3351 FRANCE (Normandy) - Cherbourg-Octeville

Cherbourg-Octeville - Basilica of Sainte-Trinité,
Atlantic Hotel, Fort du Roule, Cité de la Mer.

Situated at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula, Cherbourg-Octeville was officially formed when the commune of Cherbourg absorbed Octeville in 2000. In 2016 it was merged into the new commune of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. The city has been a strategic position over the centuries, disputed between the English and French. Cited as one of the "keys to the kingdom" by Vauban, it became a first-rate military port under the leadership of Louis XVI and Napoleon. The city was the primary goal of US troops during the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

2276 FRANCE (Normandy) - The store À Jeanne D'Arc in Nacqueville before WWII

The village of Nacqueville was originally about 1 km inland, with only a few fishing huts on the long beach. In the beginning of the 20th century, the coastal strip was developed as a resort, along with a picturesque 'Village Normande' for tourists next to the original hamlet. During WWII was almost obliterated by Allied bombardments, because was close to a radar station, and its church was dynamited by the German army. In 1964 Urville-Hague and Nacqueville were united, forming Urville-Nacqueville.

1200 FRANCE (Normandy) - The Church and the Statue of Saint Joan of Arc in Rouen

Historic capital city of Normandy, one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, and one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th to the 15th centuries, Rouen has also an unfortunate fame, because there was burned at the stake Joan of Arc, The Maid of Orléans, one of the iconic figures of France and a Roman Catholic saint. Born to a peasant family at Domrémy (in north-east France), Joan said she received divine visions instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent Joan to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence after the siege was lifted in only nine days. Several additional swift victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Reims. On 23 May 1430, she was captured by the English-Burgundian faction, being later handed over to the English, and then put on trial, declared guilty, and burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, dying at about 19 years of age.

0684 FRANCE (Normandy) - Mont Saint-Michel and its Bay (UNESCO WHS)

"Rising from a hazy expanse of sand and waves, Mont Saint-Michel appears like Man's defiance of the elements and of time. A rock lost in a landscape smoothed by the wind." I think this description, present in many tourist guides, is very suitable for this rocky tidal island located in Normandy, one kilometre off the country's northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. The island's highest point is 92m above sea level.