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Brittany
Brittany comprises
the Départements of
Côtes-du-Nord, Finistère,
Ille-et-Villaine and Morbihan. Fishing
has long been the most important
industry and the rocky Atlantic
coastline, high tides and strong,
treacherous currents demand high
standards of seamanship. At Finistère
(finis terrea or Land’s End)
the Atlantic swell can drive spouts of
water up to 30m (100ft) into the air.
The coastal scenery is particularly
spectacular at Pointe du Raz and
Perros-Guirec. The Gauls arrived
on the peninsula in about 600BC. Little
is known about their way of life or why
they constructed the countless stone
monuments to be found throughout
Brittany – cromlechs, altars, menhirs
and dolmens (Carnac is the
supreme example of this). They were
displaced by the Romans during the
reign of Julius Caesar who in turn were
displaced by Celts arriving from
Britain in AD460. The Celts named their
new land Brittanica Minor and divided
it into the coastal area, l’Ar Mor
(the country of the sea), and the
inland highlands, l’Ar Coat (the
country of the woods). The two areas in
Brittany are still referred to as l’Amor
and l’Argoat. The Celts
were master stonemasons, as may be seen
by the many surviving calvaires,
elaborately carved stone crosses.
Brittany emerged from the Dark Ages as
an independent duchy. A series of royal
marriages eventually brought Brittany
into France and by 1532 the perpetual
union of the Duchy of Brittany with
France was proclaimed. Despite its
rugged coastline, it is possible to
enjoy a conventional beach holiday in
Brittany. The Emerald Coast, a
region of northern Brittany centered on Dinard,
has many fine bathing beaches. The
beach resorts are often named after
little-known saints: St Enogat, St
Laumore, St Brill, St Jacut, St Cast,
etc. There are also bathing beaches in
the bay of St Brieuc, including Val
André, Etables and St Quay.
Brittany’s main attractions are her
wild beauty and the unique Breton
culture. In general, coastal areas have
retained a more characteristically
Breton way of life than the hills
inland. Elaborate Breton head-dresses
are still worn in some parts, the style
varying slightly from village to
village. Breton religious processions
and the ceremonies of the pardons
that take place in a number of
communities at various times of the
year may have changed little since
Celtic times. In the region around Plouha
many of the inhabitants still speak
Breton, a language evolved from Celtic
dialects. The coast from Paimpol consists
of colossal chunks of rock, perilous to
shipping, as the many lighthouses
suggest. The very pleasant villages and
beaches of Perros-Guirec, Trégastel
or Trébeurden contrast with the
wild and rocky shoreline.
Near the base of the
peninsula, at Aber Vrac’h and Aber
Benoit, the ocean is caught and
churned up in deep, winding chasms
penetrating far inland. Further along
the coast is the huge and sprawling
port of Brest, possessing one of
Europe’s finest natural harbors which has a 13th-century castle. The
canal running from Brest to Nantes makes
a very pleasant journey either by hired
boat or walking or on horseback,
although not all of the route is
navigable by water. The interior
consists of wooded hills and farms, buttes
(knolls) with fine views, short rivers
and narrow valleys. Many of the
so-called mountains are merely
undulating verdant dunes, barely 300m
(1000ft) high. They are nonetheless
remnants of the oldest mountain chain
on the planet. Breton architecture is
perhaps more humble than in other parts
of France, being more akin to that of a
village in England or Wales. Inland,
there are several impressive castles
and many walled towns and villages. The
churches are small and simple. For the
most part, Brittany benefits from the
warmth of the Gulf Stream all year
round, but the tourist season runs from
June to September. The countryside
blazes with flowers in the spring,
attracting many varieties of bird life.
The city of Rennes, the ancient
capital of Brittany, is a good base
from which to explore the highlands;
sights include the Palais de
Justice, the castle, the Musée
des Beaux-Arts and the Musée de
Bretagne, which seeks to preserve
and foster all things Breton. Some of
Brittany’s most productive farms are
close to the northern shore. Fertilized
with seaweed, they produce fine
potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower,
artichokes, peas, string beans and
strawberries. The quality of
locally-produced ingredients lends
itself to the simple Breton cuisine,
which brings out natural flavors rather than concealing them with
elaborate sauces. Raw shellfish
(including oysters), lobster, lamb and
partridge are particularly good. The
salt meadows of lower Brittany add a
distinctive flavor to Breton livestock
and game. Crêpes (pancakes)
are a regional specialty and there are
two distinct varieties: a sweet dessert
crêpe served with sugar,
honey, jam, jelly or a combination (e.g. suzette);
and the savory sarrasin
variety, made from buckwheat flour and
served with eggs, cheese, bacon or a
combination of several of these (the crêpe
is folded over the ingredients and
reheated). They can be bought
ready-made in the local shops. Little
or no cheese is produced in Brittany,
but some of the finest butter in the
world comes from here – it is
slightly salted, unlike the butter from
the other regions of France. Cider is
frequently drunk with food, as well as
wine. The popular wine, Muscadet,
comes from the extreme southern point
of Brittany, at the head of the Loire
Estuary, near Nantes. It is a dry,
fruity white wine that goes very well
with shellfish, especially oysters.
Normandy
Normandy contains
five Départements: Seine
Maritime, Calvados, Manche, Eure and
Orne, all but the last two touching on
the sea. Its southern border is the River
Couesnon which has, over the years,
shifted its course as it flows over
almost flat country, gradually moving
south of Mont-Saint-Michel, one
of Europe’s best-known architectural
curiosities. Mont-Saint-Michel and its
bay are on the Natural and Cultural
World Heritage List drawn up by UNESCO.
The tides are phenomenal. At their
peak, there is a difference of about
15m (50ft) between the ebb and the
flow, the height of a 5-storey
building. The sands in the bay are flat
and, when the tides are at their
highest, the sea runs in over a
distance of some 24km (15 miles)
forming a wave about 70cm (2ft) deep.
The sandbank changes from tide to tide
and if the legend of the sea entering
the bay at the speed of a galloping
horse is perhaps a slight exaggeration,
the danger of quicksand is real enough.
The present Abbey of Saint-Michel
was built in the 8th century by Bishop
Aubert; his skull bears the mark of the
finger of Saint Michel, the archangel
Michael. Cabourg is the Balbec
in Proust’s novels. Maupassant and
Flaubert included Norman scenes in
their novels and Monet, Sisley and
Pissaro painted scenes of the coast and
the countryside. Deauville –
with its beach, casino, golf course and
race track – is the social capital of
the area. Bayeux is worth a
visit for the fantastic tapestry –
there is nothing like it in the world.
The landing beaches and Second World
War battlefields are remembered by
excellent small museums in Arromanches
(the landings), and Bayeux (battle
of Normandy). There is also a ‘peace
museum’ in Caen, with its
beautiful Romanesque church and ruins
of an enormous castle, founded by
William the Conqueror. Other monuments
worth visiting include the 14th-century
Church of St Etienne, the Church
of St Pierre (Renaissance) and the Abbaye
aux Dames. There is also a museum
of local crafts from the Gallo-Roman
period to the present.
The cross-Channel
terminus and port of Dieppe has
attractive winding streets and a
15th-century castle, housing the Musée
de Dieppe. There are some beautiful
châteaux in Normandy, particularly
along the route between Paris and
Rouen. They include the Boury-en-Vexin,
Bizy at Vernon, Gaillon,
Gaillard-les-Andelys, Vascoeuil and
Martinville. Along the same route
are found a number of other sites
classed monument historique; the
Claude Monet House and garden in
Giverny, the Abbey de
Martemer (Lisors) and the
village of Lyon-la-Fôret. All
of these merit a detour. The ancient
capital of Rouen features
restored ancient streets and houses,
including the Vieille Maison of
1466 and the place du Vieux-Marché,
where Jeanne d’Arc was burnt in 1432.
There is a magnificent 13th-century
cathedral (the subject of a series of
paintings by Monet), as well as many
fine museums and churches, including St
Ouen and St Maclou. The
cloister of St Maclou was a
cemetery for victims of the Great
Plague. The old port of Honfleur, with
its well-preserved 18th-century
waterfront houses, is also well worth a
visit.
Normandy is a land
of farmers and fishermen and is one of
the finest gastronomic regions of
France. Here is produced the finest
butter in the world, a thick fresh
cream and excellent cheeses, including
the world-famous Camembert, Pont
l’Evêque and Liverot.
Both crustaceans and saltwater fish
abound; sole Normande is one of
the great dishes known to the
gastronomic world. There is also
lobster from Barfleur, shrimp from
Cherbourg and oysters from Dive-sur-Mur. Inland one finds duck
from Rouen and Nantes, lamb from the
salt meadows near Mont-Saint-Michel,
cream from Isigny, chicken and veal
from the Cotentin, and cider and
calvados (apple brandy) from the Pays d’Auge.
Champagne &
Ardennes
The chalky and
rolling fields of Champagne might have
remained unsung and unvisited, had it
not been for an accident of history.
Towards the end of the 17th century a
blind monk, tending the bottles of
mediocre wine in the cellars of his
abbey at Hautviliers, discovered that
cork made a fine stopper for aging his
wine. After the first fermentation,
cork kept air, the enemy of aging wine,
from his brew. But it also trapped the
carbon dioxide in the bottle and when
he pulled the cork it ‘popped’. At
that moment, some say, the world
changed for the better. ‘I am
drinking the stars,’ he is said to
have murmured as he took the first sip
of champagne the world had ever known.
This northeastern slice of France is
composed of the Départements of
Ardennes, Marne, Aube and Haute Marne.
On these rolling plains many of the
great battles of European history have
been fought, including many in the
First and Second World Wars. The
Ardennes was once known as the ‘woody
country’ where Charlemagne hunted
deer, wild boar, small birds and game
in the now vanished forests. The area
has three main waterways: the Seine,
the Aube and the Marne.
The Marne Valley between
Ferté-sous-Jouarre and Epernay is one
of the prettiest in France. Forests of
beech, birch, oak and elm cover the
high ground, vines and fruit trees
sprawl across the slopes and corn and
sunflowers wave in the little protected
valleys. The valleys form a long, fresh
and green oasis, dotted with red-roofed
villages. In 496 Clovis, the first king
of France, was baptized in the
cathedral in Rheims. From Louis
VII to Charles X, the kings of France
made it a point of honor to be crowned
in the city where the history of the
country really began. Rheims and its
cathedral have been destroyed, razed,
and rebuilt many times over the
centuries. The Church of St Rémi,
even older than the cathedral, is half
Romanesque, half Gothic in style. The
most remarkable feature is its great
size, comparable to that of Notre Dame
de Paris. Beneath the town and its
suburbs there are endless caves for
champagne. Epernay is the real
capital of champagne, the drink. Here,
115km (72 miles) of underground
galleries in the chalk beneath the city
store the wine for the delicate
operations required to make champagne.
These include the blending of vintages,
one of the most important tasks in the
creation of champagne. It is left to
age for at least three years. Aside
from champagne as the world knows it,
there is an excellent blanc de blanc
champagne nature, an unbubbly white
wine with a slight bite and many of the
characteristics of champagne. The
perfect Gothic style of the cathedral
of St Etienne in
Châlons-sur-Marne has preserved
the pure lines of its 12th-century
tower. Nearby, the little town of St
Ménéhould, almost
destroyed in 1940, has contributed to
the gastronomic world recipes for pigs’
feet and carp, but historically it is
known for the fact that the postmaster,
in 1791, recognized Louis XVI fleeing
from Paris with his family and reported
him.
Before the
annexation of Franche-Comté and
Lorraine, Langres was a
fortified town. Its Gallo-Roman
monuments, its 15th- and 17th-century
mansions and its religious architecture
make it well worth a visit. Troyes,
ancient capital of the Champagne area,
has a beautifully preserved city centre
with a Gothic cathedral, dozens of
churches and 15th-century houses and a
system of boulevards shaped like a
champagne cork. The city also boasts
the Musée d’Art Moderne in
the old Bishops’ Palace – a private
collection of modern art, including
works by Bonnard, Degas and Gauguin.
There are beautiful
lakes in the Champagne-Ardenne region,
the largest being Lac du
Der-Chantecoq. The Fôret d’Orient
has a famous bird sanctuary. There is
no school of cooking founded on the use
of champagne, but locally there are a
few interesting dishes that include the
wine. Châlons-sur-Marne has a dish
that involves cooking chicken in
champagne. It goes well in a sauce for
the local trout; kidneys and pike have
also been fried in champagne.
Val de Loire
The ‘centre’ of
France from Chartres to Châteauroux
and from Tours to Bourges includes the Départements
of Eure-et-Loir, Loiret,
Loir-et-Cher, Indre, Indre-et-Loire and
Cher. The Central Loire includes the
famous Châteaux country,
perhaps the region most visited by
foreign tourists to France. Through it
flows a part of the Loire River,
the longest river in France, and
considered to be its most capricious,
often reducing to a mere trickle of
water in a bed of sand. It has been
called a ‘useless’ great river,
because it drives no turbines or mill
wheels and offers few navigable
waterways. It could be said that the
Loire serves only beauty and each of
its tributaries has its own character.
The Cher is a quiet, slow-moving
river, flowing calmly through grassy
meadows and mature forests. The
château of Chenonceaux stands
quite literally on the river; a
working mill in the early medieval
period when the Cher flowed more
vigorously, it was transformed into
perhaps the most graceful of all French
châteaux, its court rooms running
clear from one bank to the other on a
row of delicate arches. Chenonceaux’s
development owed much to a succession
of beautiful and powerful noblewomen,
and its charm is of an undeniably
feminine nature. The Indre is a
river of calm reflections. Lilies
abound and weeping willows sway on its
banks. The château at Azay-le-Rideau
was designed to make full use of these
qualities and stands beside several
small man-made lakes, each reflecting a
different aspect of the building. Water
is moved to and from the river and
between the lakes through a series of
gurgling channels. The water gardens
and its reflections of the intricately
carved exterior more than compensate
for the rather dull interior. The Vienne
is essentially a broad stream. It
glides gracefully beneath the weathered
walls of old Chinon, where
several important chapters in French
history were acted out. The château of
Blois, which is one of the
finest architecturally speaking, is
certainly the most interesting in terms
of history. It stands in the centre of
the ancient town of the same name,
towering over the battered stone houses
clustered beneath its walls. Chambord,
several miles south of the Loire, is
the most substantial of the great
châteaux. Standing in a moat in the
centre of a vast lawn bordered by
forests, the body of the building
possesses a majestic symmetry. In
contrast, the roofscape is a mad jumble
of eccentric chimneys and apartments.
Some have attributed the bizarre
double-helix staircase to Leonardo da
Vinci. The five châteaux described in
outline above are generally ranked
highest amongst the Loire châteaux and
form the core of most organized tours.
There are, of course, dozens more that
can be visited and it is even possible
to stay overnight in several. Contact
the Tourist Office for more
information. The Loire Valley is very
warm and crowded with tourists in
summer.
Besides châteaux,
there is much else of interest in the
Val de Loire and surrounding districts.
There are magnificent 13th-century
cathedrals in Chartres and Tours,
as well as abbeys and mansions and
charming riverside towns and villages.
Other places of
outstanding interest include Orléans,
famous for its associations with Jeanne
d’Arc, with a beautiful cathedral,
the Musée des Beaux Arts and
16th-century Hôtel de Ville;
and Bourges, a 15th-century
town, complete with maisons and
museums and the Cathedral of St
Etienne. The charming little town
of Loches, southeast of Tours,
has a fine château and an interesting
walled medieval quarter. It was in the
heartland of the Touraine where
the true cuisine of France developed (Touraine was given the name ‘the
garden of France’).
Languedoc-Roussillon
The combined
territories of Languedoc and Roussillon
include five Départements: Aude,
Gard, Hérault, Lozère and Pyrénées-Oriental. The area has been
French since the 13th century and the
name languedoc comes from lang
d’oc or language in which ‘yes’
is oc (as opposed to langue d’oie
the language in which ‘yes’ is oui).
This ancient language is still heard
throughout the south of France, on both
sides of the Rhône. The Mediterranean
coast between Perpignan (the
ancient capital of the Kings of
Mallorca) and Montpellier now
has one of the most modern holiday
complexes in Europe, including the
resorts of La Grande Motte, Port
Leucate and Port Bacarès.
More wine is produced in
Languedoc-Roussillon than any other
place in the world. The vineyards,
started in the Roman era and producing
red, white and rosé wine, begin in the
Narbonne area, run past Béziers
(the wine marketing centre for the
region) and on to Montpellier.
Once an important seaport which
imported spices (its name derives from
‘the Mount of Spice Merchants’),
the city is an important intellectual
and university centre with five fine
museums, impressive 17th- and
18th-century architecture and a superb
summer music festival. There are a
great variety of other attractions in
this warm Southland. The Roman ruins are often
magnificent; the Maison Carré,
Diana’s Temple and the Roman
Arena in Nîmes, the Rome of
the Gauls, are among the finest
examples of Greco-Roman architecture to
be found today. The 2000-year-old
Pont de Gard is one of man’s
greatest architectural accomplishments
and certainly merits a special trip.
There is the medieval city of Aigues-Mortes
which would still be recognizable
to St Louis and his crusaders, for it
was from here they embarked for the
east; and the crenelated walled city of
Carcassonne and towers of Uzès
are unmissable.
The Canal du Midi,
ideal for cruise holidays, is a
tranquil waterway, largely abandoned by
commerce, that connects the Atlantic
with the Mediterranean. It runs through
the sleepy village of Castelnaudary,
famous for its cassoulet, past
the citadel of Carcassonne and on
through Montpellier.
Rhône, Savoie &
Dauphiny
This region includes
the French Alps and their foothills,
and the vast long valleys of the Rhône
and Saône rivers. The Départements
are Loire, Rhône, Ain, Ardèche,
Drôme, Isère, Savoie and Haute-Savoie.
Lyon, in the
deepest part of the Rhône valley, has
a proud gastronomic tradition. As
France’s second city, Lyon is a major
cultural, artistic, financial and
industrial centre, with international
festivals and trade fairs. The Cathedral
of St Jean is well worth a visit,
as are the Roman remains of the city,
and the Musée de la Civilisation
Gallo-Romaine. The French Alps
stretch across Savoie and Dauphiny on
the border with Italy. Napoleon came
this way after escaping from Elba in
1815. Landing with 100 men near Cannes,
he intended to march along the coast to
Marseille and up the Rhône Valley to
Lyon and Paris, but he received reports
that the population on that route was
hostile and was forced instead to head
inland through the mountains. They
reached Gap (150km/93 miles from
the coast) in four days, Grenoble
a few days after and arrived in Paris
(1152km/715 miles from Cannes) in 20
days with a large and loyal army in
tow. It is possible to retrace his
route, which passes through much
beautiful scenery; each stopping place
is clearly marked. The Alps have
demanded much of France’s engineers
and some of the roads and railways are
themselves tourist attractions. Notable
examples include the 9km (6-mile) steam
locomotive run from La Rochette
to Poncharra (about 40km/24
miles from Grenoble); and the 32km
(19-mile) track (electrified in 1903)
from Saint-Georges-de-Commiers
to la Mira (near Grenoble), with
133 curves, 18 tunnels and 12 viaducts.
As in most mountainous regions of the
world, white-water boating (randonnées
nautiques) can be enjoyed on many
of the Alpine rivers. Hiking is popular
and well organized, utilizing the GR (grandes
randonnées or main trails) maps
that show where the official marked
trails pass. The rivers racing from the
Alpine heights into the Rhône provide
a great deal of electrical power and
good opportunities for trout fishing.
The Fédération des associations
agréées de Pêche et de Pisciculture
de la Drôme in Valence can lead a
fisherman to the right spot (HQ in
Valence, but branches in 36 cities).
Skiing, however, is the principle sport
in the French Alps. The best skiing is
found, for the most part, west of
Grenoble and south of Lake Geneva. All
the resorts are well-equipped, provide
warm, comfortable lodgings and good
food. Some specialize in skiing the
year round, but almost all have summer
seasons with facilities such as golf
courses, tennis courts, swimming pools
and natural lakes. At the lake resort
of Annecy, there is an unusual Bell
Museum with a very fine restaurant
attached; international festivals of
gastronomy are held throughout the
year.
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