Caen; Saturday, 31 August, 2019

I had a nice lie-in and a late breakfast before checking out of the hotel and wandering over to the airport. I’d already checked in online and only had hand luggage and with a deserted security screening area it took little more than 5 minutes to get from the entrance of the hotel to the departures lounge, certainly an advantage of a smaller airport.

The flight was called nice and early, and was barely half full – though with a small plane this did mean they put most passengers together in the centre rows to keep the plane balanced. We pushed back off of stand a few minutes early and were able to queue jump the Newquay flight that was supposed to leave before us. The flight over the channel was generally smooth, and as it was so short and on a turboprop plane was quite low so there were great views of Essex, Kent the Channel Islands and then Normandy as we came into land. We landed a good 10 minutes early, and with only hand luggage and another tiny airport I was waiting at the bus stop for the bus into town barely 90 seconds after leaving my seat on the plane.

I caught the bus into town and headed over to the hotel to check-in, drop off my bag, and then headed back out into town. My first stop of the afternoon was to wander over to the Hôtel de ville. Whilst this is the modern day town hall, in it’s previous life it was the Men’s Abbey, built originally by William, Duke of Normandy before he conquered England at the Battle of Hastings. As it was a Saturday afternoon in late August there were a vast number of wedding parties around the Town Hall, and the church of the abbey, that is still a functioning church, was closed to visitors for more nuptials.

Just opposite the town hall is the Old St Stephen’s Church. This church fell out of use in the 19th century and would probably eventually just have been torn down if it hadn’t received significant damage during the German retreat from Normandy following the D-Day landings, consequently the ruins have been preserved in part as a memorial to the damage that was inflicted on Caen – it being in the front line of the D-Day assault.

From there I wandered through the centre of town stopping off at the impressive St Peters Church, with its restored spire (more war damage) and the Leroy tower – one of the few remaining parts of the city’s old fortifications, before arriving at the Women’s Abbey, on the opposite side of town from the Men’s. Again this was founded by William and is now home to the administration for the Normandy region – though you can wander round the cloister of the old abbey building and, as all the weddings had finished for the day, wander into the attached church which houses the tomb of Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror.

After looking round the Women’s abbey I headed back towards the centre of town and to the largest of the sites in Caen – the impressive castle. Another building project of William today only a fraction of the original Norman keep remains, but the fortifications of the outer walls have been updated and preserved over the centuries and form an almost complete loop around the site.

I spent quite a bit of time wandering round the castle, taking in the views from the different ramparts, as well as the temporary exhibition in the Exchequers hall. Though by the time I got there it was close to the closing time of the buildings – though the actual grounds remain open until much later in the evening.

Having taken in as much of the castle as I could for the day I headed back to the hotel to freshen up and then headed out for a bit more of a wander around the old town and a hunt for somewhere to have dinner, eventually finding an OK restaurant behind St Peters Church.