Caen
Caen is a commune in north-western France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located 15 km (9.3 mi) inland from the English Channel. Caen is known for its historical buildings built during the reign of William the Conqueror, who was buried here, and for the Battle for Caen—heavy fighting that took place in and around Caen during the Battle of Normandy in 1944, destroying much of the town. At 2 hours north-west of Paris, and connected to the south of England by the ferry line-Caen (Ouistreham)-Portsmouth, Caen is located in the centre of its northern region, over which it exercises its political power, economic and cultural.
City of William the Conqueror, the city has inherited a magnificent heritage, it has tended over the centuries until the Second World War, where it was also a key site of the Battle of Normandy. The city has preserved the memory by building a memorial for peace. Located a few miles from the coast, the landing beaches, the bustling resort of Deauville and Cabourg, Norman Switzerland or Pays d'auge (often considered the archetype of Normandy), Caen offers all possible services.
Populated intramural 113 249 inhabitants (population 2006), and the leader of an urban area of 401 741 inhabitants, Caen is the first city of Lower Normandy. It is also the second largest municipality (after Le Havre) and the third largest city (after Rouen and Le Havre) of Normandy. The metropolitan area of Caen, in turn, is the second of Normandy after that of Rouen, and occupies the 21st rank nationally.
Caen has a recently built, controversial guided bus system—built by Bombardier Transportation and modelled on its Guided Light Transit technology—and a very efficient network of city buses, operated under the name Twisto. Faced with the residents' anger against the project, the municipality had to pursue the project with only 23% of the population in favour of the new form of transport—residents were in favour of trams rather than buses. The road layout of the city centre was deeply transformed and the formerly traffic-jam-free centre's problems are still unresolved. The city is also connected to the rest of the Calvados département by the Bus Verts du Calvados bus network.
Caen - Carpiquet Airport is the biggest airport in Lower-Normandy considering the number of passengers that it serves every year, and offers commuting possibilities to the whole of Europe. Most flights are operated by Brit Air and Chalair Aviation and the French national airline Air France operates three daily flights to the French city of Lyon, while in the summer there are many charter flights to Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. Caen is served by the small port of Ouistreham, lying at the mouth of the Caen Canal where it meets the English Channel. A ferry service operates between Portsmouth, England and Caen/Ouistreham running both standard roll-on-roll-off car ferries and supercat fast ferries, with the latter making crossing from March to November. The ferry terminal is 15 km (9.3 mi) from Caen with a daytime shuttle bus service for foot passengers.
Caen is connected to the rest of France by motorways to Paris (A13), Brittany (A84) and soon to Le Mans (A88-A28). The A13 is a toll road while the A84 is a toll-free motorway. The city is encircled by the N814 ring-road that was completed in the late 1990s. The N13 connects Caen to Cherbourg and to Paris. A section of the former N13 (Caen-Paris) is now D613 (in Calvados) following road renumbering. The N814 ring-road includes an impressive viaduct called the Viaduc de Calix that goes over the canal and River Orne. The canal links the city to the sea to permit cargo ships and ferries to dock in the port of Caen. Ferries which have docked include the Quiberon and the Duc de Normandie.
Although a fraction of what it used to be remains, Caen once boasted an extensive rail and tram network. From 1895 until 1936 the Compagnie des Tramways Electriques de Caen (Electrical Tramway Company of Caen) operated all around the city. Caen also had several main and branch railway lines linking Caen railway station to all parts of Normandy with lines to Paris, Vire, Flers, Cabourg, Houlgate, Deauville, Saint-Lô, Bayeux and Cherbourg. Now only the electrified line of Paris-Cherbourg, Caen-Le Mans and Caen-Rennes subsist with minimal services.
