Brittany, Summer 2015 // 2 - Finistère

After a few days in the Côtes d'Armor region, the northern part of Brittany, we drove towards Finistère. Finistère, finis terrae, meaning "end of the earth", or "Penn-ar-Bed" in Breton, also meaning "head/end of the world" - a magical name for a piece of land reaching out into the Atlantic, with lots of wonderful beaches, steep cliffs and many impressive (and important) lighthouses. One of the most interesting things about Brittany are the remains of the megalithic culture. The so-called "standing stones" can be found in many places around the world, but there are about 1200 of them in north-western France alone. It's impossible to say when exactly the stones have been erected and why, to what purpose. Many of them were brought from far away to stand in specific places, and some of them still stand (or have been re-erected) where they have been put up thousands of years ago. Stonehenge might be one of the best known examples, but there are lots of really interesting and impressive standing stones and other neolithic monuments - many of them in Brittany.

Cairn de Barnenez

The first one we visited was the Cairn de Barnenez, the largest megalithic mausoleum in Europe. From a distance, the Cairn looks like a huge pile of stones, but when you get closer you can see that they must have been piled up with a plan in mind. There are tombs inside, some closed for the public, some open, so you can have a look inside or even carefully bow your head and enter. It has probably been built at some point between 3500 and 4500 B.C. - it's a deeply humbling experience to see traces of our ancestors dating back more than 5000 years.

We put up our tent at Camping Les Blancs Sablons, a nice place very close to a beautiful beach and in walking distance of Le Conquet, which was important for us as we planned to visit Ouessant island and wanted to get to the port without using the car. On our first evening in Le Conquet, we followed a recommendation we found in our guidebook and had dinner at the wonderful Le Relais du Vieux Port. Even Commissaire Dupin visits the "Relais" for a late dinner in Jean-Luc Bannalec's latest book (not yet available in English). 

Les Blancs Sablons

Le Conquet

After dinner we enjoyed a great sunset at the beach - what an evening.

On the next day we took the early ferry over to Ouessant. Unfortunately, the weather was quite misty and cloudy, but we still enjoyed a walk across the island to the lighthouse called Créac'h which is 150 years old. Lighthouses have a special importance in Brittany, as the coasts are cragged and there are many dangerous spots for ships. At Créac'h, there's an impressive museum about lighthouses in Brittany, well worth a visit!

Créac'h

When we boarded the ferry back to Le Conquet, something incredible happened: a dolphin showed up in the port basin! I'd never seen a wild dolphin before, it was a very special experience - well, the photos have turned out to be quite disappointing, but I'll try my best again next time I see a dolphin just a a stone's throw away.

Back in Le Conquet we needed something for dinner and ended up in a small restaurant (I don't know the name anymore) - but their menu was quite diverse, so I could order pizza and Monsieur something french. He loves seafood which I absolutely can't stand, so our holidays at the sea always have to include at least one visit of a good seafood place - but on that memorable evening, he ordered Andouillettes, actually without really knowing what it is. He asked the waitress about it but she couldn't explain it in English and we didn't really understand what she described in French, something with a pig's belly... Well, that was good enough for Monsieur to order it. The Andouillettes came, and they looked like huge sausages and smelled... like poo. Wikipedia says "True andouillette is rarely seen outside France and has a strong, distinctive odour related to its intestinal origins and components." - spot on. Later Monsieur said he should've known it because he suddenly remembered having ordered Andouillettes a few years ago in Bordeaux and not being able to eat it because of the smell. I guess he won't try it again.

We both really like lighthouses, and in Brittany there's so many of them you surely can't claim you haven't seen enough of them during your stay. One of the most beautiful lighthouses we visited is St. Mathieu, a very special place because the lighthouse is neighboured by the ruins of an old monastery.

Menhirs (from Breton "men" - "stone" and "hir" - "long") are quite common for Brittany. The Kerloas menhir is the tallest standing stone in France and was the first menhir we visited. It's an impressive sight, about 10m tall and standing on top of a hill, a fascinating landmark.

Our next camping site was Trez Rouz on Crozon peninsula. Another really nice place close to a beautiful beach and only a short drive away from interesting sights like the grottes de Morgat and the starting points for cool hikes like the one we did from Pen Hir. The evenings on the beach were glorious, those views are one of the things I love best about Brittany.

The hike starting from Pointe de Pen Hir was wonderful. The cliffs right at the Pointe are breathtaking, and during the hike we saw more of them - and a  white beach where swimming was forbidden, which didn't stop the surfers at all.

 

Another great place we visited are the grottes de Morgat, the caves of Morgat. We boarded one of the tourists' boats and enjoyed a tour of about 45 minutes. The captain did not only tell us a lot about the caves, but also about geographical, geological and marine characteristics of the region and he showed us seabirds on the cliffs. Very interesting!

In the evening, we visited Camaret sur mer. We ate at a seafood place right at the port and afterwards took a walk to the famous chapel Notre Dame de Rocamadour. It's a really special place, as it becomes very clear to the visitors that people in Brittany live (and have always lived) with the dangers of the sea. Inside the church there is a lot of marine-themed decoration, and there is a procession in memory of all sailors who died at sea each year.

Notre Dame de Rocamadour

On our way southwards the next day, we visited Quimper for lunch, and, in the afternoon, we also stopped in Pont-Aven.

Quimper

Pont-Aven is often called "the village of artists", because in the end of the 19th century, some artists - among them Paul Gaugin - have stayed there and founded the Pont-Aven School. Today, there's many art galleries and even more tourists, but there's still a few places in the village where the old times seem to be not so far gone.

Paul Gaugin - Paysage de Bretagne. Le moulin David.

We had planned to stay at a camping site around Fouesnant, and ended up at Camping de la Piscine. We both like small camping sites, we don't need four stars and a huge pool, and Camping de la Piscine is actually really big. But the location was fine as we only wanted to stay for one night and then travel south again, and it was quite close to Concarneau, where we spend half a day and a very nice evening. Concarneau is Commissaire Dupin's town in Bannalec's books, so we were quite curious to see it, and the old part of the city, the Ville Close, was totally worth a visit. It's a wonderful place.

Every day we came closer to the last leg of our trip, the south of Brittany, the Morbihan region. We were looking forward to kayaking on the Gulf of Morbihan, seeing more menhirs, and visiting the Guérande, where salt is the most important thing.