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We've compiled the best of the best in Normandy - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
This former ossuary (a charnel house used for the bodies of plague victims) is a reminder of the "Black Death" that devastated Europe during the Middle Ages. French composer Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) is said to have been inspired by the ossuary when he was working on his Danse Macabre. The half-timber courtyard—where you can wander at leisure, see an art exhibition, and perhaps grab a coffee at the café—contains graphic carvings of skulls, bones, and gravediggers' tools.
At 2:30 am on June 6, 1944, the 82nd Airborne Division was dropped over Ste-Mère, heralding the start of D-Day operations. After securing their position, U.S. forces pushed north, then west, cutting off the Cotentin Peninsula on June 18 and taking Cherbourg on June 26. German defenses proved fiercer farther south, and St-Lô was not liberated until July 19.
