years and you could go there when they had ploughed the field and find many shards of steel, glass, Bakelite and bone fragments.

greasedscotsman

Thanks for the replies. I've found an app which should give me all the information I'm after. Maps with links to information about each of the sites.

And I have been to Sainte-Mère-Église before. Wasn't quite sure what to make of the tank snow globe I saw in one of the gift shops.

schlepcycling

greasedscotsman wrote:

Thanks for the replies. I've found an app which should give me all the information I'm after. Maps with links to information about each of the sites.

And I have been to Sainte-Mère-Église before. Wasn't quite sure what to make of the tank snow globe I saw in one of the gift shops.

What's the name of the app as I'm thinking of taking a long overdue trip to see some of the sites.

greasedscotsman

schlepcycling wrote:

What's the name of the app as I'm thinking of taking a long overdue trip to see some of the sites.

It's called Spot on Locations, Normandy.

secretsam

Do they still have the tanks and landing craft on the beaches? Remember that from when I was a kid

greasedscotsman

SecretSam wrote:

Do they still have the tanks and landing craft on the beaches? Remember that from when I was a kid

Not sure there are any actually on the beaches, not that I saw anyway, but plenty of them around.