Brittany

The medieval lavoir and mill-race at Vannes

Cancale looks SE across the bay towards Mont St. Michel. Just west along the coast is the 17th Century fortified port of St.Malo . :
Very beautiful, although it had to be completely rebuilt after WWII, inside and out. This was an important base for the French Navy in its interminable struggle with the English. St. Malo was the home of the Corsairs (privateers, licensed by the King to do whatever they wanted to the English on the high seas). For some reason, they let you drive in this completely walled city, wqhich has only one gate open to the land. As you can see, it's kind of a nightmare. (The picture is more visible if you click on it.)

We continued west on the coast [you can manipulate this map to see all the detail you wish] past St. Brieuc to Perros-Guirec, which is about the northernmost point in Brittany. Here everything is made out of that striking rosy granite. Seawalls, churches, houses. Then on to Brest, which is the headquarters of the French Atlantic fleet. Poor Brest was really completely destroyed during the war, for obvious strategic reasons. So now, except for the old fort, all the buildings are ugly and hastily-built, in the functional post-war modern style devoid of charm, which reminded me of the Soviet Union. Too bad, because the setting is spectacular: in a deep estuarial bay, with lots of islands, points, and inlets. A perfect harbor.

We spent the night across this big bay, on the southern shore of another peninsula, named for the charming little town of Crozon. [See map.] Here I think I had a feeling for Bretagne profonde. The people were wildly friendly - like the Irish. Everybody smiles and goes out of their way for you. One hotel (42 euros), one restaurant - 39 euros for local lobster. (That’s over $50, so I skipped it. I also skipped the $12 breakfast at the hotel.) We ate dinner and breakfast at the pub next door. And it really was more like an Irish pub than a French café: big exposed timbers for rafters, a crowd of guys watching soccer, and very friendly. The bartender gave us a big smile and offered his hand in greeting. I ate a croque madame andouillette. Now, a croque monsieur is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, but this was made of andouille sausage instead, which is not like Cajun andouille, but made of tripe (or "bowels", as J-l explained). When served as a croque madame, it comes with a raw egg, which I put inside, where it seemed to cook a little. Anyway, with mustard it was just fine. Crozon has a market on its square every day of the week. Loads of fresh fish from the night before.

Speaking of authentic Brittany, all the road signs out here are in two languages (as they are in Provence and around Perpignan - the Catalan part of France right next to northeastern Spain). It turns out that there is more than one Breton language. As in Wales, it is taught again in schools. It looks really odd in French orthography. Most of these signs are Kerthis and Kerthat, which I guess refers to clans. Ker = Mac in Scotland.

J-l says there is a fairly strong nationalist movement here. They want their language and they are very conservative ("fascist" is J-l’s term) about religion and politics. This is the only part of secularist France in which religion is taught in the public schools. Because, according to J-l, who is a teacher and sometime union official, otherwise the public schools would be empty.

After coffee and croissants at the café, we drove around the next bay to another charming fishing town called Douanenez. They also can the catch, so their economy is thriving.

We headed south for Quimper, a small city in a deep valley, with another to-die-for cathedral (St. Coretin). This one is distinguished by its lightness.

The stone is bright, the ribs are painted a delicate yellow, and there is just a general sense of airiness and space. They have also done very well in incorporating modern elements into the gothic. The altar in the transept is a beautiful big marble table, which I think harmonizes with the gothic feel better than all of those baroque reredoses you usually find. Likewise, the new organ. It is housed in a cylindrical tower of gleaming metal. Per the town’s official website:

Thanks to recent restoration works of the interior polychromes and
ribbed ceilings in yellow and ochre and the white washing of the facings, the
cathedral is a true revelation of 15th century architecture. This colourful restoration was totally in the spirit of the first builders, in opposition to the austere look of religious monuments during the 19th century.

Another feature of this part of Brittany is the pastel and brightly-painted houses. You don't see this in Normandy, or on the north coast of Brittany either. The paint-jobs are almost like Mexico. Lots of images of Quimper here, just stay with it a while, because the images change rapidly.

Those of you familiar with Asterix and his companions will remember Obelix, the menhir (megalith) delivery-man. Well, we found where he delivered them: outside Carnac there are fields and fields of these standing stones, three to four feet high, arranged in rows, as in a modern cemetery. [More on these and some exceptionally good pictures.]

After a quick visit to Vannes, once the capital of the Kingdom of Brittany, (see lavoir at top) which lasted for about three generations just after Charlemagne and then became a Duchy, we headed home, a three-hour drive on the autoroute.