The Wonders of Normandy and Brittany

August 15, 2007 – Departure

We're off! Our flight departs at 14:50 from Fiumicino and as mentioned the flight is an hour late. A delay we discovered along with the other passengers when at 14:30 the boarding gate was still closed! No announcement, no explanation, no apology. We arrive at Paris CDG and in 10 minutes our luggage arrives! Vive La France! After taking care of the bureaucratic procedures we pick up our car at SIXT and install our TOMTOM ONE Europe navigator and set the route for our first stop: Rouen. It's 18:00 when we leave and, as mentioned, we experience the dear French highways! Our navigator takes us straight to our destination, that is, our first hotel booked through the site. The hotel is the Louvre Hotels (112, Avenue Jean Jaures), it has free private parking and is about 4 km from the center.

The double room with bathroom cost 35 euros while the buffet breakfast was 4.5 euros each (to be avoided for the quality and variety of the food). The room is rather sad and bare but clean. The only thing that made us a little angry is the terrible smell of smoke. Even though we had booked a "smoking free" room, the receptionist informs us that they are no longer available. Oh well, we throw the windows wide open! We go to the center and the sight is desolate because of the rain that has started falling in the meantime and because all the shops are closed...it's Ferragosto in France too! We look for a place to eat but the very few that are open are obviously packed. We reach a place near the cathedral (very beautiful but obviously closed!) but at 21:00 they tell us that it's no longer possible to eat and they send us away.

Wandering in desperation we find a place run by Moroccans (there are so many of them and they are obviously the only ones open!). The place is at Place du Lieutenant 21 and is called "L'ETOILE D'OR". The staff is very helpful and it's full of locals. We get a salad, a grilled chicken and a chicken couscous. The couscous is really huge! With a chicken inside and lots of vegetables, we're astonished...it costs only 8 euros! We eat and also order two mint teas to digest. We pay 27 euros and leave truly stuffed. Outside it has stopped raining and so we hope the next day will be better. Before going back we stop by the cathedral where every evening in summer they organize a light and sound show projected onto the facade of the church. Obviously halfway through the universal flood begins and the stampede concludes the day.

August 16, 2007 – Etretat – Le Havre – Arromanches (200 km)

We leave around 9 and the constant toward Etretat (about 70 km from Rouen) is rain. Toward the coast the weather improves and when we arrive in Etretat there's sun! The town is very nice: it's nestled between the two white rock cliffs. After parking (what a struggle to find a spot) we headed for a walk toward one of the two cliffs (the left one looking at the town). The spectacle offered from the top of the Cliffs is incredible: there's a strong wind and the albatrosses soar above our heads. The sea below crashes violently against the rocks and the tide prevents the usual walks among the arches of the cliffs. At the top there's a small church and cows (we'll encounter lots of them on our route, maybe we'll meet more cows than people!).

We go down to Etretat and take a stroll around the little market when suddenly a true deluge comes down! In the end we find a place to enjoy our first "gallette", that is, the national dish of Normandy. It's a crepe made with buckwheat (dark) and filled with whatever you want. Watch out: they're enormous, nothing like Italian crepes! The classic one is filled with ham, cheese and a sunny-side-up egg. A gallette can cost between 3 and 6 euros (depending on the filling) and I assure you it fills you up a lot. Maybe even too much! We enjoy it along the beach promenade and then set off again south, toward Le Havre and the Normandy Bridge, that is, the bridge that passes over the mouth of the Seine. It's a very long bridge and the panorama it offers is very evocative. The toll (and how could you avoid it!) is 5 euros.

After crossing the bridge you enter the Calvados region (a very strong liqueur made from apples). This region is probably the most famous in all of Normandy because of the presence of the memorial sites, that is, the places that saw the Normandy landings as their protagonist. I won't dwell on the history. We all know it. We pass through Honfleur (the little harbor is very nice) and then through the seaside towns of Trouville and Deauville to arrive at Cabourg. From there onward are the landing beaches which are still today named after the code names given by the Allies. You encounter Sword Beach first, then Juno Beach, Gold Beach, Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. The first two are real beaches. Wide, beautiful with little houses and hotels right behind. There are no hills, there are no cliffs. Everything very flat. When you arrive at Gold Beach the situation changes.

We're in the area of the town of Arromanches (second overnight stay). The cliffs rise and the view of the sea is from several dozen meters up, which in some cases becomes a hundred meters. The spectacle is imposing, as is the thought of those hundreds of boys who lost their lives on these beaches. Arromanches is very nice. It has an enormous beach both in length and in width. When we arrive there's low tide which allows you to venture into the sea for several hundred meters. The tide has left uncovered (and some are reachable) constructions left by the English. They are prefabricated structures that had been placed in the water to create an artificial port and allow the unloading of weapons, ammunition, vehicles and men (it's said that more than 2.5 million men landed from this small port).

Many prefabricated structures (there were more than 140 in total) were carried away by the sea, others remained. Enough remained to give a majestic idea of the military engineering project. In Arromanches there is obviously the landing museum (I say obviously because in every little town, big or small, there's always a museum about the landing) and the town is very characteristic. Our hotel is right on the sea, in the center of the town. It's called "HOTEL DE NORMANDIE" and is located at number 5 place du 6 Juin (next to the landing museum). The reservation was made directly to the hotel's email (hoteldenormandie@wanadoo.fr) found on the site. Price of a double with bathroom 59 euros, sea view (for those with a rear view you spend 10 euros less). We also decide to have breakfast for 7.5 euros each. A bit pricey but the buffet is definitely good (eggs, cold cuts, etc. etc.).

In short, you could have lunch there! To park the car you can use the parking lot in front of the beach: from 19:00 to 9:00 it's free. The hotel has a small private parking lot but at most 3 cars fit. We take a nice walk on the beach enjoying the sunset sun and the spectacle of the thousands of worms that have remained on the beach. We eat in a very nice place LE BISTRO D'ARROMANCHES (23 Rue M. Joffre). The service is very slow but the food is good and the price very affordable. Here we become acquainted for the first time with the delicious Norman oysters and the famous mussels! We get 6 oysters (6 euros), a kilo of marinated mussels (10 euros), a kilo of mussels in tomato sauce (11 euros) and half a liter of rosé wine (8 euros). For 35 euros we leave VERY satisfied and full as two little pigs.

August 17, 2007 – Bayeux – Point du Hoc – Cherbourg (240 km)

The morning after the rich breakfast we set off. It's around 9:30 and there are many things to see (maybe too many!). We go to Bayeux where there's a wonderful cathedral and a beautiful garden and where there's also the famous tapestry (70 meters long) that tells the medieval story. From there we continue toward the famous Omaha Beach (tragically famous, more than 9,000 American soldiers are buried in the cemetery and another 14,000 were buried in the USA). The beach and the cliffs behind it make you understand the difficulty that the soldiers encountered in the landing and the impossibility of further containing the damage. Worth visiting is the American cemetery of Omaha Beach which is located precisely at Colleville-sur-Mer (from the cemetery you can go down to the beach).

Inside Colleville you can visit German casemates with cannons still intact (range 20 km) and the observation posts over the Channel. Then you continue toward Point du Hoc, another place full of emotions: 225 American rangers climbed the 30-meter-high cliffs to occupy strategic positions and resist the German attack. Still visible are craters more than 3 meters deep caused by the bombs from the ships. On the final part of Omaha Beach there's a small cluster of houses with a small hotel and a few places to grab a quick bite. We take advantage, because in the meantime it has started to...rain! We continue north heading toward the Manche region. We stop in Carentan for some photos at the sign entering the town (those who play or know Call of Duty will understand.

I'll take the opportunity to say that we weren't the only ones, but many kids were having their resigned father take a photo of them!). Going north we stop at St-Mere-Eglise. This small and pretty town is famous because on the night of the landing a paratrooper got caught on the spires of the church and only the intervention of the local population prevented the worst. Today a mannequin with a parachute has been placed on the church, to remember soldier Steele who got caught. Inside the church there's even a stained-glass window in which the Madonna has been drawn next to two paratroopers (an incredible mix of secularity and religion). It's worth making a stop. We arrive in Cherbourg and go to our hotel booked on venere.com. The hotel is the BEAUSEJOUR (26, Rue Grande Vallée). It's near the center but the area is rather squalid (as is Cherbourg, for that matter...).

We paid 42 euros for a double with bathroom. The room is on the third floor (no elevator) with a view of the roof and a bathroom of 1 square meter. Still, it's clean and we also decide to have breakfast for 5 euros each. The breakfast is not a buffet but served at the table. In any case, rather abundant with bread, butter, jam, croissant, tea, coffee and orange juice. We get a little sad because Cherbourg is truly pitiful and so despite the tiredness from the kilometers traveled, considering that it's not raining and the weather is even decent, we decide to go toward the northwestern extremity of the region, in particular toward the Hague Region. We pass by a nuclear power plant called Cogema.

You wonder how it occurred to them to build a nuclear plant in these beautiful places and you think about what would have happened if it had been built in Italy...this plant, besides having given work to a very depressed region (if not for tourism, here they raise cows), supplies electricity to all of northern France. We continue north and go toward Auderville, a tiny little village almost on the extremity of the region facing the majestic Atlantic Ocean. I say almost, because to be right on the tip you have to continue a couple of kilometers and reach the microscopic village of Cap de La Hague. Beautiful panorama, the lighthouse, the cliffs, the green and the cows. It feels like being in Ireland, with the green and the stone walls.

Beautiful, it's not raining! We wait for the sunset but it's 21:00 and still too early!! So we take the car because we saw on the road we traveled a detour toward Nez de Jobourg, that is, the highest cliff in Europe (126 meters)! Take the road that from Auderville heads toward Cogema. At a roundabout there's the sign for Nez. Continue even if the road is so-so. You'll pass through one of the most beautiful bays in the region (Baie d'Ecalgrain) until you reach Nez de Joborg, passing through small villages. The road seems to end near a kiosk that sells...mussels outdoors!! Don't trust the sign that says the road ends there (probably put up by the kiosk owner!) go another 7-800 meters where there's the real end of the road. It's 21:30 and the sun is now very low, close to setting. In front of us the English island of Alderney and that of Sark seem close.

Just time for a few photos and night falls. It's 21:45. At the end of the road there's a very nice restaurant (it also has a few rooms to sleep in). It's called Auberge Des Grottes ( and I guarantee you it's worth it (eating at the kiosk is not advisable, outside it was 12 degrees!). Inside there's a beautiful fireplace, obviously lit. We get oysters, roast kid, grilled ham and a mixed seafood appetizer with a final crepe and a glass each of white wine. Total 47.50 euros. It's truly worth it, the restaurant has beautiful windows overlooking the sea...126 meters below!! Beautiful. Watch out on the way back to town, the roads are very dark and full of curves.

August 18, 2007 – Mt. St Michel

We immediately head south, final destination Mont Saint Michel. We stop along the way in two towns: Coutances and Villedieu. The first place is renowned for its cathedral. It's very beautiful, majestic and imposing in the center of the town. Unfortunately we found a funeral (!) and so we couldn't visit it inside. The cathedral is on a square where the Town Hall is, covered in French and regional flags, while continuing toward the end of the square you enter the gardens of Coutances. They are very particular: in summer they're open even until 23:00 and besides trees and rather rare plant species, there are also real sculptures like bushes shaped like a mermaid and trees decorated like lighthouses. It's very nice and if you stop in Coutances don't forget to visit it (besides, it's free!) Then going down south we stopped in Villedieu-Les-Pôles (literally the City of God and of pots!).

This place is famous for copper working. Every kiosk and shop sells the inevitable (and very expensive) souvenirs made of copper. I must say there are also very beautiful, curious objects of perfect craftsmanship. Even some monuments in the main square are made of copper and shine under the sunlight beautifully. We wondered, considering their brightness, whether some poor guy passes by every morning to polish them! Considering the time we decide to have lunch in a creperie (there isn't much choice!). We went to the CREPERIE GOLETTE (7, Rue Dr Havard) where we get two gallettes (by now we're full of them) and two beers spending 16 euros. Normal quality, anonymous place. At the end of lunch we go toward Granville which the Lonely Planet indicated as a place to visit. Actually we arrive around 16:00, and the traffic is terrible.

We struggle to find a spot for the car and we realize that the beauty of the city is the castle on the hill. So the advice is to go there by car because the distance is quite long...and uphill. We abandon (flee?) Granville and head toward Céaux where we've booked our hotel AU P'TIT QUINQUIN (R.te de Courtils, locality "Les Forges"), a hotel found on the site but booked on the site. For a double with bathroom we paid 42 euros while for breakfast 5.50 euros each. I must say the room is quite cozy and the bathroom new, but the sewage smell coming from the bathroom is rather unbearable. The room's view isn't exactly top-notch either, looking out onto the skylight of the roof of the nearby house. Still, everything is clean and the staff welcoming. The place is only 12 km from Mt. Saint Michel and is (by local standards, evidently very touristy) quite cheap.

The weather is turning for the worse and around 18:00 the downpour breaks out. Hoping the weather improves we take the car and head toward the Mount. The weather situation even worsens, and besides the rain the fog also comes down! We arrive at Pontorson and then continue the last 2 Km that cross the bay of Mont Saint Michel to reach the mount. We struggle to make it out in the fog (and I assure you it does not go unnoticed!) and then we see it in its magnificence. Beautiful, very evocative. The parking lots cost 4 euros but after 19:00 it's free. Each parking lot has a sign written in several languages, including Italian, warning about the movements of the tide and the time by which you must remove your car to avoid seeing it floating among the waves. When we arrive the tide is low, there's no water around the Mount. All dry, it's possible to walk on the sand.

We wait almost an hour in the car for the rain to stop and then around 20:00 we enter the mount. The cathedral during the summer is open until 23:00 so we go without worry. There are people but nothing compared to what we expected. No line at the ticket office for the cathedral (ticket 8 euros). We enter and do the tour (too bad that audioguides are no longer rented after 18:00). But we do the visit with our Lonely Planet. Inside large halls and small churches. Every now and then there are light displays and small classical and chamber music concerts held by young musicians. Doing the tour takes about an hour. Very beautiful and evocative is also the panorama that can be admired from the top of the Mount. You realize how much the sea recedes in the bay (more than 12 km!). We finish the tour and take some photos and realize it's 22:30.

We look for a place to eat something but obviously everyone tells us they're closed. The last restaurant inside Mt. Saint Michel, however, contrary to all predictions, lets us in but allows us to order only one dish of our choice...the cook, they tell us, is very tired! The restaurant is called LA CONFIANCE and we eat mussels and fries (ENOUGH!!!) a piece of duck meat and a beer paying 35 euros. It's certainly not cheap, but let's also say we're dining in one of the most famous places in the world (it's like having a cappuccino and croissant sitting in Piazza di Spagna!). So not content we go out and also get a nutella crepe at the bar across the street and stuffed we head to the car. Before leaving we take numerous night photos, a memento of our visit. We're a little sorry about the tide, because we thought we'd see it rise and fall.

But at the tourist office they tell us that the high tide that covers the parking lots can only be seen 2 times a year (solstice and equinox). Otherwise the tide rises and falls but never at such high levels and above all not with the speed we thought. That is, about 8 hours to see clear changes in the panorama. The thing will instead be quite different at Saint Malo. Going toward the hotel we can't help but stop several times along the road to photograph the illuminated Mount from all possible angles. I must say that at night the result is better and the effect is truly beautiful. We arrive past midnight, park in the reserved space and go to bed. And it starts raining. Again.

August 19, 2007 – Mt. Dol – Cancale - Saint Malo – St Brieuc

We get up around eight. And it's pouring rain. We have breakfast hoping the weather can improve. But we realize that hope is destined to remain just that. The hotel owner tells us it's an anomalous summer and that normally it almost never rains. Maybe it's a little lie but she still tried to cheer us up and so we thank her! We begin our day by driving west, precisely to Dol-de-Bretagne to visit Mont Dol. This small hill at the top of which stands a small church and a monument to the Madonna seems to have been a "little Mont Saint Michel" in the past: that is, the sea surrounded this small hill, then with the sand deposits left by the tides over the years the sea was no longer able to advance and so the water is now more than 2 km away. In place of the sea there are cultivated fields, houses and small villages. Mont Dol is worth a visit also for its old Mill, very evocative.

We continue (in the rain) toward Saint Malo but not before a visit to Cancale, a place famous throughout France for its...OYSTER farms!! The weather starts giving a truce and finally stops raining. In Cancale we immediately discover that parking is a problem. The small town is divided into "upper part" and "lower part", that is, where the port is and all the kiosks and restaurants that sell fish and the famous oysters. In the lower part there's a parking lot that's super full so we park in the upper part and then walk down. It's a good hike but there was no other way. The small port is very nice and the seafront is full of small restaurants. At the end of the port, toward the lighthouse, there's a small market where "take-away" oysters are sold. If you feel like it (and above all if you're not disgusted by the hygienic-sanitary conditions) you can taste the oysters.

The prices range from 2.5 to 5 euros a dozen (!) depending on the size and origin. Furthermore, for 0.5 euro more you're entitled to half a lemon and for another 0.5 euro more you're entitled to have the oyster opened by the expert hand of the seller (otherwise you'll surely lose a finger if not your whole hand!). We discover (to tell the truth we discover it as we're leaving!! Damn linguistic ignorance...) that there are two types of oysters: those called plates and those called creuses. Plates (ignorance, ugly beast) doesn't mean "on the plate" as we had initially supposed but is a very prized variety of oyster cultivated at great depth. It costs more and is usually smaller than the "creuses", that is, concave. It's a less prized product because it originates from the low Breton coasts.

We decide to take a walk along the small port and we stop to eat in one of the many restaurants of the port. There are truly many, but they're always full at any hour. The restaurant is called "Au pied Du Cheval" and is located at 10 Quai Gambetta. Obviously we ate oysters and drank wine. The prices among the various restaurants change so pay attention: above all the service counts a lot and also the appearance of the restaurant counts. We got two glasses of white wine, 12 oysters of the prized quality and fairly large in size, a dish of cooked oysters with wine and a plate of local cheeses spending €33.60. We continue to Saint Malo. The weather unfortunately gives us no respite. It rains continuously but the spectacle we find in Saint Malo repays the bad weather. There's low tide and so it's possible to walk to the islets near the little harbor.

There are so many people and finding parking (paid) was a real undertaking. Walking through the winding streets of the town center too. There are many souvenir shops that sell lots of "pirate"-themed gadgets, precisely in memory of the seafaring soul of the French coastal town. We continue to Saint Brieuc where we stay in a hotel a little outside the center, rather anonymous (Bonsai – Rue de Chenes ZAC du Plateau – Pleri – double €50.92, breakfast included). We have dinner in a central place with the picturesque name "Le Patatau" (4, rue Quinquaine in Saint Brieuc). The specialty, needless to say, is potatoes, the big "American" ones to be clear. They make them in many ways, very richly seasoned. We spend for two giant potatoes, a liqueur and two glasses of wine €29.10. The management is entrusted to two Italians: the husband is the cook and the wife the waitress.

They're very nice and if you're nostalgic for Italy then it's better to drop by. Just to chat a bit.

August 20, 2007 – St Brieuc – Vannes – Piriac-sur-mer

The weather doesn't improve. It rains. We head toward the Norman coast and cut toward Quintin and then cross the Lac de Guerlédan. There's fog, too bad the lake is very nice. We pass through Pontivy and arrive at the port of Vannes. Finally the sky opens up, it's 14:30 and we decide to take advantage for a stop. We take a stroll around the little harbor (nice) and through the streets of the center. We stop to eat at the Creperie St Vincent (16 rue St Vincent). The place is nice and we eat two excellent grilled meats, two crepes, two glasses of wine and half a liter of cider (total €32.40). Two ladies near our table also leave us half a liter of their cider! When we leave we're rather tipsy! But heedless of danger (so to speak, of course!) we go toward the beach area, La Baule to be exact. Our hotel is a short distance away, in Piriac-sur-mer to be exact.

A very nice place and at moderate prices compared to La Baule. The wind is very strong, we can barely stand up. It starts raining again and at times it really feels like winter. Our hotel is central and very nice (Hotel de la Poste – 26 rue de la plage) and we spend €60 for a double. We decide not to have breakfast at the hotel because 8 € per person seems really too much to us... We force ourselves and take a short walk...the weather improves and it stops raining. But by now it's dark and so we go to a pizzeria near our hotel (Le Plaza – 6 av. Alphonse Daudet). We eat a pizza (good), mussels, drink wine and also treat ourselves to dessert for a total of €39.80. The staff is nice and they worked hard to try to explain the composition of the house dessert to us!

21 August 2007 – Piriac-sur-Mer - Mayenne – Alencon – Sées

We have a lot of road to cover, we have to get back to Paris quickly because the next day we have our return flight. And so we speed along to cover 400 km. It rains for about two hours during the journey then the weather improves. We pass through Rennes (but we don't stop) and go into the Pays de la Loire and stop for a short break in Mayenne. We head for Alencon and then toward Sées, where we planned to stop for the night. Alencon is nothing much while Sées is rather famous in Normandy because this small village was the set of numerous films, some rather famous like Luc Besson's Joan of Arc. The town is really nice and the cathedral is worth a visit with its spires 70 meters high. The town is full of churches and abbeys, many of which are abandoned or converted into hotels and restaurants.

In one of these we had booked our room and the choice couldn't have been more spot-on (The Garden Hotel – 12 rue des Ardrillers). It's a former convent with a beautiful garden. The owner is very nice and is a man of great charm and rather deep culture. In the breakfast room he hosts a vast collection of crucifixes. Also important is his collection of holy water fonts and bells...I must say there's something for every taste. If you go on the hotel's website you'll get a little preview ( The rooms are enormous and beautiful, obviously furnished in medieval style. Night in a double with breakfast included for €49. We decide to have dinner in another typical place in the town, "Le Cheval Blanc" (1, place Saint-Pierre), where we eat two complete menus for €36.80. On the way out, needless to say...it's raining.

22 August 2007 – Sées – Paris

The weather is bad. We have breakfast, chat a bit with the guy from the hotel (who shows us movie memorabilia, including some sketches drawn by Luc Besson), and then we set off, heading toward Paris. We have at least a 4-hour drive ahead of us and the plane leaves at 5:00 p.m. The weather slows us down, so we decide to take the highway, even though you have to pay and, as I said, it's steep. The situation quickly worsens at the entrance to Paris. A real downpour breaks out and floods the city for about an hour. We start to fear we won't make it to our flight on time. The ring road of the French capital is a veritable river of water and cars moving along 4 lanes in single file. I try to stay calm and in the end we glimpse the enormous outline of Charles de Gaulle Airport. We fill up the Fiesta and then return the car to the rental agency. We run to check-in and manage to board in time.

Almost as if mocking us, once we're on the plane the sun comes out and we fly home accompanied by a wonderful Parisian sunset…

It was a wonderful vacation, full of surprises, and the weather couldn't ruin our lovely trip through the green French countryside.