Gisors (Eure)

The castle at Gisors, built by the Anglo-Norman rulers against the French kings in the 11th-12th century, is a fine example of motte-and-bailey fortification.

Château Gaillard / Les Andelys (Eure)

This castle overlooking the river Seine was built at the end of the 12th century by the English king Richard I the Lionheart to defend the Norman frontier. While technically and architecturally advanced for its time, the castle was far from impregnable, as was proven already in 1204 when the French king Philip Augustus captured it after a long siege. In effect, Château Gaillard would be seized many times over in the Hundred Years War. It gradually fell into ruins and was demolished at the end of the 16th century.

Château Gaillard / Les Andelys (Eure)

The preservation of architectural heritage or historical monuments in general is a recent idea. Before the 19th century anything that lost its immediate function was left to fall into ruins. Magnificent Château Gaillard suffered a similar fate. In the late 16th-early 17th century the French kings Henry IV and Louis XIII commanded its destruction in order to prevent adversaries to use the castle as a stronghold. In 1862 Chateau Gaillard was listed as "monument historique".

Les Andelys (Eure)

The village of Petit-Andely in one of the most enchanting locations of the Norman Seine Valley.

Château Gaillard / Les Andelys (Eure)

The medieval castle dominates the Seine and the entrance to Normandy in this view from the Panorama du Thuit.

Moulin de Hauville (Eure)

Stone mill built in the 13th century by the abbey of Jumièges.

Saint-Sulpice-de-Grimbouville (Eure)

Tiny village (population 157) located in the Risle valley, a protected nature reserve. The town hall (right) was built in 1420.

Saint-Sulpice-de-Grimbouville (Eure)

Saint-Sulpice church (12th-18th century). The yew tree on the right is 800 years old.

Storks

Storks nesting in the valley of the Risle, near Saint-Sulpice-de-Grimbouville, part of the Parc naturel régional des Boucles de la Seine normande.

Le Bec-Hellouin (Eure)

Colourful half-timbered houses in Le Bec-Hellouin, listed as one of "Les Plus Beaux Villages de France".

Le Bec-Hellouin (Eure)

The abbey of Le Bec, founded in 1034.

Saint-Wandrille (Seine-Maritime)

Ruins of Fontenelle Abbey.

Rançon (Seine-Maritime)

Notre-Dame de Rançon (11th-16th century).

Jumièges (Seine-Maritime)

Benedictine abbey founded around 654 to become one of the most prominent in Normandy. After the disrupting Viking raids in the 9th century, Jumièges had its renaissance with the grand new church consecrated in 1067. Most destructions happened in the wake of the French Revolution, when the abbey was sold and used as stone quarry.

Giverny (Eure)

Claude Monet lived at Giverny for forty-three years, from 1883 to his death in 1926. In 1893 he acquired a piece of land where he recreated this water garden which he knew from Japanese prints. The water lilies he planted in the pond would in turn inspire him to his greatest creations in the last decades of his life, les Nymphéas.

Vernon (Eure)

16th century water mill built on the broken medieval bridge on the Seine.

Abbey of Mortemer (Eure)

Ruins of the 12th-century Cistercian abbey near Lisors, founded by Henri Beauclerc, king of England and duke of Normandy, fouth son of William the Conqueror.

Abbey of Mortemer (Eure)

Large ponds on the domain of the old abbey, now a secluded place for birds, fish and insects. The abbey originally took its name from the "dead pond", a drainage lake used by the monks to dry up the marshes.

Amfreville-sous-les-Monts - Panorama du Plessis (Eure)

The Seine seen from the Panorama du Plessis.

Pont-de-l'Arche (Eure)

The Seine at Pont-de-l'Arche.

Ranville - Pegasus Bridge (Calvados)

This bridge on the Caen Canal and the one on the river Orne in Normandy were of crucial importance to the Allies on 6 June 1944, as they formed the only connection between the mainland and the British landing beaches. The bridges were captured intact in the early hours of June 6 by British paratroopers, who were flown in with glider planes, and successfully held out against German counter-attacks until relief from the landing forces arrived. The nearby village of Ranville became the first liberated place on French soil. In effect, it was from this spot that the liberation of the whole of Europe started. The Caen Canal bridge was renamed Pegasus Bridge after the emblem of the British airborne forces. The bridge seen here is a replica. The original built in 1935 is kept in the nearby D-Day museum.