Brittany

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Hi Everyone,

This entry is of a trip that Allen and I took just before Christmas to Brittany. We'd been meaning to do this for a while, and as we both had some free time we finally did it. We took the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff. It was great trip over and very exciting. We shared the driving and driving on the right side of the road takes some getting used to, but it doesn't take long and you're into it. Going around roundabouts was definitely the most challenging. We had our Lonely Planet and phrasebook with us to help us. Allen was the linguist and kept grinning to himself, and looking very smug when he spoke a sentence in French. I can't fault him as the most I did was asking for the bill and if they spoke English.

Our first exercise in the language was going into a shop like Curry's or Retra-Vision and Allen asking, 'Parli-vous Francais?' and receiving the reply of 'Oui,' realising that he's asked a French shop assistant if she spoke French, to which she replied, Yes,'.........very amusing. Try asking someone in England or Australia if they speak English and see what kind of response you get..........

We found the people in Brittanny to be extremely friendly and helpful, and we can't wait to go back. The food was great, especially in Vannes, and we highly recommend St. Malo. The city walls of St. Malo are very intact and you can walk around them easily and get some great views. I've posted a picture below of the view from our hotel. It was extremely cold though. The French markets are great. We went to one where they had ham on a spit anda wheel of cheese in a similar set-up - making a cheese and ham roll a whole new experience. After we drove off the ferry we drove straight to Vannes. It's really nice there, and where we had our best meals. We became very used to oysters as an entree and at £4 for a plate of six, (and really fresh), I couldn't really see why not. Vannes is a really lovely city, with lots of variety to look at, but not too busy. We couldn't believe how many Tudor building there were and a lot of them were in better condition than the ones I've seen in England. I think it's because of the amount of stone they use. We noticed the amount of stone buildings there are in Brittany, and even now, houses still have the stone facade on the front. It's really nice driving around there, and there are also a lot of towers that have been renovated into homes.

So we drove from Roscoff to Vannes and spent a couple of nights and a day there. In this time we went to have a look around Karnak. The pictures I've posted below really don't do it justice. If you're interested, check out the website http://www.megalithia.com/brittany/carnac/ for more information. The small town of Carnac is a famous megalithic site of standing stones that has over a mile squared of standing stones. It really has to be seen to be believed. I couldn't believe how freezing it was. I think I had five layers on and I was still cold. It took about half an hour for my legs to thaw out when we were back in the warm again. From here we went to Rennes for a few hours and then to St. Malo for a night and a day. The prices of food and wine is so much less than in England. And the price of petrol made travelling very affordable. I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't been before.

Hope you're all well.

Love Danielle.

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Photos

Me at Carnac
Very rugged up. It was so cold!!!

Mont-St-Michel
This is twinned with St. Michael's Mount near Penzance, Cornwall.

St. Malo
This was the view from our hotel room. It was really beautiful here and very hard to leave.

St. Malo
This was one of the beaches around St. Malo and the city wall is just overhead.

Comments

[marine]

oh my god !
Oh my god you went to visit my dear little Brittany !!! you see I wasn't lying when I told u it looked like Cornwall ! The St malo is the best place ever, only 40 min from my house but it's a shame you haven't seen Rennes as it's the capital city of brittany and it's my city !!!!! Luke and I went to St Malo as well last year so now everyone has gone to St Malo, I've to go to Derry and Australia !!!! take care...