Brittany, France - Day 5-8, July 22-25, 2016

Day 5 – France – Friday, July 22, 2016

We packed up early, had another delicious breakfast at the hotel and headed south and west toward Brittany via the narrow, windy, hedge-rowed, narrow back roads through the countryside and many small towns. This area, as well as Brittany, has more hills and valleys than I had thought … very pretty.

Mount Saint Michel - France

Mount Saint Michel … We were here 19 years ago but wanted to stop again to see this magnificent icon of France. It’s hard to imagine how the chapel, abbey, houses and other buildings were actually engineered to create a functioning village on this little mountain which protrudes out of the tidal flat of the Atlantic Ocean.  The church with its high tower with a golden St. Michael the Archangel perched on top, the towering turrets and the spiraling spindles decorating the outside sit on top of the other buildings which are tucked around the mound.  This is considered one of the wonders of the western world!  We didn’t climb all the way up to the chapel … my excuse is we did that last time!  We did go about half way up to get a nice view of the area.  A causeway connects the fortress island to the mainland that is only used by the free shuttles which take us, cyclists, walkers and horse-drawn carriages to and from the mainland parking lot!  When we arrived, it was high tide which meant the water reached right up to the causeway.  An hour later, the tide had receded back several hundred feet … leaving a plethora of goodies for the birds to feed on. This area is said to have the highest tides in Europe. We only stayed long enough to reacquaint ourselves with Mount Saint Michel and purchase a few trinkets for the family … this is definitely a must-visit when in France!

It was another three hours before we got to Portsall, Brittany.  This is where we ran into a snag … the car’s GPS would not, would not, never did recognize the address of the B&B that we are staying at; so it took better than an hour to actually find this sweet little stone farmhouse get-away. Once here, our hosts graciously offered us the local hard cider … so refreshing!  We’re here for another French wedding … this time the sister of the young lady whose wedding we attended last year in the foothills of the Pyrenees of South West France.  Tonight we just drove around to become acquainted with the coastal area and the location of our friend’s house and the church.  Yet another wonderful French dinner consisting of buckwheat pancakes (looked like crepes), mine topped with yummy grilled goat cheese and bacon; Bob’s topped with scrumptious large scallops, shrimp and thinly sliced veggies.  Many of the restaurants in this area are called creperies … and they serve mainly crepes … complete meals … meaning topped with a variety of meats and seafood goodies.  Who would have thought??

Day 6 – France – Saturday, July 23, 2016 … We are enjoying our quaint B & B, a remodeled stone

Breakfast at the B&B

farmhouse with walls over two feet thick! The Continental Breakfast consists of a delicious croissant, baguettes with the tastiest butter and/or a couple of the madam’s homemade jams, fruit, yogurt and tea or coffee.  The grounds of the B & B are covered everywhere with a multitude of plants, flowers, hedges, ground cover, arbors, and trees as well as a vegetable garden tucked in the corner.  The entrance area is the same with the addition of a small pond and a narrow path up to the front door.  So cute and relaxing! 

Tiffany and Raul

Around noon we went to the church in Portsall to help Jeanette (my childhood friend and mother of the bride) decorate the pews.  My crafty friends might appreciate the beautiful, yet simple blue hydrangeas with a white ribbon draping down the stem, tied to the ends of the pews with raffia.  Once again it was a beautiful wedding with a mixture of French and English throughout the Mass. Philippe (father of the bride) surprised Tiffany and Raul with a three-piece “band” … a flute, a drum and a bagpipe … playing local Celtic music as they exited the church …PLUS a cute horse-drawn carriage!  The front of the church is on the hill overlooking the bay dotted with many sail boats.  A beautiful site, but unfortunately it was low tide so all the boats were sitting in the muck at that particular moment as the entire bay empties itself every ebb tide!

 The reception was at a Maison, or country house, which was simply charming with its vine-covered

17-Piece Celtic Band at the
Reception

stone walls and huge blue hydrangea bushes surrounding the little courtyard where the festivities began. The dining room was narrow but had a few ocean blue silky banners hanging down the walls with blue lighting accenting them, and the tables were covered with white linen cloths, a blue silky runner, blue candles and a small white bouquet of flowers on a mirror in the middle.  This time there was a locally renown 17-piece Celtic/Brittany band to greet the bride and groom … Brittany is the area where the Celtics originated, and people here are proud of that and do keep up many of the Celtic traditions.  This portion of the reception in the courtyard consisted of either wine, Champaign or a Blue Lagoon (blue for the color theme of the wedding!), and, of course, many simply scrumptious little appetizers. 

After a couple hours we sat down to dinner … a four-course dinner that lasted for about four hours.  I should have remembered this routine from last year’s wedding … the French have this wonderful tradition of lingering over and thoroughly enjoying their meals, one course at a time!  And all the while the Champaign and wine were lavishly being poured! The toasts to Tiffany and Raul were heart-felt, especially the slide show by her dad, Philippe . By time the dancing began, about 1:00 a.m., Bob and I were ready to call it a day!  (We are told the dancing went on until 4 a.m.) What an honor it has been to be invited to participate in this special day.

Day 7 – France – Sunday, July 24, 2016 … I took this opportunity to sleep in a bit while Bob enjoyed the Continental breakfast, with two other local guests here at the B&B.  We easily found the church in Ploudalmezeau (try wrapping that word around your tongue so you can communicate with the locals!!!) and attended 10:30 Mass.  It was another lovely, ornately decorated French church with a tall steeple, a stained glass crucifix behind the Altar and many beautiful stained glass windows throughout the church.  The afternoon was spent back at the Maison of last night’s reception, this time for the traditional day-after-the-wedding lunch. 

So wouldn’t you know that Jeanette and Philippe pulled off yet another wonderful gathering for about 40 of us guests.  First we were served either Blue Lagoons, red wine, or an aperitif made with white wine and black currant kir called Crème de Cassis (tastes almost like port), while some of the smaller children passed around a few munchies.  Oh, and Philippe was dressed in his sailor’s uniform …red suspenders, blue and white horizontal striped shirt with a unique round white sailor’s hat with a blue head-band and a red bob on top (you have to know that he loves to sail and has sailed his boat all over the North Atlantic/English Channel area).  Lunch

Frying galette --
our lunch

was a variety of crepes, prepared to order for us as we waited in line by two people who were dressed in traditional wait-staff from old Brittany.  First course was thin buckwheat crepes called galette that were topped with an egg, cheese and ham, eaten with a vinaigrette salad.  The second course was another galette, this time with bacon, cheese and mushrooms.  If you were still hungry, next course were crepes for dessert … wheat crepes topped with flaming Grand Mariner, and you could also add your own caramel, chocolate, Nutella and/or assorted local jams and fruit.  Plus, of course, all served with hard apple cider for which this region is well known.  Oh my … LOVE French food (though I have to say it would have been nice to have maple syrup as a choice!!)!

We stayed on to help a bit with the cleanup. Then we drove to the beach along the Atlantic, which is less than a mile from where we are staying.  It was again low tide, so the beach was very, very wide, though there was the pervasive smell of low tide.  There were a couple of wind surfers in wet suits, as well as a few ruminants of concrete German bunkers remaining from WWII, part of the “Atlantic Wall”.  It’s a bit cool today, so we didn’t stay long.  It’s been an enjoyable, relaxing day visiting with the many family and friends we’ve met in the last two years … so I don’t know why I’m so tired this evening.

Day 8 – France – Monday, July 25, 2016 … This has been a nice leisurely morning beginning with breakfast here at the B&B and having a lovely conversation with the owners, who do not speak a word of English!! But Bob stumbles through with the French he does know and they are very patient with us, so we were able to talk about our families and the climate and flora differences between Brittany and ours.  It was also a time for repacking for the remaining few days in France and planning our route through the Loire Valley the next two days. 

Le guilliguy
Portsall, Brittany, France

We climbed the hill beside the bay in Portsall called Le Guilliguy, a Place of Meditation, dating back to the Bronze Age before Christ.   Perched on top of this large rock is a 15’ cross carved as one piece out of stone. The site provided a great panoramic view of a large portion of the coastline, plus there was a small stone-henge type structure close to the base of the cross where it is presumed someone was buried hundreds of years ago.  We also viewed the anchor on display of the Amoco Cadiz, the ship that broke  up close to the bay dumping over 200,000 gallons of crude oil into the bay and surrounding water in 1978.  It was the largest ecological disaster of the 20^th century … but you wouldn’t know anything happened today. 

The /Atlantic Coastline in
Brittany, France

Chapel of Saint Samson

Jeanette and Philippe were gracious enough to have us over for lunch, and then Jeanette took us on a little tour of the coastline.  This area of the Atlantic is very interesting with its high rock sea wall in many places, rocky areas along the sea wall, many inlets and bays, and many protruding rocks and islands as one looks out to sea. Then, of course, the inlets and bays are dotted with many sail boats and other watercraft that sit on the ground during low tide and sway in the water during high tide. Of course we had to visit the local little chapel, The Chapel of Saint Samson, the Welch missionary who brought Christianity to the Finitere region in the 6^th century, whose legend is that of many miraculous healings. The chapel has been beautifully restored inside.  By then it was tea time, and we stopped at a boat-turned-tea house and shoppe, Fleur Des Thes, where I had seaweed tea with cinnamon and cardamom … not bad!  Bob played it safe with Café au lait. Then it was time to bid farewell to very good friends, promising to come back again soon!

After another great French dinner of smoked salmon, we are getting ready to leave early tomorrow.  It has been fun and interesting to learn more about Brittany, its history and culture, its climate and vegetation and its magnificent sea coast.  Yes, we will be back some day.