May 02 – Caen and a Massive Château

It is still chilly and a bit overcast, but we headed out anyway.  Today we are visiting the city of Caen.  The highlight of the city is the medieval castle of Caen.  It was built by William, Duke of Normandy and conqueror of England.  It is one of the largest fortresses in Western Europe. 

We made a wrong turn and ended up at the back entrance.  Which was good because there were no stairs required to get into the chateau.  The entrance was through the Porte de Champs. 

And the moat.

The château was damaged during World War II and most of the outer walls have been rebuilt.

The donjon, or keep, is surrounded by a separate moat with towers on the corners.  It is pretty flattened. 

Views of Caen from the château walls.

There were flowers growing out to the walls everywhere in the château. 

And we saw this pretty European Robin.  Much smaller than the ones we see in the US.

St. George’s Church inside the castle walls.

The Great Hall.  And it was truly Great.  Really massive.

The Porte Saint Pierre.

More photos of the château.

The Museum of Fine Arts is in one corner of the castle grounds.  We didn’t visit but there were these interesting sculptures on tall poles.

Views of Saint Pierre Church from the castle…

and pictures of the church during our later visit.

We then headed down into the main area of Caen. 

Leroy Tower.  Standing out all by itself.

We headed into the old section of town, the Vauguex Neighborhood, for lunch.  Most picturesque and wall to wall café’s. 

After some walking around the neighborhood, we headed to the tourist office where we were able to catch the Petit Train to take a ride around town.  We saw some of the same sights as we had seen already.  Good view of the château...

and new ones as well.

We did a short photo stop at the Abbaye aux Dames (Abbey of the Women).  

And the abbey from below.

We passed some of the harbor area.

And we had drive past the Abbaye aux Hommes (Abbey of the Men). 

Nearby the ruins of Old St. Stephen’s Church.

We had a bit of light rain during the ride but it ended about the time the ride ended. 

We walked along the shopping street that the train had taken us down.  Mary was interested in some shoes she had seen during the train ride…turned out they didn’t have her size. With the light rain and the cold it was time for some hot chocolate.

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More Caen
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Then we headed out for the drive back to Bayeux. 

Since we had just had a late afternoon hot chocolate and it was still damp out we just had some fruit in our room for dinner instead of heading back outside.