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Normandy
Normandy is a region in northern France, whose coastline closely hugs the English Channel. The region’s name hails from the Viking Norsemen from the 9th century who eventually settled at present in the city that stands guard to the east of the region.
The name Normandy applies to two regions, the lower part called Basse-Normandie comprising Calvados, Orne and Manche, and the upper part called Haute-Normandie comprising Eure and Seine Maritime.
The picture-postcard Normandy invites views of lush, pastures with grazing cattle, apple orchards and cider breweries, with seaside retreats of Cotentin bordered by the heavy-wooded valleys of the Seine.
The Seine river meanders past the ancient abbeys at Jumièges and St-Wandrille to the salt-air of coast that attracted the great Impressionist painters during the 19th century. Visitors and locals alike are proud of the great abbey churches at Caen built by William the Conqueror and his queen, Matilda, the mighty monastery island of Mont-St-Michel and the tranquil Monet's garden at Giverny.
Normandy has outstanding beach resorts, notably Deauville, Granville, and Etretat which take advantage of its stretch of beach. In fact, its beaches have made Normandy synonymous with the D-Day Allied invasion on June 4, 1944 during the close of World War II, when thousands of soldiers poured unto its shores.
Norman cuisine resolves around regional specialties of seafood, cattle, apples and dairy. An ideal meal in Normandy would begin with a platter of its famous Neufchâtel, Pont-L'Evêque, Livarot (also known as the "Colonel") or the round Camembert of Marie Harel cheeses. Entrees would be composed of gifts from the sea like Dieppe sole and Normandy oysters or a variety of meats like saltmarsh lamb, fowl "à la Vallée d'Auge" or "à la Rouennaise." Local toffee and apple sugars from Rouen would end the meal, washed down with sparkling apple cider or calvados apple brandy (the trou normand).
