Page 248 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

EXPERIENCE Normandy

EXPERIENCE MORE

4 and the subse quent liberation La Cité de la Mer
of Cherbourg. Most activity is
"\= ⌂ Gare Maritime
Cherbourg centred on the flower-filled Transatlantique # Feb–Sep:
market square, place Général 9:30am–7pm daily; Oct–Dec:
! B2 ⌂ Manche k £
@ g n 2 quai Alexandre III; de Gaulle, and along streets 10am–6pm daily ¢ Jan,
www.cherbourg such as rue Tour-Carrée and 25 Dec ∑ citedelamer.com
tourisme.com rue de la Paix. Within the Parc
Emmanuel Liais are small
Cherbourg has been a naval botanical gardens and the 5
base and strategic port since Musée d’Histoire Naturelle.
the mid-19th century. The The Cité de la Mer is a Cotentin
French Navy still uses its bilingual centre with a deep-
harbours, as do transatlantic sea aquarium and the world’s ! B2 ⌂ Manche k £ @
g Cherbourg n 15 bis
ships and the cross-Channel largest visitable submarine. rue G Le Conquérant,
ferries to and from England Barneville-Carteret;
and Ireland. For a good view Musée de la Libération www.otcdi.com
of the port, drive to the hilltop " ⌂ Fort du Roule § 02 33
Fort du Roule, which houses 20 14 12 # 10am–6pm Tue– Thrusting northward into
the Musée de la Libération, Fri, 1–6pm Sat & Sun the English Channel, the
recalling the D-Day invasion ¢ Public hols Cotentin Peninsula has a
landscape similar to Brittany’s.
Its long sandy beaches have
D-DAY LANDINGS wild and windblown head-
In the early hours of 6 June 1944, Allied troops, supported lands around Cap de la Hague
by a staggering 13,000 aircraft and 6,000 ships and boats, and Nez de Jobourg. The latter
stormed the beaches of Normandy in the largest seaborne is popular with birdwatchers –
invasion in history. Codenamed Operation Overlord, the gannets and shearwaters fly
landings began the long-awaited battle to liberate north- by in large numbers. Along
ern Europe from Nazi occupation. American troops came the east coast stretches Utah
ashore at beaches codenamed Utah and Omaha, while Beach, where some 23,000
British, Canadian, Polish and the Free French troops landed American troops landed as
further to the east at Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches. part of the World War II Allied
invasion on 6 June 1944.
Inland, Ste-Mère-Église
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