Discovering the northern parts of Brittany,
Côtes d'Armor and
Finistère, was a really beautiful experience. We loved the rough cliffs, wonderful beaches and the little towns, but we were also very much looking forward to seeing the south: the gulf of Morbihan and, at the end of our two weeks, the salines around Le Croisic and Guérande.
The first stop on the way there was Lorient. The weather was awful, it was raining and windy, but we weren't there to stroll around the city - we wanted to see the port and, because that's what Lorient is famous for today, the submarine base. I haven't taken many photos due to the bad weather, but in the
french Wikipedia, there are quite a few nice pictures including historical ones. We were especially impressed by the sheer size of the base - it's gigantic.
For me this was a first, I had of course seen other remains of World War II, for example in Normandy. But the submarine bases built by the Germans along the coast of Brittany are different because it feels wrong to call them "remains". They are massive, and they still dominate the landscape. It's impossible to tear them down. The allied forces tried in 1943-44 with air raids and dropped 4000 tons of bombs on the bunkers in Lorient, not really damaging them. Since they couldn't destroy the submarine base, they decided to bomb Lorient to pieces instead. The city had to be reconstructed from the ground after the war, but the submarine pens are still there, serving new purposes today, still telling stories from times long gone.
After the war, the French Navy used the base until 1997. Today the buildings can be visited, there's an interactive museum on the history of the base (recommended!) and there's also a french submarine open to the public, the
FloreS645 from 1961. I had never been inside a submarine before, definitely something to remember.
In the Morbihan region, there's a lot of spots for menhir lovers, of course
Carnac with the stone rows, a very interesting and impressive sight. We spent a few days in Carnac on a camping called
"Le Men Du", which we liked a lot. As we only visited the stone rows while on a hiking tour and didn't have the camera with us, I don't have any good photos. But when it comes to megalithic mysteries, Carnac is not the only place you should've seen in the Morbihan region, not by far. Here are some pictures of
Keriaval and
Kerionned, which are two Dolmen sites close to Carnac - definitely high on my list of the most beautiful megalithic sights I've seen in Brittany.
If you only have time to visit one site with menhir stones, maybe you should choose
Locmariaquer. The site is huge, the buildings and standing stones have been erected during the neolithic period between 4500-3500 B.C. The "Grand Menhir Brisé", or "Broken Menhir of Er Grah" is probably the most impressive of the monuments in Locmariaquer. Today it's almost impossible to imagine that this huge stone has indeed been a standing stone. Standing up, it once measured 20.6m - and it weighs 280 tons. So, you might think, they have just found a huge stone and somehow put it upright. But no. Actually, they brought it from an outcrop several kilometres from Locmariaquer and nobody knows how this was possible. One option is that they used logs to roll the stone. Another way to bring the stone to Locmariaquer could have been to put the stone on a (really big!) raft and use the tidal currents.
The menhir broke around 4000 B.C. and it could have been deliberately pulled down and broken, of course out of unknown reasons. Other menhirs around it have been pulled down during that period of time and re-used for new tombs and dolmens nearby. However, there's also the theory of an earthquake that toppled and broke the stone. Today it's lying there in four huge pieces.
The other monuments of Locmariaquer (there's also a museum, by the way) include the "Table des Marchands", which is also quite a sight:
One of the things we really wanted to do when in Brittany was sea kayaking. Until then we had not much experience with kayaking (and only on lakes) and we were well aware that sea kayaking is something entirely different because you have to know the tidal currents or things can become very dangerous. We had read in advance that the gulf of Morbihan is a nice place to try sea kayaking. It is almost closed to the open sea and thus less dangerous. When we visited the Arzon peninsula (opposite Locmariaquer), we found
Kerners Kayak and booked a guided tour in the gulf for the next day. Arzon is a wonderful place with lots of great opportunities for water sports.
We don't have any photos from the kayak tour (didn't want to take any camera or phone with us because capsizing happens quickly if you're not used to the waves =) - but it was fantastic. A great experience, the gulf is incredibly beautiful, you see the little islands from a different perspective. The tidal currents turned out to be quite a challenge if you've never tried sea kayaking before, Monsieur actually capsized once. And that's inside the gulf, where the currents are not comparable to the ones out on the open sea! We'll definitely go sea kayaking again if we have the chance.
Our visit to Vannes was really nice, too. It was a few days before the Tour de France would pass through the town, and you could see the preparations for this big event everywhere.
Vannes is very much worth a visit. It's got a medieval looking old town with beautiful houses. We liked it a lot!
The last camping of our trip was
"Les chardons bleus" in La Turballe which is close to Le Croisic and the salines. It's one of the bigger campsites we saw and not really a nice place compared to others, most of the spots for tents are sandy. But it was fine for a few days. We especially liked the beach a lot and had a wonderful picnic there one evening.
We knew the salines around Guérande were a very special place. The region is famous for their salt production
(here you can see a picture of the salt marshes from above), the "paludiers" have been performing their ancient craft since the 9th century. Today the salt land, or "Pays Blanc", the "white land" measures about 1700 hectares. If you want to know more about the history of the salt land, there's
"Terre de sel" where you can book guided tours. When we drove around the region we discovered the
"Musée des Marais Salants" in Batz-sur-mer, which is well worth a visit if you're interested in the history of the salines. But actually, experiencing it is the best part of visiting this incredible place: you can walk for hours, just watching the "paludiers", admiring the different colours of the salt ponds, observing birds and enjoying the salty air.
Unfortunately, while we were in the salines, the autofocus of our 18-200mm lens broke and we had to focus manually, which turned out to be quite a challenge.
The medieval town of
Guérande is also one of the highlights in the south of Brittany. Be sure to visit on a market day!
Of course salty souvenirs from Guérande are very nice presents for family and friends at home, so we spent some time in the shops specialising in salt. We still use the wonderful Fleur de sel sometimes, although our stock is decreasing rapidly. Maybe a good reason to visit Brittany soon again?
On our way back to Nantes and the airport, we stopped in Saint-Nazaire. Another city separated from the sea by huge, indestructible German U-Boot bunkers. It's probably even worse in Saint-Nazaire than in Lorient. The base was abandoned for a long time after the war, but in 1994 the city decided to
take it back. Now there are several museums and you can climb on the roof of the base to have a great view of the port. It feels alive again, part of the city. As the lens of the camera didn't work properly anymore, we left it in the car, so I don't have any photos from Saint-Nazaire to show. We had a really nice lunch in a restaurant right at the port - and a little girl on the next table ordered Andouillettes. Of all things =) We'll definitely be back.
