Normandy offers a surprising variety of countryside and coastline. The coastline is sometimes wild and rugged, but the countryside with it's half timbered houses surrounded by apple orchards , fresh undulating landscape, and forests of beech and pine, is a haven of peace and serenity. The name Normandy is derived from the Norsemen, Vikings who came here in their wooden-prowed boats and settled between 800 AD and 911 AD when a Viking, Rollo, became the first Duke of Normandy.

The Eastern coastline is known as the Alabaster Coast due to its striking chalk cliffs, higher then 100 meters in places, and extends from Le Treport to Le Havre. Many artists have painted this part of the Normandy coast; the unusual formation, known as the Elephant’s Trunk at Etretat, is known the world over due to Monet’s paintings of it. Nearby Fecamp is renowned not only for its cliffs but also the Benedictine Monastery that produces the drink of the same name (tours available). At the mouth of the Seine is Le Havre, a busy port that houses a great modern museum, Musee Malraux. On the opposite side of the Seine Estuary is the lovely old fishing port of Honfleur with its tall houses. From Honfleur on 15 March, 1603, Samuel de Champlain made his first expedition to Canada to “see the country, and what the colonizers might accomplish there.” Thus began the colonization of Canada by the French.

From the mouth of the Seine westwards to the Orne is the Floral Coast. Here are the famous beaches and resorts such as Trouville and fashionable Deuville famed for its Casino, Horse Racing, and the American Film Festival. These are the seaside resorts that are sometimes called the 21st arrondissement of Paris being only about 1 _ hrs from Paris. A lovely resort is Cabourg where Proust would stay at the Grand Hotel, still with its authentic Belle Epoque ambience. His novel ‘Within a Budding Grove’ (part of the cycle ‘Remembrance of Things Past’) is a vivid portrayal of life at a seaside resort at the turn if the 20th century and of the customs of Cabourg, called ‘Balbec’ in the novel.

South-east of Rouen, is the pretty village of Lyon-le-Foret in the Foret de Lyons, the favorite hunting ground of the Dukes of Normandy and the largest beechwood in Europe. The village is located around the remains of the castle where Henry the first of England died. Maurice Ravel wrote some of his finest music in ‘Le Fresne’, one of the old mansions you can visit. Other designated beautiful and historic villages in Normandy are Barfleur, Beuvron en Auge, Saint Ceneri Le Gerei, Gerberoy, Argentan, Domfront, Granville, Eu, Forges-les-Eaux, Pont-Audemer and more.

In 1066 William the Conqueror invaded England from Normandy. This momentous time was commemorated by perhaps the most famous artifact that has come down to us from medieval times. The Tapestry is actually embroidery in wool on a background of linen 230 feet long and 20 inches high. It is a pictorial account of the events leading up to the military invasion of England, the battle of Hastings, the death of King Harold, and the crowning of William in Westminster Abbey. A unique witness to life in the world of the 11th century. It was accomplished on the orders of Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux, William’s half-brother, to be unfurled to celebrate the rebuilding and dedication of the cathedral of Bayeux in July 14, 1077. The work was probably accomplished by a group of women in Canterbury, England. The towers and crypt from Bishop Odo’s cathedral remain in the gothic Cathedral Notre-Dame that stands on its site. Bayeux was the first town in France to be liberated by the Allies in 1944

Following the Seine to Paris is Les Andelys dominated by the Chateau Gaillard built in 1196 by Richard Lionheart, King of England and Duke of Normandy, to keep the King of France from reaching Rouen. By 1203 when Richard I was succeeded by King John, after a fierce siege, the castle was taken and Rouen fell to the French king. Normandy, of course, has many chateaux and historic sites and possesses a rich heritage of sacred architecture in its cathedrals and abbeys.

Back east, just to the north of the Seine River, is the capital of Normandy, the 2000 year-old city of Rouen with its gothic churches and cathedral immortalized by Monet, who painted it at different times of day and in different lights. The many beautiful half-timbered houses characteristic of Norman architecture still stand in Rouen’s picturesque old quarter. It was here that Joan of Arc was convicted of heresy by the French clergy and burnt at the stake in 1431.