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Cherbourg: A Nuclear Submarine, the Liberation Fort and the Umbrella Makers

Normandy, France

easy
history

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275

XP

+100 France

= 375 total

2 days

Cherbourg: A Nuclear Submarine, the Liberation Fort and the Umbrella Makers

easy
history

275 + 100 XP

Cherbourg's transatlantic terminal of 1933, the largest Art Deco monument in France, was blown up by the Germans on the night of 23 June 1944 and rebuilt after the war; it now houses the Cite de la Mer and Le Redoutable, France's first ballistic-missile submarine and the only one of her kind that can be visited. Above the harbour, the Fort du Roule holds the Liberation Museum, opened on 6 June 1954, and on the quay the town's umbrella makers show how the Parapluie de Cherbourg is made.

Required Activities

1

of 4

Go aboard Le Redoutable at the Cite de la Mer, 128m of France's first ballistic-missile submarine and the only one of her kind anyone can walk through; she sailed on patrol from 1972 until 1991, more than fifty patrols of 55 to 75 days each, worked by two crews of 135 called the Blues and the Reds

2

of 4

Find the abyssal aquarium, 10.7m deep and the deepest of the seventeen tanks, and then stand under the bathyscaphe Archimede, which took three men to 9,545m in the Kuril trench on 25 July 1962; in the old baggage hall, find where the 281 passengers who joined the Titanic at Cherbourg on 10 April 1912 came through

3

of 4

Climb the single hairpin road to the Fort du Roule, 117m over the harbour, and go through the Musee de la Liberation opened on 6 June 1954 in the fort the Americans took on 27 June 1944 to free the city; in season and if you have booked, go down the tunnels to the German gun positions cut into the rock face

4

of 4

Visit the workshops and museum of the Manufacture du Parapluie de Cherbourg on the Quai Alexandre III

  • Go aboard Le Redoutable at the Cite de la Mer, 128m of France's first ballistic-missile submarine and the only one of her kind anyone can walk through; she sailed on patrol from 1972 until 1991, more than fifty patrols of 55 to 75 days each, worked by two crews of 135 called the Blues and the Reds

  • Find the abyssal aquarium, 10.7m deep and the deepest of the seventeen tanks, and then stand under the bathyscaphe Archimede, which took three men to 9,545m in the Kuril trench on 25 July 1962; in the old baggage hall, find where the 281 passengers who joined the Titanic at Cherbourg on 10 April 1912 came through

  • Climb the single hairpin road to the Fort du Roule, 117m over the harbour, and go through the Musee de la Liberation opened on 6 June 1954 in the fort the Americans took on 27 June 1944 to free the city; in season and if you have booked, go down the tunnels to the German gun positions cut into the rock face

  • Visit the workshops and museum of the Manufacture du Parapluie de Cherbourg on the Quai Alexandre III

Before you go

The Manufacture du Parapluie on Quai Alexandre III opens Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm, all year, and is closed on Sundays. The self-guided visit is about 5 euros for an adult.

The German gun tunnels under the Fort du Roule can only be walked in season and with a booking; the museum itself does not include them.

The Cite de la Mer needs at least half a day if you are doing the submarine, the aquariums and the Titanic space, and the submarine has steep ladders and narrow hatches.

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Challenge Location

XP Breakdown

Challenge XP

275 XP

France country bonus

+100 XP


Potential total

375 XP

Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.

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