Thursday, May 31, 2007

Visiting Normandy – Post 3

The previous posts in this Visiting Normandy series are: Post 1 and Post 2.

If you can only check one of those post, make in Post 1 which includes:

CHECK OUT FOR YOURSELF EVERYTHING I SAY.
Now, folks, moving on ---

Most of you going to Normandy this summer to visit the invasion beaches, inland battlefields, military cemeteries and war museums have very likely made your hotel or B&B plans.

But for some of you who’ve not done that or are looking forward to a trip in the next year or two and are traveling by car and independently rather than in a tour group, I’ve a recommendation: make Bayeux your overnight stop. (It’s better to stay at least three nights if you can.)

Bayeux is a small city of about 16K located 5 or so miles from the channel coast. The city is much like a friendly town. Most services, hotels, restaurants, stores, city sights and medical facilities are within the radius of a mile from the city center and Bayeux’s beautiful Cathedral de Notre Dame.

The Michelin Green Guide for the region that includes Bayeux will tell you a lot about the history, geography and sights of Bayeux. The Michelin Red Guide is a reliable guide to hotels and restaurants in France. It lists a number of each in and around Bayeux.

Michelin Red rates all hotels and restaurants it lists. It also provides pricing, booking and contact information, including addresses, phone numbers, and internet addresses.

In recent years some people have taken to knocking Michelin. Well, it isn’t perfect. But I’ve traveled throughout France for the last thirty years or so, and if I had to rely on only one hotel/restaurant guide, it would be Michelin.

A French friend recently put it very well: “Michelin is not everything. Still, it is the best if you want to get what you pay for.”

Tomorrow I’ll say more about Bayeux. I'll include some “How to enjoy a French restaurant” tips.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had a very pleasant weeklong stay in Bayeaux at the Hotel Churchill (nice coincindence w/JiC) in April.

The DDay Invasion tour was truly inspiring.

-TombZ