Brittany questions
 

We are considering a barge trip next fall using Locaboats. Has anyone barged in Brittany? We want to do a week, probably from Redon to Dinan.

Before the barge trip, we will have 10-14 days. The tentative plan is to do a week in Paris, and then a week in Normandy and/or Brittany. If it were you, where would you go? We love hiking, small villages, ancient ruins, oysters, good value food and places to stay. We are defiinitely budget travelers, not high-flyers! We will probably rent a car but would rather not be driving every day. Maybe one or two bases with lots of day trips? Any ideas for itineraries would be most welcome.

Thanks,

JoAnne

With a week, and assuming you'll have a car, I'd make my way from Paris to Redon via Rouen, Honfleur, Bayeux, Le Mont St-Michel, Fougères, and Viré

I would go to the western part of Brittany to visit the "calvaires". You might be interested in looking up my trip report Ghent, Normandy and Brittany.

You will certainly want to visit the area south of Rennes, especially the megaliths and tumuli near Carnac. You will have no difficulty in finding oysters, but Concarneau would combine the bivalves with an interesting walled city.

I can recommend a very nice hotel not far from Carnac, the Moulin des Ducs; it's in the hills near Moëlan-sur-Mer. We enjoyed our stay there very much: secluded, pretty room, good food.

Thanks for all your wonderful suggestions. Not to be too ignorant, but what are "calvaires"? I will look at your trip report, thanks.

Calvaires are calvaries, depictions in stone statues of scenes from the crufixion of Jesus. They are found in sections of Brittany in front of churches, often raised on high plinths so parishioners could stand around them while a priest gave a sermon. The calvaries are better known as "parish closes" and are to be found primarily in Lower Brittany. One of the best is in Pleyben, but a umber of other small towns hae fine examples.

Thanks, Underhill! That's the kind of thing we really love.

If you're interested in more recommendations/itineraries, you can check out the three-part series I wrote on Brittany for the bonjourparis.com web site. The link is

http://www.bonjourparis.com/pages/se...Jean+Underhill

Look for "On the Road in Brittany."

Have a great time--there's so much of historic and prehistoric interest in Brittany.