Trip Report – Brief trip to Bayeux and surrounding area
Sunday 15th July
My boyfriend and I recently stayed in Bayeux for one night on our way to Brittany (near Lannion) to stay in family cottage. I thought I would do a report of our brief stay as I enjoy reading other people’s trip reports on various forums so hopefully someone might find something useful! We chose to travel Dover-Boulogne as the cost was a lot less than taking the ferry to Roscoff and as we knew we would have to do some driving we decided that we would rather drive in France than England. It also gave us an excuse for a stop-over somewhere else!
Once on the road on the French side of the Channel we stopped at the Baie de Somme services on the A16 and they were such nice services! If you’re travelling along this route hang on for these services. There are fish ponds and lots of greenery, a nice area to eat your lunch and even a terrace from which you can look out over the surrounding countryside although we couldn’t go up on it as it seemed to be shut that day. The facilities were great too; we had some lovely simple baguettes with cheese and ham which were so fresh and tasty - the first of the holiday. So much nicer than anything you can pick up in a British services!
We arrived in Bayeux late afternoon and located our hotel, Hotel D’Argouges which is set back a little from the road off the Place St-Patrice. The hotel staff were friendly and we attempted to speak French although I’m sure we must have looked a little blank at stages! Really liked the hotel, room was fairly small but totally fine for us. The area in front of the hotel is decorated with beautiful flowers.
We ventured out at about 6.30pm, I had originally hoped that we could see the Tapestry today but by this point we didn’t have enough time. I had made a reservation via email at Le Pommier, a restaurant which seems a favourite on TA. We wandered along to the restaurant on Rue Des Cuisiniers to confirm our reservation. It was not that busy but the place really did look lovely and had a relaxed atmosphere. Luckily they did have our booking which was great and they asked us whether we preferred to sit in or out at the front. As it was a lovely evening we opted for outside and went off for a walk and a drink as were not booked in until 8.30pm. We circled around the Cathedral and the town hall and arriving at the start of the Rue St-Jean, where we encountered some excitement as some firemen were manoeuvring their cherry-picker up to a window on the top floor of a building. We joined the gathering crowd and concluded they might be trying to get someone out of the window as maybe the stairwells were too narrow. Anyway we never found out as we were getting pretty thirsty! Most of the places here mainly looked like they were serving food as opposed to just drinks but we found somewhere suitable and had a quick drink.
We then returned to the restaurant, where it had got lot busier. I had fish paste/terrine, followed by chicken in a citrus sauce and then crème brulee with red fruits, picked off a set menu with about three choices. It was all really tasty, highly recommended. S had the higher-priced menu and had Foie Gras, Sea bass in ginger and apple pie. We really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and sitting outside where we could also people watch. Made a bit of a fool of myself when I asked for l’assiette instead of l’addition, I don’t know why I had that in my head (I think it means plate)! The waitress looked a bit confused until I figured out what I had said!
After dinner we went for another stroll around the town, pretty much continuing in the same loop that we had done before. The Cathedral looks so pretty at night as it is beautifully lit. If you don’t make it to Bayeux until evening then I would still recommend going for a walk as the town looks gorgeous. We got some rather atmospheric shots of the various buildings as we wandered. We wound our way back to the Hotel D’Argouges and called it a night! It was a great first day and seemed like an age since we left London.
Monday 16th July
The next day we visited some of the Normandy beaches and connected places and so decided to miss the tapestry. After a false start at the town cemetery the first stop was the British Cemetery at Bayeux on the Boulevard Fabien Ware. Firstly had a look at the memorial for those who have no known grave and saw a family particularly interested in one name, so perhaps he was a family member. Crossed over the road and had a look round the graves which are so well kept. It was particularly moving to read the personalised epitaphs that the families opted for.
After we had finished at the cemetery we headed for Arromanches. I had actually been to Arromanches before, at least ten years ago, as this is near where my Granddad landed on D-Day (on Gold Beach) but I could barely remember any of it. Parked up easily and headed to the Musee du Debarquement right on the front. I thought the museum was quite informative, there are lots of models in glass cases in order to demonstrate how the artificial harbours worked, and you can look directly out of the long picture window and see the parts that remain. There is also a short cinema show. We were in there for about an hour in total.
Had lunch in a little cafe on what seemed to be the main street. Sat outside and shared salad and an appropriately names British pizza, not quite sure what made it British but it went down nicely with these two Brits! Ate some crepes bought from a street stall as we walked up to the 360 cinema following the signed route. It was a short walk but pretty steep and we were curious to see how le petit train would make it up there, had the potential to be quite hair-raising! They show twice an hour and the show is just short of 20 mins. I thought the film was quite well done; S was a bit less impressed. It was really interesting to see the places which saw action as they are now, perhaps as if nothing had happened but I’m sure those places hold many memories. We wandered about for a bit, among many school groups, looking at the view.
Next stop was the German guns which are still in place at Longues-sur-Mer only a few minutes up the coast. Here there are about four German gun barrels protruding from their pillboxes. You can get into the bunkers behind the gun barrels, I thought they were pretty eerie, S thought that those stationed there would have been pretty lucky compared to others, given the protection of a large concrete shelter. I didn’t fancy it myself. We didn’t spend very long here and didn’t take one of the guided tours that are offered at certain times during the day.
We then headed off to the American cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, which was again only a short drive. This is the largest of the American cemeteries, but I was interested to read that the Americans repatriated at least half their dead, which was something I hadn’t realised. We came to the pathway down to the beach and decided to follow it down. The beach seemed vast and it is actually a really nice beach and it seemed hard to imagine hundreds of people dying here, or near here, it almost felt inappropriate to be standing there, quite a weird feeling. Once we were back within the cemetery complex, we went to the cemetery proper and the rows of crosses seemed endless, it seemed much larger than the cemetery at Bayeux (it probably was). It was also interesting to see the Jewish Star of David interspersed between the crosses. We then walked around to the memorial and pool area which I thought was really nicely done. It was noticeable how much busier it was here than the other places we had visited. It was now about 5pm and we still had about three hours of driving to go so it was time to head off to Brittany.
It had been a long but fascinating day. I had wanted to visit some of the D-Day beaches for a long time and there are so many places to see it was hard to decide where to go but I was happy with the places we chose. It had also been lovely staying the night in Bayeux, I would have been happy to spend another night there and I would definitely go back, well I haven’t seen the tapestry yet so I guess I will have to!
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hi mannoo
great informative post.
we%26#39;ll be visiting those same places later next month and are really looking forward to it - especially after reading yr post.
thanks
byrdbud
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Souns like a great trip! We were in France last month and spent a few days in Bayeux. Loved it! Your post made me feel like I was back there, thanks!
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Your report was lovely Mannoo and I like the way you tell of your errors as well as having a simply wonderful time, we can all admit to putting our foot in our mouth and hoping the pavement will swallow us up - so your not on your own there.
You tell a good tale of very descriptive happenings - I am sure that if everyone coming to visit Bayeux reads this then they will be as pleased as you were with the area in fact I feel like getting in the car and doing a trip round into town and down to the beaches myself - the trouble with living so close to Bayeux is that we forget what is on our own doorstep and it takes a posting like this to remind us so thank you.
See you in the Tapestry sometime!!
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Great review
I agree wholeheartedly about the services at Baie de Somme
We received excellent service when we stopped there last year. The atmosphere is very relaxed and the food is good
KRx
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Thanks for your kind comments. It really was a good twenty-four hours, plus it was the only nice bit of weather we had. Brittany was mostly rain and cloud after that!
Hope you have a good trip byrdbud, I%26#39;m sure you will!
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