Amiens Trip Overview
This “One day Australian Tour” is absolutely brilliant! It covers most of the Australian sites in the Somme and also gets you into places that not everybody will take you to! You will learn about the different battles Australians got involved in, walk in trenches and also learn about French politics and culture whilst discovering the area.
Additional Info
Duration: 8 hours
Starts: Amiens, France
Trip Category: Cultural & Theme Tours >> Cultural Tours
Explore Amiens Promoted Experiences
What to Expect When Visiting Amiens, Hauts-de-France, France
This “One day Australian Tour” is absolutely brilliant! It covers most of the Australian sites in the Somme and also gets you into places that not everybody will take you to! You will learn about the different battles Australians got involved in, walk in trenches and also learn about French politics and culture whilst discovering the area.
Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Pass By: Cathedrale Notre-Dame d’Amiens, 30 Place Notre Dame, 80000, Amiens France
Amiens Cathedral is, this year celebrating its 800 years birthday! She is the largest gothic cathedral in the world. On your way to Villers-Bretonneux your guide will tell you all about the cathedral and also about the city of Amiens from the Middle Ages to now. You will discover the lovely rolling landscape of the Somme whilst learning about French local economy and culture.
Stop At: Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, D23 Route de Villers-Bretonneux se encuentra en el mismo espacio que el Memorial Australiano y su nuevo museo, 80800 Fouilloy France
Standing on the ground of the Australian Memorial, your guide will tell you about the part Australia played in WW1; especially on the Western front as well as the details of the counter-attack led by the allies in April 1918. Australians troops displayed great bravery in this battle but also suffered terrible losses. Time will be allocated to pay your respect on the graves of the “Diggers”. Only a short walk away is the “Sir John Monash Centre “where you have an hour to go around.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Sir John Monash Centre, Route de Villers Bretonneux Memorial National Australien, 80800 Fouilloy France
The «Sir John Monash Centre» tells Australia’s story of the Western Front in the words of those who served.
This cutting-edge multimedia centre reveals the Australian Western Front experience through a series of interactive media installations and immersive experiences. Visitors will get a better understanding of the journey of ordinary Australians — told in their own voices through letters, diaries and life-size images — and connect with the places they fought and died. A visit to the Sir John Monash Centre will be a moving experience that leaves a lasting impression.
Duration: 1 hour
Stop At: Australian Corps Memorial, 80800 Le Hamel France
The “Australian National Memorial” is at the heart of Villers-Bretonneux CWGC cemetery. It was inaugurated on the 22nd of July 1922 by King George VI and is the last memorial of the Great War to have been erected. On its walls are engraved the names of 10 729 Australian servicemen. Every year, on the 25th of April thousands of people gather on this site at dawn, to commemorate “ANZAC day”.
Duration: 20 minutes
Pass By: Chipilly, Chipilly, Somme, Hauts-de-France
Your tour now takes you in the valley of the Somme and in the village of Chipilly where we will have a brief stop to admire the “58th British Division Memorial”. This superb stone monument representing a soldier comforting his wounded horse was inaugurated in 1922. It is the work of the French sculptor: Henri Gauquié. It pay tribute to the men of the 58th Division but also to the thousands of horses who lost their lives during the Great War.
Stop At: Chipilly, Chipilly, Somme, Hauts-de-France
From the “Camp Cesar viewpoint” you will get a fantastic panoramic view of the valley of the Somme which gave its name to the famous “Battle of the Somme” in 1916. On our way to Albert we will to talk about the beginning of the Battle, the reasons why it was planned and the different nations which took part in it.
Duration: 10 minutes
Pass By: Basilique Notre-Dame de Brebieres, 20 rue Anicet Godin, 80300 Albert France
The “Basilica Notre Dame de Brebières”, is of Neo-Byzantine style and was built at the end of the 19th Century. Its unusual architecture makes it one of the most important edifice in Picardy. Entirely destroyed during the Great War, she was reconstructed identically by the son of original architect: Edmond Duthoit. Its dome is covered with gold sheets bares the statue of the Virgin Marie holding baby Jesus. Your guide will tell you the story attached to this statue which happened during WW1
Stop At: Le Hygge Restaurant Brasserie, 29 Pl. d’Armes, 80300 Albert, France
We will take an hour for lunch
Duration: 1 hour
Stop At: Lochnagar Crater, Route de la Grande Mine, 80300 Ovillers-la-Boisselle France
You are now in the sector of the Battle of the Somme of 1916. «Lochnagar Crater » was created by a large mine placed beneath the German front lines on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, it was one of 19 mines that were placed beneath the German lines from the British section of the Somme front, to assist the infantry advance at the start of the battle. This impressive site is 70 feet deep and 330 feet wide which makes it the largest crater in the Somme.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: 1st Australian Division Memorial, 268 Route d Albert, 80300 Pozieres France
Australian official historian Charles Bean would say about Pozières that it “is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth.”
Pozières, sadly is well known to the Australians. Almost 7000 men lost their lives here. The “1st Australian Memorial” site will be where your guide will tell you all about this terrible battle which took place between the 23rd of July and the 3rd of September 1916.
Duration: 20 minutes
Pass By: Windmill Memorial, D929, 80300 Pozieres France
The Windmill site at Pozières was established as an Australian memorial in the 1930s at the suggestion of Australia’s official war historian, Charles Bean. It commemorates the 23 000 casualties; some of which died in the surrounding countryside. Just opposite this site stands the “Tank Memorial” which will give us the opportunity to talk about the part played by the tanks on the Western front but also about modern warfare
Pass By: Pozieres, Pozieres, Somme, Hauts-de-France
“Mouquet Farm”
Stop At: Thiepval Memorial, Rue de L’Ancre, 80300 Authuille France
The “Memorial of the Missing” The “Memorial of the Missing” is the largest British War Memorial in the world. This imposing monument overlooks the surrounding rolling countryside. On its walls are engraved the names of over 72 000 soldiers who are rather missing or whose bodies were found but not identified. Here we will talk about military tactics and also about the notion of being “missing” and what it meant for all the families of those soldiers.
Duration: 45 minutes
Pass By: Ulster Memorial Tower, Route de Saint-Pierre-Divion, 80300 Thiepval France
The Ulster Tower is Northern Ireland’s national war memorial. It was one of the first Memorials to be erected on the Western Front and commemorates the men of the 36th Division and all those from Ulster who served in the First World War. The memorial was officially opened on 19 November 1921. From the top of the hill, in the opposite field, you can still see the traces of the Battle of the Somme frontlines and the remains of a German machinegun post.
Stop At: Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, Rue de l’Eglise, 80300 Beaumont-Hamel France
The Newfoundland Memorial Park is the largest battlefield site in the Somme and memorial dedicated to all Newfoundlanders who served during the First World War.
The Battle of the Somme was the first major engagement of the regiment where they suffered staggering losses on the 1st of July 1916. The ground, purchased in 1921 by the women of Newfoundland and their government has become the symbol of sacrifice and a source of identity of the island.
Duration: 30 minutes
