Culture and curiosities
Festivals
La Manche boasts a rich cultural heritage and is alive with festivals:
The five-day Granville Carnival is closely linked to the town’s maritime history. Since 2016, it has been part of UNESCO’s world cultural and intangible heritage.
The free street theater festival Sortie de bain à Granville, at the beginning of July, is also a feast for young and old.
The music festivals Jazz sous les pommiers in May in Coutances and Chauffer dans la noirceur in July in Montmartin sur mer are also highly recommended.
Towns
Here is a small selection of towns to see in the region:
- Coutances, the old historic capital (with the cathedral, a masterpiece of Norman Gothic, the plant garden and the Jazz sous les pommiers festival in May)
- Granville, also known as the “Monaco of the North” (with pedestrian streets, the upper town, the fishing port, the “plat-gousset”, the Dior house, the covered market…)
- Barfleur, one of France’s most beautiful villages (with an active fishing port, an anchorage where small and large fishing boats and pleasure craft mingle).
- Bayeux, spared by the bombings of 1944 (with its historic tapestry, narrow streets, canals and bourgeois mansions, its exceptional architectural heritage)
More curiosities
The Mont-Saint-Michel is built on a rocky islet in a very beautiful bay, the scene of the largest tides in continental Europe. The mountain and its bay have been declared a UNESCO heritage site. Located between Normandy and Brittany, this magnificent site is one of the most visited in France.
Hambye Abbey, in the heart of the Sienne valley, is a listed historic monument and one of the most complete medieval monastic complexes in Normandy. Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, it was home to Benedictine monks until the end of the 18th century.
