A WEEK IN BRITTANY

After more than five weeks as city dwellers in Lyon, on August 31 we set off for a month-long train-and-car trip through northern France.  Our first destination was Brittany, a dragon’s-head peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean from France’s northwest corner.

From Lyon we took a TGV (high-speed train) to Rennes, the business and administrative capital of Brittany.  Knowing little about Rennes, we didn’t know what to expect, but we were taken with the city.  Besides having a modern commercial center, it has an attractive old quarter of narrow streets and half-timbered buildings filled with restaurants and high-end shops; a beautiful public garden; and several fine museums.

The Palais St. George, a public building in Rennes.

This and the one below:  Two scenes of Vieux Rennes.

Beautiful Thabor Gardens in Rennes.

Of particular interest to Jim, lawyer and history buff, was a display about the famous Dreyfus Affair, one of the most tumultuous events in modern French history.  In the mid-1890s, Alfred Dreyfus, a French army captain, was falsely accused of disclosing military secrets to Germany, largely on the basis of forged documents.  Dreyfus was convicted and imprisoned.  But social-justice advocates championed his cause, and he was granted a second trial in Rennes in 1899.  Dreyfus was convicted again, despite a widening recognition in legal and political circles that the officer had been framed.  The army and the church, two pillars of French conservatism, opposed Dreyfus, and, because Dreyfus was a Jew, the case took on virulent anti-Semitic overtones.  Dreyfus finally was vindicated after nearly a decade of strife.  There are many fine accounts of the Dreyfus Affair, including one by the American historian Barbara Tuchman in her book, “The Proud Tower.”

After two nights in Rennes, we picked up a rental car and spent five days driving along Brittany’s northern (English Channel) and southern (Atlantic Ocean) coasts, staying in small hotels along our route.  We came away from the visit with an appreciation for Brittany’s natural beauty, its maritime economy and cuisine, and its inhabitants’ rugged independence and dedication to preserving the ancient Breton culture and language.  Brittany might be thought of as France’s Maine.

Some highlights:

Driving toward the coast, we stopped to walk up into the hilltop town of Tréguier, which features a cathedral with three towers built centuries apart.  We then picked up a coastal road through small towns with marvelous views.

Tréguier Cathedral: Romanesque, Gothic
and Classical towers.

Half-timbered buildings in Tréquier.

A town on Brittany's English Channel coast.

From the village of Trébeurden we hiked along a cliff path to a rocky promontory, where we picnicked while gazing out over a brilliant blue sea.  This part of the shoreline is called the Rose Granite Coast, because of the pink hue of the stone.

On a point high above Trébeurden.

Looking out toward the English Channel (in France called La Manche).

In Sizun we visited a small museum of Breton culture.  A short distance out of the town, we took a five-mile hike around a lake in the large Parc Naturel d’Armorique.

In Sizun, a small museum of traditional Breton culture.

Breton attire in the 19th century.

Trail around a lake in the Parc Naturel d'Amorique.

The lake.

In Douarnenez we trekked along a coastal path and finished the day savoring crêpes (a regional specialty) on the patio of a marina-side restaurant.

View from the Douarnenez coastal path.

At the Pointe du Van, in Finistere (land’s end), we stood on a windy outcropping and took in the smells and sounds of the ocean 200 feet below, an invigorating moment despite the fog that limited visibility.

Pointe du Van.

An inlet at Pointe du Van.

In Pont-Aven we stayed in a pleasant hotel beside the river that runs through the town, and we browsed in the many art galleries featuring works by local painters who are following in the footsteps of Paul Gaugin.  In the 1880s Gaugin put the town on the art world’s map before he lit out for Tahiti.

The river Aven flows directly through the town.

Pont Aven was still brilliant with late summer flowers.

The view from a restaurant terrace.

Where we spent our last two nights in Brittany.

And a not-so-highlight: Jim’s relearning how to drive a stick-shift while maneuvering through France’s narrow village streets and shoulderless roads.

On to Normandy.