Arromanches – And What Lies Behind: What I Came For, and What I Found

A Morning View of Arromanches-les-Bains - Where the Phoenix Caissons Still Hold the Line

​While visiting Normandy with friends, we stayed at Hotel La Ferme de la Rançonnière in Crépon—a quiet spot just a short drive from Arromanches-les-Bains. This small coastal town played a key role during the D-Day landings. It's where the Allies built Mulberry Harbour, an artificial port used to unload troops, vehicles, and supplies after June 6, 1944.

One of the most striking parts of that harbor still visible today is the Phoenix caissons—huge concrete blocks that floated over from England and sunk to form a breakwater. Many of them are still there, lying in the sea just off the beach, like silent reminders of the scale and ambition of the operation.

While driving from the hotel to a nearby restaurant the evening before, I noticed a spot that looked like it could offer a good panoramic view in the morning light. So I set the alarm and went back early the next day.

When I arrived, the sky was perfectly blue—no clouds or drama. It was beautiful, but maybe not ideal for landscape photography. Still, I took some shots. The ones here made it into my final selection. They're not award-winning images but show how Arromanches and the remaining Phoenix caissons sit in the broader Normandy landscape.

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​Unexpected Frame Near Arromanches

​While photographing Arromanches-les-Bains, I turned around and saw this scene: a field of rapeseed glowing in the early light, a lone structure on the horizon, and the soft gradient of a clear morning sky.

In hindsight, from a photographic point of view, this image is stronger than the ones I took of the historical site itself. There's no direct reference to D-Day or the Phoenix caissons here. Still, sometimes, a landscape speaks more through the atmosphere than through history.

This one just felt right.