I am starting today a new travel photo series, covering a trip we did in the spring of 2015. You might wonder why I post these pictures so late. I have to confess that I am rather slow at working on my photos, as I am still honing my post processing skills, and other travels keep getting in the way of completing my albums.
A drive into BRITTANY and NORMANDY had been near the top of our European Bucket List for a long time, so finally after another stay in our favorite European city Paris, we got our act together and headed for that really quite close area. The pictures in this series are excerpts from my more voluminous 3 photo albums, which I posted last year on my website (weberwest.weebly.com). Obviously I can only show a brief selection here and as the pictures come from these albums, they will at times, but not consistently, show titling overlays. I hope you will enjoy this foray into France's "Wild West" - we certainly did!
RENNES, the capital city of Brittany, lies 350 easy driving kilometers west of Paris. It is certified as a city of art and history going back for more than 2000 years and its center boasts a large number of very interesting and historic half-timbered buildings as well as a cathedral and a number of churches. Rennes invests heavily in arts and culture, is a major university town and enjoys a good reputation of excellent food.
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2380 - Quiberon: Rocky beach at low tide with Turpault Castle
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Map of our drive through Brittany & Normandy showing major places covered
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0003 - Opera building in Rennes
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2192 - Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Rennes, built and re-built 1541-1845
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2199 - Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Rennes: Nave, altar and ornate ceiling
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2228 - Square Rallier du Bati with ancient buildings
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2231 - Holy Saviour Basilica: Nave with main altar
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2239 - Holy Saviour Basilica: Modern stained glass window
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2181 - Ancient half-timbered building in the old town core
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2032 - Eating well in Rennes: Appetizer of crabmeat tartar
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Interesting images, thanks for the tour.
Longshadow wrote:
Interesting images, thanks for the tour.
You are very welcome - thanks for looking in.
Good set. I particularly like 2228 - Square Rallier du Bati with ancient buildings.
I wonder why there are no people around.
RichardTaylor wrote:
Good set. I particularly like 2228 - Square Rallier du Bati with ancient buildings.
I wonder why there are no people around.
Hi Richard - thanks for looking in. Yes, square Rallier du Bati is nice and there are actually a multitude of old buildings in this city. As to why there are no people around .... it was not a very nice day, and I think shortly after I took the square picture, we actually had a very heavy downpour - so possibly the feeling was already in the air. But I also have to say that I try to get as little as possible people into my pictures, I guess just a bad habit of mine - I actually like to see locals in the pictures, but would prefer not to see tourists (like myself) in there - go figure!
I find the interior shots to be absolutely stunning.
We often visit Brittany using the car ferry from England to Roscoff, Cherbourg or Oustrieham so we know that area very well. Your photographs show the typical buildings found everywhere in that region and I like them very much.
Looking at your map however, my initial thought that with all those kilometres you drove it makes me wonder how you had time to see anything properly.
Beautiful and interesting photos. I vacationed in Normandy several years ago, but didn't have the time to tour Britany. The map you provided is the tour I would like to make. How many days was your trip, time of year and hotel accommodations? I don't usually make hotel accommodations in advance and find lodging as I travel. Especially visiting an area that is new to me, it gives me flexibility, but risky during tourist season.
I am so glad you finally did these and I got a chance to see them. The images of the insides of those Cathedrals are incredibly beautiful and I wish I could do the same some day ......health & finances permitting.
Nice work and more please whenever you're ready. HA.
olemikey
Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida
Great set, nice tour, surely there must be more!!!
Excelent shots but in particular the last one for the end of the day.
johneccles wrote:
We often visit Brittany using the car ferry from England to Roscoff, Cherbourg or Oustrieham so we know that area very well. Your photographs show the typical buildings found everywhere in that region and I like them very much.
Looking at your map however, my initial thought that with all those kilometres you drove it makes me wonder how you had time to see anything properly.
Hi John - thanks for your comments, and yes, I am very fond of the typical building styles in this area, it brings you back to ages long past.
As far as the driving is concerned and having time to see anything properly: our normal mode of operation is to start reasonable early in the morning, see a couple of interesting places on the way, get into the final destination in early afternoon and have sufficient time to properly explore this final destination. Many of these destinations on this trip were relatively small, so that gave us enough time.
Every few days, we stay for a couple of days in one destination to have a bit more rest and to explore the town and/or the surroundings at more leisure. Starting from Paris and ending up in Honfleur was a total distance of 1880 km, done over a period of 12 days this averages out to 150 km which you easily drive in 2-3 hours, plus the in-between sightseeing. Included in that is the first day drive from Paris to Rennes with 350 km, so the rest of the average comes in at some 120 km, we find this a relatively easy schedule. I managed to shoot some 2300 photos during that trip segment, so I must have had some time ... ;)
Of course after that, we had a rather long, 810 km drive from Honfleur to Switzerland, but that's another story - and basically just a test of endurance.
loboimages wrote:
Beautiful and interesting photos. I vacationed in Normandy several years ago, but didn't have the time to tour Britany. The map you provided is the tour I would like to make. How many days was your trip, time of year and hotel accommodations? I don't usually make hotel accommodations in advance and find lodging as I travel. Especially visiting an area that is new to me, it gives me flexibility, but risky during tourist season.
Thank you for looking and for your comments. I first wasn't going to include the map, as it is not a photo, but then thought that this would bring things a bit more into perspective and make it more informative, and it seems that this is welcome. This drive was part of a much longer visit to Europe, we started out in London visiting our daughters family for 10 days, then spent 2 weeks in Paris, then after this drive we spent another 2 weeks in Switzerland. All places we often visit for family reasons, so this drive was the real "adventure" part and new to us.
We did the drive from May 18 to May 30. Like you, we only make hotel reservations for the first day and have a good idea of the route we want to take, but then decide from day-to-day how long to stay and where to stop. We normally try not to drive at the height of the tourist season, so finding accommodation has never been a problem for us, and we have used this method basically for 30 years or so.
In a short while, I will send you by private mail a bit more material on this trip.
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