This kind of goes hand in hand with my question about Ryanair.
I am heading to Europe for 8-10 days in early March. I plan on visiting the Normandy beaches, London, Paris, Brussels and Vimy Ridge. If I have time, I also want to see St. Malo and Mont-St. Michel.
My question is does anyone know of any other interesting castles, architecture in the area. If any residents or visitors have a 'must-see' place, please let me know. I hate the thought of flying all that way and missing out on something great (in the next village) simply because I didn't it was there.
I've looked in probably a dozen travel books, unfortunately, most of them have more words than pictures, so the descriptions sometimes understate or overstate how nice it is.
James
--- Live abroad and learn something about yourself!
Premium account Joined: Dec 04 Points: 33802 Posts: 416
Posted: 2005-01-23 14:19:00
Hi James
The things that spring instantly to mind are Dinan up river from St Malo, a delightful town and the Bayeux Tapestry in Normandy. In Normandy you might also like the city of Rouen, Monet's garden at Giverny and Chateau-Gaillard.
I'm sorru I can't help with the southern based airline - Easyjet or Jet2 are more my scene.
Cheers, David
--- Grieve not for that which you cannot do but rejoice in that which you can.
Thanks David! If I have time, I plan on seeing the Bayeaux Tapestry. I am also flying to London from Dinand, so I will get to visit Mont St. Michel and St. Malo before I leave. As for airlines, I've booked over the Net with Ryanair.
My route is now more or less confirmed. Fly to London and then to Eindhoven, Netherlands. Head to Antwerp, then Ghent, then Arras to see Vimy Ridge and Beaumont Hamel. Then onto Paris for a couple of days and then back to the coast (Caen), with perhaps a detour through Dieppe if we have time. Then a tour of the D-Day beaches and then onto St. Malo, then back to London for a few days.
So if anyone knows of any other great places to visit along that route I'd love to hear about them. I've been scouring the Net and reading travel books like crazy.
I'd also be interested in cheap places to stay, eat, and have fun. I realize it is Europe and most things are expensive, but if I can save a few bucks along the way that'd be great!
--- Live abroad and learn something about yourself!
If castles are your main interest, let me recommend you to visit Versailles castle which is just near Paris, but let me also point out the famous royal castles around Tours and along the Loire valley (http://www.a-castle-for-rent.com/castles/) It's less than 3 hours far from Paris, and it's really worth an sight (at least much more interessting than Brussel ;-)
If you just want to see what other sights/castles/etc. are in the area around there, I'd recomend getting the Google Earth placemarks for that area from exploreglobe.net
They just load in Google Earth and show the location and link to photos, info, etc. and you just explore around and see what catches your interest. I planned my whole trip that way and it is A LOT of fun.
