Côtes
d'Armor
Click
this button for cheap flights
to Brittany |
 |
|
|
|
Carnac
|
|
|
The
main tourist attractions in Brittany are undoubtedly its beaches,
coastal walks, rocky shoreline and small fishing harbours; but beyond
this the region has an impressive collection of sites that are worth a
visit, for their historic or cultural value, or just because they are
really worth the visit.
First among these is undoubtedly the Mont Saint
Michel, St.Michael's
Mount, the most visited tourist site in France after Paris,
and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The mount, an
outcrop
of
granite bursting through in the middle of a very flat bay, has been a
sanctuary since the year 709. Most of the buildings that now stand on
the rock date from the XIIIth to the XVIth centuries, and
include
the gothic Benedictine Abbey, the houses that went with it, and the
fortifications to protect this strategic location.
In the olden days, the mount
stood in the midst of quicksands and moving water courses, and access
to
it was treacherous; the causeway that now carries tourists and pilgrims
across the bay was built in 1880, and its construction led to a heavy
silting up of the area round the mount, transforming much of the bay
into grazing lands. There are currently plans to turn the clocks back,
and remove the causeway, so that the sea can once again come in and
wash right round the mount.
 |
Saint Malo
The
most visited town in Brittany, St Malo is, like the Mont St. Michel, a
fortified enclave standing on a peninsula at the mouth of a river. The
city grew up many centuries ago at the mouth of the river Rance, and
became famous as the home of adventurers and pirates. Jacques Cartier -
the man who discovered Canada - came from St. Malo, but so too did the
privateers and corsairs who for centuries preyed on shipping rounding
the western tip of France.
Built in the local grey granite, St
Malo has a historic centre crammed in behind its ramparts which owe
their current form to the great French XVIIth century military
architect, Vauban. A large part of the historic heart was
severely
damaged by action during the second world war, but has been carefully
renovated to its former glory. The city has a number of interesting
places to visit, notably the Cape Horn museum devoted to the
mariner-explorers of the past, the aquarium, and the castle - known as
the Bastille of the west - which has exhibits about the city's history
and its pirates. |
La Pointe
du Raz and the tips of Brittany
 France's
"Land's End", the Pointe du Raz is the most westerly point of the
French mainland, the end of Cape Sizun , which forms the westerly tip
of the department of Finistere (which means the End of the Earth - or
Land's End). After decades of over-exploitation, operation of the area
was handed over to a nature conservancy organisation, with a remit to
return the area to its natural state and manage it as an
environmentally sensitive area. Many of the buildings that once
disfigured the site have been demolished, and today a new visitor
centre has been built near the car park, which is weel away from the
point. Visitors can either walk from there, or take
the gas-powered
shuttle bus. The area of the Pointe du Raz is now served by a network
of managed footpaths, allowing visitors to admire this exceptional
natural site, and the Atlantic waves crashing onto the rocks
below. |
|
|
Boat
trips
A
visit to Brittany would be incomplete without a boat trip; and for
those who prefer a calm inland waterway to the tossing of the Atlantic
waves. Chateaubriand
cruises
offer trips on the river Rance, near Dinard and St. Malo, which also
allow visitors to see the famous Rance tidal hydroelectric plant, which
was the world's first full-scale tidal power-generation unit when it
was opened in 1966.
Brittany has some 600 kilometres of
navigable
waterways, and boats can be hired in many locations; short cruises are
also available from a number of sites, including Arzal (Morbihan). In
la Gacilly, near Redon, small cabin cruisers can be hired for
a
day's or an afternoon's excursion from Day Boats.
The Penn Ar Bed line
runs daily services from Brest to the coastal islands of Ouessant,
Molène and Sein.
Events
The
annual Lorient Interceltiques
Festival
is one of France's biggest
international festivals.
For
more details, see the Celtic heritage page.
The Vieilles Charrues festival
(17th to 20th July 2008)
takes
place each year in July near Carhaix,
Finistère. Started in 1992, this open air music festival has
rapidly established itself as the French equivalent of Glastonbury, and
is now the biggest open air music event in France, attracting an
eclectic variety of top musicians from France and abroad.
The Festival de
Cornouaille (19th
- 27th July 2008) Quimper,
Finistère; Brittany's biggest annual festival of Breton
culture. The annual parade will take place on Sunday 27th July
The Fête des
filets Bleus (the Blue Fish Nets festival) (13th - 17th August 2008)
in Concarneau (Finistère). An opportunity to see the old
streets
of this fishing port filled with people in traditional Breton costume,
and see traditional Breton dancing to the sound of traditional music.
The festival first took place in 1905 !
Miscellaneous
Attractions:
Brest: Oceanopolis
- Fifty
aquariums, divided into three climatic zones, and stocked with over
1000 varieties of fish and marine life from the polar regions,
temperate zones and the tropics.
Cornouailles Botanical
Gardens
- Combrit / Pont l'Abbé, Finistère. Extensive
botanical
gardens and arboretum, stocked with 3500 plant varieties from all over
the world.
Château
and zoo de La Bourbansais,
Pleugueneuc (Ille et Vilaine); located in the grounds of a chateau,
which can also be visited, the zoo, involved in the protection of
endangered species, has a wide collection of animals from different
continents. The giraffes are particularly popular..
Celtic
Brittany
Brittany
is famous for its ancient monuments, the most famous of which
are the standing stones of Carnac (photo left).
Text
© Gitelink.com
2008 Photos licenced under Creative Commons. Aerial view of
Mt St
Michel: by Fabos
Contact:
send email to: brittany "at" gitelink.com
|
