My brother Adam and his wife Ashley visited us in Paris last week. We hadn't seen them since their wedding in November and were excited about seeing the newlyweds on their second honeymoon. They arrived early on Tuesday morning and minutes later we were all eating fresh croissants and sipping coffee. They hadn't slept much on the flight and were on a temporary high when they left our apartment a couple hours later. We had given them an ambitious walking schedule to start their trip, but only two hours later Jen heard a knock on the door from two weary travelers. Like all of our visitors though, by the second day we had shifted them fully into the Parisian schedule when we finished dinner at 12:15 at night!
Their 3 day Parisian visit flew by and A&A were wishing for more time in Paris as we boarded the TGV for Brittany on Friday afternoon. Brittany is the region on the Atlantic cost that's famous for seafood, especially shellfish, crepes, cider, dairy and a number of creamy cheeses. The coastline is mostly rocky and reminded me more of Newport or parts of Maine in the US.
The trip to Brittany was a bit of a gamble for us. We didn't have much in our guidebooks, so we had to rely more on independent research. We only had one weekend with Adam and Ashley and we wanted it to be a great trip for them and us. Perhaps it's a bit selfish, but we are trying not to repeat any trips this year. With so much of France to explore, we decided that with the warming weather it was time to check out the coast. I picked the town of Quiberon which sits on the tip of a peninsula jutting far away from the mainland. Quiberon is in a great spot - right in the middle of the "wild coastline" stretch, 15 miles from the secluded Golfe de Morhiban and directly facing the gem of Belle Ile en Mer.
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We arrived Friday night at the train station and took a taxi to our hotel since the rental car places were all closed. After a few minutes of silence, our taxi driver started explaining the history of Brittany to me in French. I did my best to translate for the rest of the passengers and converse back some with our driver. Since our plans were tentative, I laid out our schedule for the weekend for him. His advice was to change things up and spend more time on the island of Belle Ile and less driving the coastline. Who am I to argue with a Breton taxi driver? We checked into our seaside hotel and met the wonderful woman who ran the place. She also took an immediate interest in our plans, confirmed the taxi drivers advice, and gave me glossy handout after glossy handout on ferry schedules, car rentals, sites, maps, etc. We dropped the bags and set out to find dinner at 9:45pm. It didn't feel late though as we watched the sunset on our walk back into town.
Adam and I woke up early the next morning and set out to rent a car. It's probably not worth the time to describe how difficult it was to find one, but let's just say we got lucky and managed to have something back in the parking lot of our hotel in time for a late breakfast with the girls. We jumped on the high speed ferry shortly after for a daytrip to Belle Ile en Mer which translates to Beautiful Island in the Ocean. Out ferry landed in the touristy town of Palais and within minutes I was standing in another rental car line signing papers for my second rental car of the day (the first was left in Quiberon). Not wanting to waste a minute, we drove straight to the port town of Sauzon.
It's a picturesque town with a shallow harbor that strands the boats on land during low tide. We explored the town, took some photos and grabbed a quick lunch.
Our next stop was a the tip of the island with a famous lighthouse and rocky cliffs called Poulains.
It was really spectacular and we spent well over an hour just mesmerized by the rocky cliffs, crashing waves and the color of the ocean.
We really hated to leave, but were on a tight schedule since the last ferry departing back to Quiberon left at 6:30pm that night. I had read about a secluded beach and since it was a hot day, we decided to check it out and try going for a swim. Adam and I couldn't convince our wives to swim in the frigid waters, but that didn't stop us from jumping into the waves.
At this point in the day, we were all amazed by the island and having a great time. But before heading back to the ferry, we had one last stop - Aiguilles Port Coton. I had heard that this was a pretty special place and as we drove up, I would describe our first views as jaw dropping.
The hour we had was simply not enough. We wandered the cliffs high above the ocean and tried to soak it all in. You can try to take pictures of things like this, but they never come close to capturing it all. After a while, we put the cameras away and just took a seat to marvel at how beautiful it all was.
On the ferry ride back that evening, we were all amazed at this little island and all the things it held. Perhaps though, in our quest to see it all in six short hours, we pushed a bit too hard.
That night we had a great seafood dinner back in Quiberon and ended up talking quite a bit with our waitress (who spoke English). She was really friendly and outgoing and told us about her year working at a creperie in Key West, FL. On our way out, she showed us a painting hanging in her restaurant. It was a copy of a famous painting given to her father by an American he had become friends with years ago. The subject of the painting was an old U.S. vessel from the 1780s that was just offshore of Brittany. The story was that the Bretons were the first foreigners to recognize the newly independent United States. The message was clear though from her - that the U.S and the French have been close friends and allies for a very long time.
The next day we packed up and headed towards the Golfe de Morhiban. It was another truly unique area and another beautiful day to enjoy it. The Golfe is almost completely closed in from the sea and has over 100 islands inside.
Since it isn't exposed to the ocean in most places, it is pretty calm. That was good for us because we decided to take a two and a half hour boat cruise through the Golfe. Most of the 100 islands are private and have homes built on them. Some of the larger islands such as Ile des Moines have some hotels that the savvy travelers book up well in advance. Sailing and kayaking seem to be the popular sports as we always had at least several on the horizon during the cruise.
It was really a perfect afternoon just exploring the different islands on a bright sunny day. All of us came to the conclusion that if you were going to retire somewhere in France, that this area would have been under serious consideration. In fact, we even found the home that would work for us.
I think we really lucked out this weekend. We had beautiful weather, few logistical problems and three big winners in Quiberon, Belle Ile en Mer and Golfe de Morhiban. Adam and Ashley even thought it was the highlight of their French vacation. I think this weekend only confirms that some of the best places in France still don't make the guidebooks and reaffirms our desire to keep finding them.
The trip to Brittany was a bit of a gamble for us. We didn't have much in our guidebooks, so we had to rely more on independent research. We only had one weekend with Adam and Ashley and we wanted it to be a great trip for them and us. Perhaps it's a bit selfish, but we are trying not to repeat any trips this year. With so much of France to explore, we decided that with the warming weather it was time to check out the coast. I picked the town of Quiberon which sits on the tip of a peninsula jutting far away from the mainland. Quiberon is in a great spot - right in the middle of the "wild coastline" stretch, 15 miles from the secluded Golfe de Morhiban and directly facing the gem of Belle Ile en Mer.
Adam and I woke up early the next morning and set out to rent a car. It's probably not worth the time to describe how difficult it was to find one, but let's just say we got lucky and managed to have something back in the parking lot of our hotel in time for a late breakfast with the girls. We jumped on the high speed ferry shortly after for a daytrip to Belle Ile en Mer which translates to Beautiful Island in the Ocean. Out ferry landed in the touristy town of Palais and within minutes I was standing in another rental car line signing papers for my second rental car of the day (the first was left in Quiberon). Not wanting to waste a minute, we drove straight to the port town of Sauzon.
It's a picturesque town with a shallow harbor that strands the boats on land during low tide. We explored the town, took some photos and grabbed a quick lunch.
Our next stop was a the tip of the island with a famous lighthouse and rocky cliffs called Poulains.
It was really spectacular and we spent well over an hour just mesmerized by the rocky cliffs, crashing waves and the color of the ocean.
We really hated to leave, but were on a tight schedule since the last ferry departing back to Quiberon left at 6:30pm that night. I had read about a secluded beach and since it was a hot day, we decided to check it out and try going for a swim. Adam and I couldn't convince our wives to swim in the frigid waters, but that didn't stop us from jumping into the waves.
At this point in the day, we were all amazed by the island and having a great time. But before heading back to the ferry, we had one last stop - Aiguilles Port Coton. I had heard that this was a pretty special place and as we drove up, I would describe our first views as jaw dropping.
The hour we had was simply not enough. We wandered the cliffs high above the ocean and tried to soak it all in. You can try to take pictures of things like this, but they never come close to capturing it all. After a while, we put the cameras away and just took a seat to marvel at how beautiful it all was.
On the ferry ride back that evening, we were all amazed at this little island and all the things it held. Perhaps though, in our quest to see it all in six short hours, we pushed a bit too hard.
That night we had a great seafood dinner back in Quiberon and ended up talking quite a bit with our waitress (who spoke English). She was really friendly and outgoing and told us about her year working at a creperie in Key West, FL. On our way out, she showed us a painting hanging in her restaurant. It was a copy of a famous painting given to her father by an American he had become friends with years ago. The subject of the painting was an old U.S. vessel from the 1780s that was just offshore of Brittany. The story was that the Bretons were the first foreigners to recognize the newly independent United States. The message was clear though from her - that the U.S and the French have been close friends and allies for a very long time.
Since it isn't exposed to the ocean in most places, it is pretty calm. That was good for us because we decided to take a two and a half hour boat cruise through the Golfe. Most of the 100 islands are private and have homes built on them. Some of the larger islands such as Ile des Moines have some hotels that the savvy travelers book up well in advance. Sailing and kayaking seem to be the popular sports as we always had at least several on the horizon during the cruise.
It was really a perfect afternoon just exploring the different islands on a bright sunny day. All of us came to the conclusion that if you were going to retire somewhere in France, that this area would have been under serious consideration. In fact, we even found the home that would work for us.
I think we really lucked out this weekend. We had beautiful weather, few logistical problems and three big winners in Quiberon, Belle Ile en Mer and Golfe de Morhiban. Adam and Ashley even thought it was the highlight of their French vacation. I think this weekend only confirms that some of the best places in France still don't make the guidebooks and reaffirms our desire to keep finding them.
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