Impressive Entrance to a Virtually Unknown Town

None of us ever heard of this town before I added it to our trip schedule. The site that hosts this travelblog has thousands of travel stories published, but until now no one mentioned the town of Guerande. This place was fabulous. It's big contribution to the world is the salt that is extracted from the marshland around here. The Bretons are apparently a pain in the butt for the rest of France as they maintain their own language. While the Normans invaded England and influenced British history, the earlier Bretons invaded Wales and Ireland and left their marks there. Their place names are very similar to the names of towns throughout Wales. They are considered one of the Celtic nations per Wikipedia. The people of Brittany were so independent and such a thorn in the side of the French that they often sided with whoever was fighting the French kings in Paris. Until fairly recently Bretons were forbidden to give their kids Breton names lest they lose their rights as French citizens. Even now the locals consider themselves Bretons first and French second.