Posts Tagged ‘Nantes’

Postcards of Bretagne

August 18th, 2010

The advantage to cycling through a region is you get to see a its beauty in a way you can’t from the window of a train. Here are a few pics I liked from riding the bike from Brest to Nantes, with stops in Quimper, Vannes, Lorient and St. Nazaire.

It’s a beautiful area – with ports, beachfront, farmland and some amazing scenery. Signs throughout are in French and Celtic due to the strong Celtic heritage of the area. I didn’t have time, unfortunately, but regular cruises around Vannes showcase an amazing bay with stunning islands and coastline.

 

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A quiet home miles from any town.

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I loved this house. It was like something you’d leave breadcrumbs to find your way back to.

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There weren’t a lot of them, but some homes still had windmills standing.

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In Bretagne, the tides are significant. Hopefully no one wants to go sailing this morning!

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Loved this bridge, on the road to Nantes.

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Brest is pretty bland architecturally because the town had the crap kicked out of it during WWII. The Allies bombed it to hell because the Germans were working on a sub there. So, all of the buildings are 50s, 60s and 70s style. But it has a massive chateau that withstood the bombing and has a very busy port. This pic is of a dry dock, which I’d never seen before. The gate opens, water fills it up, the ship floats in and then the dock is drained.

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Part of a garden and the old town walls in Vannes.