Day 1
St-Malo, named the Corsair City, the base and hometown of the most famous ship owners and “legal pirates” is an amazing fortified city on the emerald coast in the northern part of Brittany. You will take a walk on the city walls to understand that it is a former island.
Your private guide will take you through the maze of the narrow streets that have their own funny stories such as the “Dancing Cat Street”, “Pelicot Street” one of the tiniest where some houses date from the 16th century and by a miracle were not destroyed during World War 2, and many more. You will also appreciate the conception of the“belt” of the fort islands such as la Conchée, le Fort National, Harbour, le Grand Bé, le Petit Bé… that were mainly designed by the engineer Garengeau disciple of one of the greatest french engineers Marshall Vauban who especially designed la Conchée Fort, At low tide you can walk to some of these islands.
St Malo inhabitants have always been sea oriented, like most of the people in Brittany, because its wealth until nowadays depended on that connection with the ocean.
St-Malo was named after Maclow a monk who came from Wales in the 6th century. Your private guide will take you to the original settlement of the monk : Alet area, a beautiful site with an impressive 180° overview of the bay and the Rance river mouth. A very stategic location too with the most recent examples of contruction, the 18th century military fort built under the king Louis the 15th and as a part of the the atlantic wall a German heavy battery artillery dating from World War 2.
Leaving this impressive town your private guide will drive you through the world’s capital of the oysters : Cancale.
Then you will have a private guided visit of le Mont Saint Michel. To reach this unique place in the world, also known as the Marvel of the Western World, the sea has to draw aside to let anyone go through. The Mont Saint Michel is at the same time a village, an island and an abbey erected on the top of the rock at almost 100 meters high (300 feet).
During your private guided visit you will understand how people could start a building site 1000 years ago on the top of a rocky island, surrounded by water with the most impressive tides in Europe. Your private guide will share with you why the worship of Saint Michael started here and how a part of the official history was made up and by who. It is a unique journey in a unique place.
(Overnight in Saint Malo or Bayeux)
Day 2
Overlord Operation, Neptune Operation, Cobra Operation, Epsom Operation…are some of the events that took place in Normandy that your private guide will inform you about. Most of all, you will be in the Dday sites where millions of Allied Troops landed on June 6th 1944 during several weeks.
The Dday beaches coded Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah is a 120 km (80 miles) extended zone in the west side of the Normandy country. In that coast line there is a sixth zone known as Pointe du Hoc where US Ranger Batalions achieved something that will always remain unique.It is impossible to cover the whole coast line one day (that’s why we recommend at least 2 days), however in one day your private guide will take you to 3 or 4 sites such as Pegasus Bridge, one the first site captured during the battle of Normandy by the 6th British Airborne Division in gliders, definitely one of the sharpest action, then the Canadian sector is nearby especially Juno Beach and its museum opened in 2003, from Juno we will reach Gold beach in the British sector where you will see what remains from Mulberry B, the port that was made in front of the little town of Arromanches Les Bains. During this visit you will indeed realize that logistics was one of the most impressive and conclusive aspects of the war.
Then a little bit more west, there is still a heavy German battery of artillery known as Longues Battery where you will have an example of how big was the threat on the Allies.
Once we pass the charming fishing port town called Port en Bessin we are in the American sector and will head to Omaha Beach where the landscape gives a very good idea about what the GI’S of the 1st and 29th US Infantry division had to go through, threatened by the German defense positions mainly on the bluff.
Before reaching Utah, a must see stop has to be made in Pointe du Hoc to see what the courage and the sacrifice of the 225 rangers achieved on the the top of 30 meters high cliffs (100 feet).
The furthest beach in the west side of the coastline is Utah in the south of the Cherbourg peninsula where around 15000 paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st US Airborne Division jumped into the night to start the combat and to capture the village of Sainte Mère Eglise at 4,30 am on june 6th.
There are many interesting and moving museums in the Dday sites such as the Memorial in Caen, the Pegasus Memorial, the US Airborne Museum… It is feasible to visit one but it requires time.
What ever the time you have to visit these places is, you will be in the footsteps of the young soldiers who liberated a whole continent in a unique amphibious military operation. It is our common heritage.
(Entrance fee included)
