In the Walled City...

The ferry rides all behind us, we gassed up our hybrid Corolla, and headed off in a westerly direction to Concarneau crossing the Brittany department boundary into Finistère. We chose Concarneau as our next stopping point because of its Ville Close, an ancient walled city occupying an island in its bay.

Concarneau as seen from the entrance to the Close.

We had earlier noticed that Brittany is bilingual, and that was reinforced on the hour's drive to Concarneau. Signs and notices are generally written in both French and Breton (derived from Cornish and Welsh), the latter language looking if not sounding rather guttural compared to the softer and melodious French. Breton words seem to be full of hard P's and K's. But we haven't noticed anyone speaking it, not that we would be certain! Wikipedia says that some 200,000 people speak Breton, about 4% of the population of Brittany, so it's status as a quasi-official language might be more out of cultural respect than pragmatism or anything else.

The walled city is the highlight of Concarneau. It looks like a huge fort and sits on a sandy island directly opposite a rather large town square (really a car park) and is easily accessed (now) by a short bridge. Cars can use the bridge, but are discouraged, and are prohibited in summer, but we walked in and all around the Close. It's truly fascinating. Buildings there have been rebirthed as bars, cafes and shops to attract visitors, and (it goes without saying) almost all of them were totally closed for the season, a great pity. From the ancient ramparts we saw the tiny little ferry (we'd call it a water taxi) which plies the waters around the Close.

Entrance to the walled city, pretty dry at low tide.

Just another closed cafe within the walled city.

Town square of the walled city.

Tiny ferry nipping around Concarneau port.

We read that a walled township of "fishermen and bourgeois" has existed on this island since the 1300's, and its strategic defensive value was quickly of interest to military forces. Over the years, it has been fortfied and refortified in the hands of forces belonging to "Duchy, King, English, Protestant, and Leaguers". A battle in 1373 (as part of the One Hundred Year War, the Plantagenet kings' failed attempt to rule over France) involved a seige of the Close and ended with the English being chased off.

The Ville Close from the air. (Credit Jean-Jacques Abalain and Wikipedia)

In Concarneau, we stayed about a km from the Close on White Sands Beach at the Hotel des Sables Blancs. At high tide, the waves crashed into the walls of the hotel: at low tide, a wide grubby looking beach was evident. Maybe the sands look whiter under summer sunshine, but we saw little of that commodity. Our room was compact but we had a great view of the waves right from our bed. The ubiquitous room heaters and hot towel rails kept everything cosy. The bar and restaurant had similar views, and we took advantage of these facilities over four days. The hotel faces south, and we could see both the rise and fall of the winter sun as it worked its slender arc over the horizon. This kept our room nice and warm, and we found it remarkable (throughout this trip) how low the sun is throughout the day. We who live closer to the equator are not used to that!

Bedroom at Hotel des Sable Blancs.

Early morning dive boat close to shore on the Plage des Sables Blancs.

Unconvincing white sands beach, our hotel middle right.

In the town square, we found the usual winter problem. Virtually nothing was open, and the one or two cafes which did open, did so only for an hour or two at "midi" and "soir". Where we did eat, printed menus and signboards appeared to cover summer options, and you only could have what was actually in the kitchen. You never know what's not available until you ask for it. Anyway, about now we decided that we were eating too much, and the dining times enforced by these inflexible rules didn't suit our stomachs, especially after a decent breakfast. Lunch was too early, and dinner was too late. Many meals were taken of delicious fresh baguette from a boulangerie, plus cheese from a market. We might even lose some weight if we manage this carefully! The most reliable shops were outside of Centre Ville in busy malls where locals shop - finding them was simplified by having a choice of navigators and a car to get us there.

Riverside house on the outskirts of Concarneau.