We travelled by car around Brittany for two weeks in the beginning of September.
Strictly speaking, our route started in Rouen, Normandy, and stretched down to include a few of the castles of the Loire Valley, which belong to other regions of France and looked like this:
Rouen – Jumieges Abbey – Bayeux – Dinan – Mt. St.Michel – Cancale – Cap Frehel – Perros – Guirec – Morlaix – Quessant Island – Quimper – Loire Castles.
In Rouen there is a light show projected onto the walls of the cathedral every evening in summer. This year the main theme of the show was Vikings (from whom the Normans are descended) and impressionists.
Inside Rouen Cathedral. A service in the Church of Saint-Maclou.
From Rouen we went along the Seine, looping around to the coast where there are numerous abbeys, monasteries, and the ruins of ancient castles.
We visited the former Benedictine Jumieges Abbey, founded in the 7th Century as a refuge for aristocrats who had had their tendons cut for their mutiny against Queen Bathilde. The abbey later grew rich and strong, until it was destroyed in the era of the French Revolution. Nowadays, it is included on the list of sights in France as the country’s most scenic ruin.
Further along our route was Bayeux, where in the special museum lies the unique tapestry, onto which the history of William the Conqueror’s conquest of England is stitched. The tapestry was sewn in the 11th century, after 1066, on the orders of William’s brother, the cleric Odo, who also took part in the Battle of Hastings. The tapestry is about 70 metres in length, 50 centimetres in width and it is very detailed. In 58 scenes it tells the exciting story of the betrayal of the English King Harold, the equipment used to punish perjurers, and of William’s great fight and victory.
On the tapestry are depictions of 623 human figures, 55 dogs, 202 horses, 41 boats, 49 trees, more than 500 mythological creatures, Halley’s comet, the Mont-Saint-Michel abbey, a feast scene, hunting, sex, the devastation of peasant houses, decapitated heads and seas of blood.
In the museum they give you an audioguide (they have one in Russian) and it’s really interesting to listen to the explanations of each scene. You’re not allowed to photograph the tapestry, but you can watch a short animation based on the depicted story online.
The tapestry used to be on show for everyone to see in Bayeux cathedral.
Then we went to Dinan. It’s usual for people to give glowing reviews of this town and we are no exception to that rule. Although the town is densely packed with tourists it was pretty and cosy.
The building of the Church St-Sauveur was started in the 12th century, funded by a local nobleman who luckily escaped death during the crusades and made a vow to finish construction. In the church one can see parts from various eras.
This is the oldest part of the church, in the Romanesque style.
Mont-Saint-Michel is a brand that, in terms of recognisability, is surely comparable to Coca-Cola.
This is how we remembered Cancale, the oyster capital of Brittany.
Cap Frehel is just around the corner from Cancale.
We have great memories of the pink granite shore, in spite of the fact that we ended up there in the first half of the day and the colour of the granite just didn’t have that juicy pink-crimson brightness that it gets in the evening light.
Having made our base not far from Morlaix, we decided to make our way around the small towns and villages of Lower Brittany, to get to know its parish closes.
Parish closes are a few places of worship, surrounded by walls and containing a church, ossuaries (bone repositories), a Golgotha – a sculptural composition that depicts the Passion of the Christ, the arch of triumph (Porz ar maro – the door of death, which is the entrance to the cemetery), the cemetery itself and some other structures.
The heyday of such parish closes was in the 16th and 17th centuries and was linked with a period of obscene wealth, which Breton villages experienced as a result of the linen and cannabis trade with the developing merchant shipping fleet.
The villages would try to outdo one another with the luxuriousness of their church furnishings and expense of the décor in the parish close.
The Golgotha (or Calvary) is made up of more than 200 figures, dressed in 16th century fashion. Bearing a cross, Jesus accompanies the procession with musicians banging drums and blowing ivory horns.
A curious detail is the depiction of the figure of cursed Katharina (Catell-Colet), who led an antisocial lifestyle and had many lovers including unclean ones, and for this she was dragged into hell. This theme was incredibly popular in Brittany at that time, and depictions of promiscuous maidens constantly appear as deterrents on all types of religious buildings.
The prophets of the church and local saints were lined up at the entrance.
You often find Celtic motifs in the decorative ornaments.
Two demons squirm with fear in front of the holy water.
The creation of Eve from the rib of Adam in heaven.
Lampaul-Gumiliau
This very beautiful and smart village church would bring honour to any rich city.
Pleyben
The Golgotha is built as an octagonal arch.
Quissant Island
Lots of ferries go to the island from Brest and Le Conquet. We chose the second option.
You can park your car in the paid zone at the entrance to the city (Parking des Islets), and from here a shuttle takes passengers to the ferry pier. The owner of the La Keo inn, where we stayed, warned us that you need to buy tickets for the ferry beforehand, even in September. And actually, the morning ferry was completely full up. We noticed that not everyone who turned up without a pre-booked reservation made it on.
It’s nice and easy to get around the island by bike, although the prettiest paths along the shore are meant to be used by pedestrians only.
View of the Nividic lighthouse.
Creach lighthouse.
You can go up Le Stiff lighthouse, built by the outstanding military engineer Vauban in 1699, but it’s only open to visitors in the high season. This is one of the oldest working lighthouses in France and is made up of two connecting towers.
The prettiest part of the island – from Nividic lighthouse to Plage de Yusin.
Arlan beach with its multi-coloured water.
The town of Lampaul, the centre of civilisation on the island.
After returning from the island we stopped in a very pretty place next to Quimper – Le Manoir de Kerdevot.
There is a church with a Golgotha from the 15th century near the estate.
According to Breton tradition the Golgotha is depicted with three crosses – with Jesus in the middle, and two bandits with broken noses on either side. An angel carries away the soul of repentant Dismas, and the devil takes away the soul of Gestas, who is frozen in sin.
In the church they were making preparations for a festival that happens in this parish on the second Sunday of September. The religious festival, Pardon, includes a religious procession to the temple, a church service, and a joint feast. 30 of the surrounding villages take part in Pardon, and people dress up in national costumes and carry ancient gonfalons and images of saints.
In spite of the commotion while they got ready for this festival, they kindly invited us into the church and the pastor (in the first photograph on the right in the shirt) gave us a little tour. These photos were taken with my phone.
Well, we’re leaving Brittany and heading to the Loire Valley to visit a few castles.
Villandry castle is famous for its gardens. The last owner of the castle Joachim Carvallo restored the layout of the French Renaissance gardens.
The jewel of the park complex is the ornamental garden – four squares which make up the so called ‘Garden of Love’. The best view of these can be found from the terrace of the castle.
In the top left corner is the garden of ‘Tender Love’, which symbolises the heart, separated by flames. In the centre are ballroom masks, for it is at such balls where tender feelings often occur. In the top right corner is the garden of ‘Passionate Love’, which is also made up of hearts, but these hearts are broken by passion and entwined in a dance.
In the lower right corner, ‘Fickle Love’ – the four fans in the corners hint at the secret communication of the beautiful girls with playboys, the delicate notes and horns in the centre symbolise infidelity.
In the lower left corner there is ‘Tragic Love’ – blades of daggers and knives indicate duels, and the red colour symbolises spilt blood.
Near by three big gardens depict 3 crosses – Maltese, Languedoc, and Basque.
On the upper terrace there is a water garden, which has a classic layout in the style of Louis the 15th , around a big pond in the shape of a looking-glass.
On the castle grounds there are also vegetable gardens, which were typical for the Renaissance period. The idea for this was adapted from the monastic tradition of vegetable gardens on geometrically shaped plots, often in the shape of a cross. This garden needs the constant care of a whole army of gardeners, but always gives a big harvest of vegetables without fail.
Langeais castle
This castle is located on the grounds of an ancient Roman camp. The first castle was built in the 10th century, and you can see the ruins of its tower in the garden grounds today.
The most interesting event in this history of the castle happened on the 6th of December 1491, when the wedding ceremony of Anna of Brittany and Charles VIII took place. As a result of this, Brittany lost its independence. The funny thing is, 14-year-old duchess Anna was already married by proxy to Emperor Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire, and Charles VIII was engaged to her daughter (who was brought up in the French court with the expectation of getting married). But the wish of the French to unite with Brittany meant that incurring the anger of the emperor could be very dangerous. Anna of Brittany signed a document, which meant that she would have to get married to the next king of France if her spouse died and she had no heir. And so that’s what happened. The duchess’ second marriage with Louis XII ended up making her very happy. The wedding scene has been recreated in the castle using wax figures, as has the scene of the notary’s visit to Emperor Maximilian with Anna and Charles’ marriage contract. The emperor’s mood is depicted very realistically.
There are lots of amazing tapestries in the castle.
We drove towards Chambord castle, watched the Mayday demonstrations of the tourists surrounding it, and decided to just keep going.
So, the last castle on our route was Chateau de Chenonceau.
They call this the castle of ladies, as it was built in the 16th century by Katherine Bohier, wife of the French king’s minister of finance. It then fell into the hands of the royal family, was given by King Henry II to the only love of his life Diane de Poitiers, and after the king’s death was taken from Diane by Henry’s widow Catherine de’ Medici.
Portrait of Diana at age 50 (she was 19 years older than Henry).
Her autograph.
Our September trip to Brittany has come to an end.
Happy travelling, everyone!
