Cherbourg, France May 1, 2017
Three more days at sea after leaving the Azores and the weather had turned noticeably colder. The industrial dock in Cherbourg was far from the city and the French were celebrating a holiday. Everything in town except a few restaurants was closed.
In making the Atlantic crossing, I read “D-Day: June 6, 1944” by Stephen Ambrose and hoped to make a tour of the D-Day beaches of Normandy but all the beach tours were previously booked online and so my default tour was a scenic excursion to the Cap de la Hague at the end of the Cotentin Peninsula. The wind blew hard and it rained all day. Got wet getting off the bus to walk and take photos.
Returning to the ship, I watched the unloading and loading of a Brittany ferry which goes to the Channel Islands and the United Kingdom.
Cherbourg (Left) and Cap de la Hague (Right)
The umbrellas of Cherbourg on a very rainy day taken through a wet bus window
Book for sale at the tourist center
Capes Road
Our bus stopped at Port Racine for a half hour
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Overlooking Port Racine
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Another blurry photo give one a feeling of French impressionism
Fishing boats anchored in the bay
Fishing boats in the protected harbor
Port Racine beach
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Continuing along the highway
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Rock walls mark the fields and line the roads in Normandy
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A typical stone country house
Cap de la Hague (Goury) Lighthouse
The lighthouse was built in 1837
Auderville Auberge at the Port of Goury
Sheltered small boat harbor
Goury apartments
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Nez (nose) of Jobourg overlook
The rugged cliffs of the Cap de la Hague
Zooming in
The Zuiderdam was docked at an industrial shipyard about two miles outside Cherbourg. Here you see the Brittany Ferry arriving from the United Kingdom
Trucks are lined up ready to board
I could watch the loading and unloading of the ferry from my cabin on the ship