B is for Brittany

November 2, 2023 /

Back in 2018, we took a trip to France to celebrate our daughter Maya’s graduation from UC Berkeley, as well as our 25th wedding anniversary. Ted and Maya had gone to England the year before, with his mom and brother, to visit family there. On that trip, they took a couple of days on their own in Paris, which they loved. The last time I had been in France was in 1993, on our honeymoon.

Ted has a friend, Jean-Marc, from his days in graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. Jean-Marc is French and was at Penn studying US History, and now is a professor in Brest, on the far west coast of Brittany. So while we were planning our trip, it seemed like it would be fun to see more of France than Paris, and we decided to spend several days in Brittany.

We stayed in the village of Plougonvelin, at a place called Point Saint Mathieu. Across the street from us was the ruins of a medievel abbey, said to once hold relics of the apostle Matthew. The area is a busy shipping route, being right on the ocean, so there are several lighthouses.

Jean-Marc took us to visit Locronan, above. Such a picturesque village! While there we had some amazing crepes. I’ve never had a crepe I like in the US, and I’ve never had a bad one in France.

Jean-Marc and Ted

In addition to Locronan, he took us to the beautiful town of Quimper.

Quimper

Quimper was much larger and more bustling than Locronan, though not a large city. I would love to retire there, though I am sure it’s complicated to just up and move to another country like that, surely there are rules. Oh yeah, and money. But the whole vibe is just so lovely.

Inhabited Bridge in Landerneau

Another village we liked was Landerneau, which houses a cool artist community, and if we were wealthy I think we might have come home with some art.

The street signs in Brittany are in both French and Breton, and many children attend bilingual schools. According to Wikipedia, Breton is a Celtic language, and was brought from Great Britain to this region in the early Middle Ages, and is most closely related to Cornish. Breton is an endangered language, though the street signs and bilingual schools mean that there are serious efforts to keep it alive. I liked hearing a bit of it here and there, though I understood nothing.

Overall I adored Brittany. I would go back in a heartbeat, it is truly beautiful.

29 Comments

  • Daria

    November 2, 2023 at 4:37 am

    Oh how wonderful! The kids and I are going to Paris for one week in April (spring break) and staying in Le marais airbnb. I heard that Paris apartments are tiny but s’all good. I can’t wait. L will be 6, R- 4 so they will be more independent. heck, L went to Russia with me at 18 months and R went to iceland at 2 years old (granted we had a car there). I love the moodiness of the lanscapes/citiscapes in your photos.

    • J

      November 2, 2023 at 5:46 am

      Daria, have you been to Paris before? I love that neighborhood, I think it’s perfect. I was in Paris last year, and that’s one neighborhood we missed, but we stayed there (in a tiny apartment) on my honeymoon 30 years ago. I’m feeling wistful now!

  • Margaret

    November 2, 2023 at 8:37 am

    Brittany looks fabulous; I love those ancient buildings! I’ve never made it there in my travels and would like to visit France again although I would want to visit Alsace the most. France is so varied and with such beauty.

  • Suzanne

    November 2, 2023 at 8:59 am

    These photos are amazing. I love France and have been fortunate to visit several different cities, but I have never been to Brittany! Now it is on my list, though, thanks to this post!

    • J

      November 2, 2023 at 1:02 pm

      Beckett, I love Paris and the big cities, but love the smaller areas too! France is my favorite country to visit (so far).

  • nance

    November 2, 2023 at 11:27 am

    Truly gorgeous photos. Being able to get together with a friend makes travelling to a spot even more wonderful. It personalizes the place and makes the memories that much more special.

    • J

      November 2, 2023 at 1:04 pm

      Nance, seeing Jean Marc was truly wonderful. The last time we saw him, I wasn’t even pregnant with Maya yet, it had been a LONG time.

  • Jenny

    November 2, 2023 at 2:17 pm

    This is beautiful! I’ve been to Paris, but nowhere else in France. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Breton- does it sound at all like English?
    Your photos are amazing!

    • J

      November 2, 2023 at 4:04 pm

      Jenny, Breton is part of the Celtic language group, and to me sounds NOTHING like English. Closer to Welch I think. I am glad that we saw more of France when we were there. I ADORE Paris, but the French countryside is varied and truly lovely.

  • Melissa

    November 2, 2023 at 5:54 pm

    Oh wow! I’d love to go to Brittany. Many years ago my husband and I had planned to go but had to cancel our trip, and we’ve never managed to get there.

    • J

      November 3, 2023 at 5:58 am

      Brittany is beautiful, I think you would love it. I know what you mean about planning and cancelling, though. We’ve planned 2 trips to Vancouver and had to cancel both times. I still haven’t been there.

  • San

    November 2, 2023 at 9:54 pm

    How wonderful to have a friend in Brittany that can show you around, what a beautiful corner of the world. I visited Brittany once with Jon (because he lived there for 3 years when he was a toddler). I loved it!

  • ernie

    November 4, 2023 at 3:44 am

    This looks like an amazing trip. I’ve been to Paris when I was studying abroad my junior year of college, but it was our last stop and my brother and I were exhausted. We walked around and then slept and watched movies in the room of the house where we were staying. It was my dad’s work friend who was living there, so they had DVDs in English and we were ‘over it’ after travelilng and guarding our stuff in hostels. It sounds so lazy now and I wish I’d seen more of France. I hope to go back sometime.

    We aren’t big travelers, basically because of budget restrictions and kids’ schedules and the two go hand in hand, I find. 😉 But – we’ve traveled to Europe the last two spring breaks to visit kids who were studying abroad and I can’t wait to see where Mini will study abroad next year.

    • J

      November 4, 2023 at 8:15 am

      Ernie, I hear you on both! Sometimes you need some down time, and then later think, wow, I was in Paris, I should have done more. We went to Europe on our honeymoon, and I was exhausted in England, and don’t remember much about it.

      I also hear you about the financial considerations. We go years without a vacation at all, and I only got back to France after my daughter graduated from college. So many years in there where we did day trips or short holidays close by. Now that our daughter is an adult, we have more freedom. Your day will come!