Brittany and the Mont St Michel
Brittany is a peninsula which is situated on the west of France. It’s a “département” (county) with a strong personality. This old Celtic duchy has a very richheritage and is visited every year by hundreds of thousand people.
First of all, let’s speak about the gastronomy of Brittany. The most well-known dessert for visitors arethe French “crepes” filled with savoury ingredients (like ham and cheese) but also chocolate, fruit or ice cream. By the way we haven’t spoken about the favourite main-course in Brittany, which isseafood such as oysters, shrimps, crayfish, crabs and scallops.
Leisure
Like in every region the coast, you can go biking or hikingalong the coastline, on the hills of sand and practise sea sport. There are hiking trails everywhere, and beautiful beaches. Besides, with the tide the scenery and the light are always different.
Well, if you find the ocean too cold we can suggest that you take a walk in the Natural Park of Armoriqueor in the Broceliande’s Forest known for the legend of King Arthur.
As far as culture is concerned, we can quote all the major harbours of the west coast of France such as St Malo with its wonderful cathedral with its fortifications or you can visit Douarnenez, another harbour with a museum which has a great collection of boats. In this region there are so many harbours so we can’t quote all of them.
Saint Malo
In addition to the cultural side of the Brittany we can add that you can follow the Celtic tracks by visiting the site of Carnac; an old land with only three thousandsmenhirs! Brittany is a land of many legends, have you ever read Asterix ? Well, that’s where he and his tribe are from, and this comic is full of old traditions from Brittany. As in all Celtic places, music also takes an important place. That’s why you should not miss the “fest-noz”, traditional music and dance festival which take place in the evening and where everyone is free to go. It’s really fun! Fest Noz is actually part of UNESCO cultural heritage.
CarnacA FestNoz
Mont Saint Michel
Mont Saint Michel is the second most visited site of France. Mont Saint Michel is both a small town and a religious place, on a very big rock on the northern coast of Brittany.
We can reach it at low tide but the road is covered by water at high tide. The legend says that the rising tide reaches the speed of a galloping horse.
At the top of the mount, there is the abbey of the Mont Saint Michel, which is a part of the UNESCO world heritage list. More than 3 million people visit it each year.
The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times, and since the 8thcentury AD it has been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name. The structural composition of the town symbolizes the feudal society. On top of itisGod, the abbey and monastery, below we find the Great halls, then stores and housing, and at the bottom, outside the walls, fishermen and farmers housing.
Another speciality of Brittany is the «GalettesBretonnes», which is like shortbread cookie. There you can taste the “Galettes St Michel”!
here you can see tourist who are trapped by the rising tide