Caen is far more than a ferry port. William the Conqueror made it his capital, and the two great abbeys he and his wife Matilda founded — the Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames — still anchor the city. Both survived the devastating bombardment of June 1944, when much of medieval Caen was destroyed in the Battle of Normandy.
The city has rebuilt itself as a lively university town with a fine castle at its heart. The Château de Caen, William's fortress, encloses two excellent museums — the Musée des Beaux-Arts and the Musée de Normandie — and its ramparts offer good views over the city. The Mémorial de Caen, on the northern edge of town, is one of the best Second World War museums in France and an essential stop for anyone visiting the D-Day beaches. The old quarters that survived the war are full of half-timbered houses, and the Sunday market at Place Saint-Sauveur is one of Normandy's best.
Caen sits on the Orne river, connected to the sea by a canal. The ferry terminal at Ouistreham is 15 km to the north, making this a natural first stop for visitors arriving from England.