Calvados

From one end of the Calvados to the other, the shifting scenery is enough to enchant just about any visitor. Your journey will surely take you through the historic city of Caen with its famous castle, before moving on to some of the most famous coastal resorts, Deauville probably being the most popular of them all.

After losing yourself in the great expanses of hedged farmland, rolling green pastures and thick, lush woodlands, you will find yourself inexplicably drawn towards the charming and artistic fishing port of Honfleur or the Normandy Beaches, symbolic vestiges of the Second World War.

A number of locations in Calvados, such asLuc-sur-Mer and Villy-Bocage (where megalithic alignments have been standing to this day) contain vestigial remains suggest human settlements as early as 6 000 BC.

The various local tribes (Viducasses, Bajocasses, Unelles, Abrincates, Aulerques, etc) were all conquered by Julius Caesar and brought into the fold of the Roman urban settlements.

Vikings invaded the region and laid waste to the land in the 9th century; these Norsemen – gradually changed to Normans – gave the region its name.

The Duchy of Caen’s influence spread after William the Conqueror defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The next two centuries were prosperous times for the whole region.

Calvados, under English control at the time, was recaptured by the French during the battle of Formigny in 1450.

Agriculture developed and the first seaside resorts (Trouville, Deauville and Cabourg) were built.

In June 1944 the Allied troops landed on the beaches of the department, leading to massive destruction in Caen, Vire, Falaise and Lisieux in particular.

Calvados is the land of apples, but also horses, and if good cider makes a happy man, then good apples make a healthy horse.

Cider has remained the traditional regional beverage at least since the 13th century! You can enjoy it sweet, dry or sparkling…

For the thousands of horses in the region, an army of trainers, breeders, vets, saddlers, farriers and grooms work in the area's numerous stables or racecourses, such as the Cabourg, Caen, Deauville-Clairefontaine, Deauville-La Touques, Dozulé, Lisieux, Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives, or even Vire racecourse…

On a typical Calvados menu you can find: warm oysters in pommeau (apple brandy) or scallop-shells, followed by Caen-style tripes or a Trouville-style sole. The famed trou Normand (apple sorbet with a shot of calvados) is a perfect mid-meal delicacy to really open one's apetite, after which should come a dish of cheese (camambert, pont-l'évêque, or livarot) and for dessert some Normandy apple-pie baked in Isigny butter, or a bit of Teurgoule (rice pudding baked for hours). All of this with a touch of cider, or some Calvados, naturally.