Normandy Excursions, Cultural travel tours of Normandy

Travel to Normandy with Normandy Excursions Personalized tours of Normandy: visit the D-day beaches, Omaha Beach, Utah beach and Pointe du Hoc, the Normandy of William the Conqueror, the coast of Normandy; come and taste the Normandy cheeses, the Normandy cider and Calvados
Visit our websites on NORMANDY or NORMANDY, on OMAHA BEACH or OMAHA BEACH, on GRANDCAMP and on the 50th Anniversary of D-DAY,the 50th Anniversary of D-DAY, and photographs and photos of the French Alps or the French Alps,ALSACE or ALSACE,BRITTANY or BRITTANY, DORDOGNE or DORDOGNE, PARIS or PARIS,PROVENCE or PROVENCE,PYRENEES, ROUSSILLON and the BASQUE COUNTRY or PYRENEES, ROUSSILLON and the BASQUE COUNTRY.

Normandy Excursions designs personalized itineraries for self-drive tours in Normandy and other regions of France, and walking tours of Paris.

Tours

Like Charles Baudelaire, the 19th century French poet who penned the "Invitation au Voyage" in the Norman port city of Honfleur, we invite you to travel to Normandy on a voyage of discovery to this land of lush pastures, rugged, rocky coasts, milk-white cliffs that plunge precipitously into the sea; of vast stretches of fine sandy beaches, bathed in a soft and shimmering light so prized by the Impressionists. A land of charming manor houses and magnificent churches. Where the gentle spectacled Normandy cow whose milk produces celebrated cheeses, grazes beneath the apple trees from which come sparkling cider, pommeau and calvados - the foundations of a sensational regional cuisine.

Share our passion. We will work with you to design a self-drive, personalized itinerary, reflecting your particular interests and tastes, and to select hotels and restaurants. We will make all your reservations and we will send you your own guide book, with detailed driving instructions, maps, and descriptions of the sites you will visit and the stories behind them. We will tell you where to buy souvenirs, where to stop for a coffee break, and where to sample a fine Camembert or taste a fiery Calvados.

Contact us today or, if you prefer, fill our information request form.

Your own travel tourbook is $100 for every day of travel ($200 minimum), plus a fee for each reservation.

If you like, combine your visit to Normandy with a stay in Paris or with a tour of Brittany or of the Loire Valley.

D-DAY and the BATTLE OF NORMANDY

Normandy Travel Tours- D-DAY

Walk on the beaches, visit the battlefields and the museums, remember those who fought and died for freedom. We'll take you through the countryside, from the early morning of June 6, 1944, to the end of the battle of Normandy in mid-August.

Postcard from Utah-Beach

CHURCHES, CHATEAUX and CATHEDRALS

Normandy Travel Tours- Churches, Chateaux, Cathedrals

Learn about the Norman architecture, from the early Romanesque abbeys of William the Conqueror, the fortified castles, to the gothic cathedrals, the country manor houses and the grand chateaux.

Postcard from Jumieges

THE VIKINGS' LEGACY

Normandy Travel Tours - William the Conqueror

Visit the sites and monuments that marked the foundation of Normandy, from Rollo, the first duke, to William the Conqueror and the Norman nobles who conquered Sicily, Antioch and Jerusalem.

Postcard from Barfleur

THE LAND'S BOUNTY

Normandy Travel Tours - Terroir

Cheese, cream, Calvados, apples. Normandy's rich pastures translate into rich food. See the markets, the small factories where the land's products are processed, and eat in the best restaurants the province has to offer.

Postcard from Lessay

A TAPESTRY IN GREEN AND BLUE

Quaint fishing villages that live at the rhythm of the tides, ancient country churches nestled amidst bucolic hedgerows... We'll send you along country roads in search of the old traditions.

Photo album from Grandcamp

TOUR REQUEST FORM

This site dedicated to Normandy is presented in five sections:

- Mer (The Sea) tells the early history of the Duchy of Normandy, from the arrival of the Norsemen, the conquest of England by William the Conqueror, to the fall of the duchy of Normandy to the King of France. A slideshow of our photographs illustrates the varied landscapes of the coast of Normandy. In a postcard from Barfleur, we remember one of our visits to this charming harbor in the Cotentin.

- Terre (The land) presents the flavors and savors of the Normandy countryside, from the creamy cheeses to the fiery calvados, illustrated with our photographs of Normandy cows. The slideshow includes photographs of landscapes, food markets, and farmhouses. The postcard from the Ste-Croix Fair in Lessay describes our visit to this yearly event, the largest and oldest fair in Normandy, which goes back to the 11th century.

- Pierre (Stones) presents the development of religious architecture in Normandy, especially of the invention of the ribbed vault, which originated in the Normandy Abbey of Lessay. The slideshow takes you on a tour of the castles, chateaux, abbeys and the traditional country churches that punctuate the landscapes of Normandy. The postcard was sent from Jumieges, the famed abbey that lies in ruins on the banks of the Seine and was the inspiration for the construction of the great Normandy abbeys of the 11th century.

- Guerre (The War) recalls the bombing of Saint-Lo, in a translation of excerpts from Mr. Maurice Lantier's work, Saint-Lo au Bucher. Mr. Lantier is Professor Emeritus of the Lycee Leverrier in Saint-Lo. The photographs of the German fortifications at the Pointe du Hoc are an excerpt of a larger photographic essay on the Atlantic Wall in Normandy, titled Silent Sentinels. A walk on the beach at Utah Beach is the subject of the postcard.

- Remembrance links to our site on the ceremonies of the 50th Anniversary of D-Day in 1994, when the Word War II Rangers were honored in Grandcamp and at the Pointe du Hoc. The slideshow is a tribute to the American soldiers who landed and died on Omaha Beach during the Allied Normandy landings on June 6th, 1944. The photographs of the beach at Omaha Beach and of the American War Cemetery at Normandy in Colleville-sur-Mer are set to the Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber and captioned with the war dispatches of Ernie Pyle and the speeches of President Clinton at the 50th anniversary of D-Day ceremonies.

Links are also provided to our website on Grandcamp-Maisy, a typical village and fishing port on the coast of Normandy, between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach and to the tribute to Omaha Beach.

As a special feature, a Photo Essay highlights some of the picturesque country churches of Normandy. .

Web site designed and created by Claude and Vivian Corbin
©Copyright 1998-2007 Claude and Vivian Corbin. All rights reserved. These pages are intended for your personal use only. Any reproductions or other uses require prior written approval. All materials, trademarks and copyrights are the property of the authors, unless otherwise noted.