Page 142 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

has moving portrayals
of some of the soldiers
buried here. Afterwards, DETOUR:
take in the expanse of COUTANCES
white marble crosses Start: 9 Utah Beach
and Stars of David that
stretch off in seemingly The lovely old Norman town of Coutances makes
endless rows, surrounded a good detour when travelling between the D-Day
by an immaculately beaches and Mont St-Michel. At the town’s heart
tended expanse of lawn. is its Gothic Cathédrale de Coutances (http://
cathedralecoutances.free.fr; parvis Notre-Dame; h8.30am-
The Drive » From the Vierville- noon & 2-5.30pm). Interior highlights include several
sur-Mer seafront, follow the rural 13th-century windows, a 14th-century fresco of St
D514 through quiet countryside Michael skewering the dragon, and an organ and high
towards Grandcamp-Maisy. After
about 10km you’ll see signs to altar from the mid-1700s. You can climb the lantern
‘Pointe du Hoc’. tower on a tour (adult/child €7/4).
Coutances is about 50km south of Utah Beach by
the most direct route.
TRIP HIGHLIGHT
8 Pointe du Hoc
FRANCE 9 D-DAY’S BEACHES
West of Omaha, this h9am-6pm mid-Apr–mid-Sep, lightly defended, and by
craggy promontory to 5pm rest of year), which midday the landing force
was the site of D-Day’s France turned over to the had linked with para-
most audacious military US government in 1979, troopers from the 101st
exploit. At 7.10am, 225 US looks much as it did on Airborne. By nightfall,
Army Rangers command- D-Day, complete with some 20,000 men and
ed by Lt Col James Earl shell craters and crum- 1700 vehicles had arrived
Rudder scaled the sheer bling gun emplacements. on French soil, and the
30m cliffs, where the The Drive » Stay on the D514 road to European libera-
Germans had stationed a to Grandcamp-Maisy, then tion had begun.
battery of artillery guns continue south onto the D13 dual Today the Utah Beach
trained onto the beaches carriageway. Keep going till you site is marked by military
of Utah and Omaha. Un- reach the turn-off for the D913, memorials and the
fortunately, the guns had signed to St-Marie-du-Mont/ Musée du Débarquement
Utah Beach. It’s a 44km drive.
already been moved in- (Utah Beach Landing Museum;
land, and Rudder and his %02 33 71 53 35; www.utah-
men spent the next two 9 Utah Beach beach.com; Ste-Marie du Mont;
days repelling counter- adult/child €8/4; h9.30am-
attacks. By the time they The D-Day tour ends at 7pm Jun-Sep, 10am-6pm
St-Marie-du-Mont, also
were finally relieved on Oct-May, closed Jan) inside
8 June, 81 of the rangers known as Utah Beach, the former German com-
had been killed and 58 which was assaulted by mand post.
soldiers of the US 4th and
more had been wounded. 8th Infantry Divisions.
Today the site (%02 The beach was relatively
31 51 90 70; www.abmc.gov;

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