Page 175 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

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views of St-Malo and its offshore
islands. Within the city walls
is a web of narrow, cobbled
streets with tall 18th-century
buildings housing many
souvenir stores, seafood
restaurants, and creperies.
St-Malo’s castle, the Château
de St-Malo dates from the
14th and 15th centuries. The
Detail from the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry great keep today houses an
interesting museum charting
of splendid historical monuments. from the Norman perspective. It the city’s history. In the three-
Rouen’s Gothic cathedral, the was probably commissioned by towered fortification known as
Cathédrale Notre-Dame, has an Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William’s the Tour Solidor, to the west of
impressive west facade, made half-brother. The 70-m (230-ft) St-Malo, is a museum devoted
famous by the great Impressionist long embroid ered hanging is to the ships and sailors that
painter Claude Monet (1840– displayed in a reno vated rounded Cape Horn.
1926), who made almost 30 seminary, the Centre Guillaume-
paintings of it. A number of le-Conquérant, which also gives 8 Carnac
these can be seen in the city’s a detailed audio visual account of
excellent Musée des Beaux Arts. the events leading up to the Morbihan. * 4,600. @ n 74
From the cathedral, the Rue Norman conquest. Avenue des Druides (02-97 52 13 52).
du Gros Horloge leads west, As well as the tapestry, a ∑ ot-carnac.fr
passing under the city’s Great cluster of 15th–19th-century
Clock, to the Place du Vieux buildings and the Gothic This popular town is probably
Marché, where Joan of Arc was Cathédrale Notre-Dame are most famous as one of the
burnt at the stake in 1431. Bayeux’s principal attractions. world’s great prehistoric sites. As
The Flamboyant Gothic Eglise Bayeux was the first town in long ago as 4000 BC, thousands
St-Maclou and Eglise St-Ouen Nazi-occupied France to be of ancient granite rocks were
are two of Rouen’s finest liberated by the Allies following arranged in mysterious lines
churches. The Eglise St-Ouen is the D-Day landings in 1944. On and patterns in the countryside
noted for its restored 14th- the southwest side of the town’s around Carnac by Megalithic
century stained-glass windows. ring road, the Musée Mémorial tribes. Their original purpose
The Musée de la Céramique de la Bataille de Normandie is uncertain, though they are
displays around 1,000 pieces of traces the events of the Battle of thought to have religious
Rouen faïence – colorful glazed Normandy in World War II. significance or to be related to
earthenware – as well as other an early astronomical calendar.
pieces of French and foreign china. E Centre Guillaume-le- Celts, Romans, and Christians
The former family home of Conquérant have since adapted them to
Gustave Flaubert (1821–80) has Rue de Nesmond. Tel 02-31 51 25 50. their own beliefs.
been converted into a museum Open daily. Closed 3 wks Jan, Dec 25 You can see some of the
containing memo rabilia from & 26. & 7 menhirs at the Kermario site,
this famous French novelist’s life. on the town outskirts, while
6 Mont-St-Michel in the center, the Musée de
E Musée des Beaux Arts Préhistoire gives an insight
Square Verdrel. Tel 02-35 71 28 40. See pp174–5. into the area’s ancient history.
Open Wed–Mon. Closed public hols.
& 7
7 St-Malo
5 Bayeux Ille-et-Vilaine. * 53,000. g £ @
n Esplanade St-Vincent (08-25 13 52
Calvados. * 15,000. £ @ 00). ( Tue, Fri (Old Town).
n Pont-St-Jean (02-31 51 28). ∑ saint-malo-tourisme.com
∑ bayeux-bessin-tourisme.com
Once a fortified island, St-Malo
The main reason to visit this stands in a commanding position
small town in Normandy is to at the mouth of the river Rance.
see the world-renowned Bayeux In the 16th–19th centuries, the
Tapestry. This incredible work port won prosperity and power
of art depicts William the through the exploits of its sea-
Conqueror’s invasion of England faring population. Intra-muros,
and the Battle of Hastings, which the old walled city, is encircled Menhirs (prehistoric standing stones) in a
took place in the 11th century, by ramparts that provide fine field near Carnac

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