Northwestern Brittany: Tragaire, Lannion, Finistere, Pont Avon and more

Last night at one after midnight, Karen and I returned from a tour of northwest Brittany, hoping to bring information to those of you who would like to travel there.
The most important information we brought: Don’t do what we did. What did we do? 700 km, in 16 hours. From XNUMX am to midnight. Too much. Pick a part, skip others. Another option: split the route in half, spend the night in the middle, and continue the next day.

Before we begin: The ranking system, a proper confession, and an important tip

A new addition to my articles: With Zvi's permission, I will begin to rank websites in the routes I propose, according to the degree of interest I found in them:

"necessary" – ***
"recommended" –**
"possible" –*

Of course, everything, as mentioned, is according to my personal taste, and according to the degree of interest I found in the place, and of course I would be happy for sarcastic comments and harsh criticism of my ranking.

Proper confession

I love traveling. But I love even more the research I do before the trip, and the completeness of the information I collect after I return. And most of all, I love writing about the route I took, combined with the information. That's what I'm doing now. So be patient. The patience of a priest in a confessional. Why a priest? A young man enters a church and sits down by the confessional. "Father, I've only been in town for a week, and I've already fucked nine women." The priest: "Son, this is not the behavior of a good Christian." The young man: "I'm not a Christian at all." "So why are you here?" "Because I don't know anyone in town, and I had no one to tell." Not bad, right.

A tip before you start

If you have the 890 Battalion motto “No going back until we do it” in your veins, and you stick to it, even though you already understand that the plan is too ambitious, but your spouse gets fed up and starts nagging that enough is enough, and what else is there to see, and it’s all the same, and you’ve seen one – you’ve seen them all. Don’t do, I repeat: Don’t do, what the friend of the friend did:

He turned back, but left the “Wise” on the original destinations. It kept saying “make a U-turn,” the friend of the friend hoped that this would upset the spouse, but in the end he himself lost his temper, screamed at the advisor “You go to the Pizdiomat,” and slammed the mobile phone against the front window. There is no mobile phone and no window. And you continue in the rain without a front window.

What will you do? Very simple. Drive straight to the furthest point of the trip. On highways. You will arrive there with a Raanan spouse. From here you will start the trip. On the way back. Don't worry. You are completely protected. After all, you are on your way home. There is no zero.
Not that I personally know anyone for whom this advice would be relevant, but it's worth saving for a rainy day.

taking off

Here are the sites we visited:

We left yesterday at 8 a.m. I happened to decide to head straight to the furthest point of the trip: Treguier.
215 km, all on highways. From us to Rennes on the D177, bypassing Rennes to Guingamp on the E50. From there to Treguier on the D787. Two and a half hours. In short: joy. Or in two words – let’s discover!!!

Trguier **

Tragiya is known as the city of St. Yves, who served as bishop here in the 13th century. He became known as the “advocate of the poor,” because he would represent them in court, or at least finance their legal expenses. Strangely enough, the poor were forgotten over the years, and today he is known as the “patron saint of lawyers.” The wonders of the Catholic transfiguration. The original one did take place on our Mount Tabor, but we won’t go into detail.

The cathedral is notable for its interesting stained glass windows, which depict scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

In the city center, around the cathedral, there are small streets with houses that have survived from the Middle Ages:

There are also new ones, or renovated ones, with a lot of respect for the ancient style:

But, with all due respect to the cathedrals and houses, I find the small details, hidden in the serenity, more fascinating. Here is one, judging by the staff with the rolled tip, it is a bishop, probably Saint Yves himself, but here he stands humbly, next to an eyeglass shop, a shy smile on his lips:

Shopping, gentlemen, shopping!

Before we continue, I want to dwell for a moment on what you will see here and there on the roads of Brittany: warehouses or shops called Brocante.
Here is one:

Brocante means, roughly, “flea trade” or “junk goods,” but make no mistake: the goods in these warehouses are not junk at all. They are almost museum pieces. Prices start at tens of euros, and rise quickly. It’s worth going in and seeing. Like Ali Baba’s cave:

Sometimes you encounter reality. Take for example (I didn't take it, I left it for you) this travel suitcase:

15 euros. As a suitcase it's not worth much, but think of what other uses it could have!!!

When the opportunity arises, I will write about the places where you can get cheap goods and also enjoy the rummaging along the way. Now just on the tip of the skewer: at the top of the pyramid, as mentioned, is the Brocante. It is rare to find cheap goods there, but sometimes there are surprises. Next come the warehouses belonging to the Troc chain. There are these in every large city. Plenty of great goods, at ridiculous prices. The majority are relatively large pieces of furniture, but there are also smaller ones, which can sometimes even be dismantled. They work on a consignment basis, meaning people hand over items for sale, and split the money with the store after a paying buyer is found.

At the bottom of the scale, and in my opinion at the top, are the vide grenier. Loosely translated: “attic”, these are not attics at all, but Sunday markets, which take place in rotation in small villages in every region of France, as well as in Belgium and Switzerland. The idea is that in each region, the villages hold a rotation of markets, meaning that each week the market is held in a different village.

There are usually at least 2-3 markets every week within a few dozen kilometers. There is a real buzz there, because people take things out of their homes that no amount of money would allow their wives to bring back. These will be sold, even for pennies. The goods are on the sidewalk or on makeshift stalls. It is a beautiful, colorful celebration, of course there are also food stalls, sometimes music. You can plan in advance and check where the nearest market is on a certain date, On this siteGo to the area where you will be (Brittany(of course) and choose the flight date according to the market. Or vice versa.

Usually the village posts guards who prevent vehicles from entering the center, and direct those arriving to makeshift parking lots in the surrounding fields. There is a lot of commotion, and the atmosphere is happy. It is worth arriving early, because towards noon many stalls fold up. Just as no one will take away the Englishman's 5 o'clock tea, no one will take away the Frenchman's lunch break.

What did we have? Brocante expensive, Troc less, vide grenier cheap. There is, of course, also in the middle: the market of Nantes, for example, on Saturdays and sometimes even on Sundays, until noon. A combination of private individuals selling goods from home, with merchants who arrive in commercial vans. The prices are also like that – like that. In the middle. Place Viarme, you can get to the market itself by tram no. 3.
As mentioned, I will write in detail when I have the opportunity.

Pink Rocks Beach ***

We will continue from Tragée west, through the pink rock coast Cote de Granit Rose, to Lannion and St. Thegonnec. Here is the route:

In words: Leave Trevey on the D786, after 5 km turn northwest on the D6, you can put Perros-Guirec in Bois. After that, you can put one of the villages to the west of it in Bois, the beach is marked on the Michelin map as Rochers. A sight out of this world. Boulders of various sizes, everything from a small shell to the size of a mammoth, bright pink, lie around the white, clean sand.

Lannion *

From here we continue to Lannion. Go south on the D65 or the D21.

The ship of the desert? No. But ships on sand – yes

Side note: At various places along the roads, you will see large expanses of sand exposed at low tide. Here is one example:

The phenomenon also occurs in streams that reach many kilometers deep into the earth. At high tide, a wide river flows through the center of the village. But it is very little river, and a lot of sea has penetrated and widened it. At low tide, the sea retreats, and in the middle of the dry channel, the local stream trickles, gurgling.

The city of Nyon is beautiful and cozy, with medieval houses. Nothing extraordinary, but since the road passes through it, you can stop at one of the cafes along the main street.

From here we continue towards St. Thegonnec, on the D786 in Grand-Roche, which I marked on my map. You can climb to a viewpoint at an altitude of 80 meters, and look out over the bay of Lieue de Grave. I didn't climb.

The wonderful, wonderful, beautiful stone statues

St. Thegonnec and the wonderful statues ***

A small village, nothing special, except for the calvary, which, and others like it, throughout Brittany, are… nothing less than must-see sites. First a look, then talk:

These are groups of stone statues, depicting figures and events from the Passion, the path of suffering of Jesus, from the Last Supper to his taking down from the cross. Sometimes also earlier events in his life, or even before his birth, the Gospel, for example. The name Calvary comes from the Roman word Calvaria, skull. This brings us back to “Golgotha” in Aramaic, which is the place of crucifixion outside the walls of Jerusalem, where Jesus was also crucified.

The sculptures are mostly from the 17th century, and are probably related to the plague that struck the region at the time. They are not the work of great artists, and therefore do not adorn famous palaces or cathedrals. They were made by rural craftsmen, from simple local stone, sometimes using manhirs (prehistoric granite columns used for worship).

The sculptures are crude, naive, but very human. They display impressive facial expressions. There is information that the village priest would use them in his sermons to the villagers, pointing to a particular scene as he spoke about it. We can say that the Calvary was a kind of three-dimensional illustration that accompanied and illustrated the content of the sermon.

Since Calvary does not depict one specific event, but a series of events, it is more accurate to liken it to a comic strip, in which one image follows another, and the same characters play different roles one after another, on the same stage. In particular, you can see Jesus, once at the Last Supper, once on his way to crucifixion, then on the cross, and finally being taken down from it. In the photograph I brought, you can see on the right Jesus bound with a rope, strengthened by two Roman soldiers, in the uniforms that were customary in the 17th century.

Here's another scene, from a different direction:

We can say goodbye. Don't worry, just for a short while. We're on our way to another one. More impressive in my opinion. We're starting to head south.

The first site is Plougastel Daoulas, after which we will move east to Pointe de Pen Hir, a cape protruding into the sea at the western end of the Crozon peninsula, from there to Mount Menez Hom, for a view of the area. We will return west to the peninsula that encloses the Bay of Douarnenez to the south, visit the two headlands Pointe Du Van and Point du Raz, look for the ancient windmills, and finish at the statue of Notre-Dame des Naufragés “Our Lady of the Shipwrecked”. There you will help me understand the intention of the Polish sculptor.

Plougastel Daoulas ***

From St. Thegonnec to the beginning of this part of the route, in Plougastel Daoulas, I don't bring a map. All the way on the highway, E50. First west, then along it we bypass Brest and go directly down to Plougastel Daoulas. Honestly, I don't have the patience for maps right now, I'm dying to talk about the Cavalry of Plougastel Daoulas.
pay attention:

The Missionary Position… or: Christianity for Beginners

What do we have here? What don't we have here?

On the lower right, a scene from the good days of Jesus. Mary of Beth Heni, whom the Catholic Church identifies with Mary Magdalene, named after the village of Migdal in the northern Sea of ​​Galilee, anoints his feet with precious oil. Let us take a moment to look at the New Testament, the Gospel of John, chapter 12.

And Mary took a pound of pure nard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

This passage in the New Testament is particularly dear to me, because it reveals an extraordinary aspect of Jesus: a sharp sense of humor!
According to the story that follows, one of the disciples, claiming to be a great righteous man, turns to Jesus with a question:

Why wasn't the ointment sold for three hundred dinars and given to the poor?
Jesus smiles (that's how I see it), and replies:
For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.
In other words: Let's have some fun, before the end. The poor won't escape.

On the lower left, the Last Supper. With some effort, you can identify some of the apostles. On the right, a lowly (of course) Judas Iscariot, with the bag of 30 denarii he received as payment for betraying Jesus. You can identify Peter, holding the keys to heaven that he received from Jesus, and which the popes will pass on from generation to generation. Jesus is lying for some reason in the lap of one of the apostles, as if he were already dead. Only his head is visible.
Above right: Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Why?

In the Gospel of John, chapter 12, there is an answer:

Jesus took a city and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King is coming, riding on a city.”

The explanation is simple:

In the book of Zechariah, chapter 9, it is said about the Messianic King who will come to Jerusalem:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Rejoice, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation; poor and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

It is clear that Jesus had to fulfill the prophecy, and here we are watching him with our own eyes, albeit in France, doing so. Of course, there is the opposite possibility: Jesus arrived riding a donkey because his legs hurt. The passage in the book of Zechariah was inserted there by Christian scribes, in order to take advantage of the already existing donkey, in favor of fulfilling an ancient prophecy that was created later.

In the middle, we see Jesus carrying his cross, the Via Dolorosa. Note the peduncle gracefully placing his foot on the cross. Further to the left are the two Marys, Saint Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene. To their left is Saint Veronica, holding the famous veil in front of her. There is no mention of her in the New Testament, but according to later traditions, it is a woman (probably “Berenice,” a name that was Latinized to “Veronica”) who gave Jesus her handkerchief as he weary himself on the path of suffering. He wiped the sweat from his face and returned the handkerchief to her.

Miraculously, the portrait of his face was preserved imprinted on the cloth. Judging by the number of churches around the world that hold the original handkerchief, or at least a fragment of it, it is likely that the lady had a huge stock of scarves, or perhaps an industrial printer. Okay, enough mocking, I take out a yellow card for myself, and return to a moment of seriousness: burning the image of Jesus' face into a handkerchief is not impossible.

Sweat is acidic, and if the fabric was delicate, and dyed with non-fast dyes, there is definitely a chance that your face will burn on it. And one more thing: Veronica's veil functions like a contemporary photograph. It is the only documentation that Jesus existed, that he had a figure, that he had a face, here they are documented.

By the way, every now and then a researcher emerges who, using X-rays or some other technological means, reveals the face of Jesus within the fibers of a piece of cloth. This is not a contemporary hoax. It is more likely that it is a later replica, a reconstruction of the original handkerchief, from the Middle Ages or even before.

Finistère: Fun beaches

I sadly leave Veronica, wipe my face with a handkerchief, and continue to Pointe de Pen Hir. This is a cape overlooking the north of the Bay of Douarnenez, at the tip of the Crozon peninsula. South of the bay are the headlands of Point du Raz. From every direction there is an excellent view of the other side.

Here is a video about the place, courtesy of the Finisterre Tourist Office:

Why Finistère? It’s the name of the entire province, Finistère, meaning “end of the world.” There are, of course, a few other places in Europe that boast of being the end of the world. For example, near Santiago de Compostela in Spain, which may not be the end of the world, but was almost the end of my left leg. More on that another time.

If we return for a moment to Pointe de Pen Hir, I will mention that there is also a huge monument to the Breton commando fighters in the army. France The free one. You can't get there by car, you have to park about two hundred meters away.

Breton fighters were among those landing in Normandy during the invasion, their pioneers had already parachuted into the area earlier, and fought with the Resistance for the liberation of France. More precisely: for the liberation of Brittany. I read somewhere that during the German occupation, the Bretons used to wear a ring with a double heart, one symbolizing the France in their hearts, the other the Brittany in their hearts. One was bigger than the other, you know which one. Of course it is known.

The inscription engraved on the monument reads:

Aux Bretons de la France Libre – MCMXL – MCMXLV – La France a perdu une bataille, mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre. Dans l'univers libre des forces immenses n'ont pas encore donné. Un jour ces forces écraseront l'enemi.

To the Bretons of Free France – 1940-1945 – France was defeated in battle, but France was not defeated in war. In the free world, formidable forces have not yet given up. One day these forces will crush the enemy

The dedication at the opening is of course later, but what is said afterwards is a quote from a speech by General Charles de Gaulle in London, on BBC radio, on June 17.6.1940, XNUMX, just before the French government was about to sign the surrender agreement with Nazi Germany. On the back of the monument is the inscription, in Breton: Kentoc'h mervel eget em zaotra, which means “Death is better than impurity.”

The monument is in the shape of the Cross of Lorraine, which was the symbol of Free France. It is a cross with two balanced lines crossing the vertical line. The lower balanced line is longer. It was also de Gaulle’s personal symbol. Churchill, who often clashed with de Gaulle, once said, “The heaviest cross I had to bear was the Cross of Lorraine.”

The Cross of Lorraine appears in many places in France, at sites commemorating Free France. Here it is on the monument in front of our castle:

We will move to the other side of the bay, to Pointe du Raz. There are two capes there, one as mentioned Pointe du Raz, the other Pointe du van. Along the cliffs, in several places, remains of German fortifications remain, part of the Atlantic Wall:

Not Holland, but there are windmills

Along the way, look for the wind farms. There are lots of new ones that generate electricity, but there are also some old ones:

Ah. Somewhere in the Point du Raz area stands Notre-Dame des Naufragés “Our Lady of the Shipwrecks.”
Here it is, in all its glory:

The statue was created by Cyprian Godebski, a Polish sculptor, in memory of his son who was killed in Tonkin. Every year, on the last Sunday of July, a choir sings the local anthem there, of course in clear Breton, which even Google can't translate.

Intron Varia Beg ar Raz,
Dirazoc'h e ma ar mor braz,
War hon listri, war hor bagou,
Savit ho torn leun a hrasou.

And now, help me.

Many statues of the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady, Notre-Dame, show her holding her sweet son in her arms. But in this statue, as I understand it, a shipwreck survivor reaches out to the Mother of God, begging her to save him. She watches indifferently. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't save him, because she's holding the Son of God in both her hands. But she doesn't seem to regret it. It's the baby who reaches out to the unfortunate man, but he's clearly not going to touch him.

Is there an explanation? Please.

Douarnenez Bay ***

We leave Douarnenez Bay for the last sites on our long list. It's already seven in the evening, but we still have about four hours of daylight ahead of us.

Menez Hom **

On the way to the summit of Menez Hom, part of the Montagnes Noires mountain range, which crosses southern Finistère. “Mountains” is a bit of a big deal for these hills, but from this summit there is a very good, 360-degree view of the entire area, including the Bay of Douarnenez from which we arrived:

Concarneau *

From here we descend south to Concarneau. Today it is an important fishing port, but what is interesting is the old town, fortified with stone walls from the 14th century. It is connected to the coast by two narrow bridges, which were relatively easily defended.

Pont Aven *

You probably knew that many artists from Poland chose to settle and create in Brittany. I didn't know. Some of them settled in the village of Pont Aven at the end of the 19th century, in the shadow of Gauguin, who wished to expand his impressions of Tahitian girls there.

Henri Lebasque's painting of a bridge in Pont-Aven is famous:

I don't know where this bridge is in Pont-Aven. Judging by the width of the river, it's probably far away near the mouth of the sea. A more accessible bridge, which appears in all the local tourist office photos, and which is why tourists often take pictures on it, is in the village itself:

I too felt it my duty to stand there, in the same pose as in Henri Lebasque’s painting, holding in my hand the book by Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz, known in our circles as “H. Sienkiewicz.” The book is, of course, Quo Vadis, which in our language means “Where are you going?”. I am not intending to cross myself again, nor for the first time, but I certainly wonder where I am going.

Final riddle: What does it have to do with Brittany?

I put the book next to the camera, the night before the big trip. And of course I forgot it there. All I could do was scan its cover and imagine myself on the bridge, until I returned to it to take a picture with it:

What about our Henrik and Breton? You have to find out for yourself.

Did you like the article? Want to live in my castle?

Want to discover for yourself Roche Castle and quite a few other attractions located in a variety of Hiking routes in Brittany We published? You are welcome to stay at Danny's castle and make it a base for your star trips. You can find more information about the castle in the article Manoir de la Chausée – live in an Israeli castle in Brittany.

And who knows, maybe you'll be lucky enough to meet the Francophile there and travel with us in Brittany 🙂