1) Aerial view of St. Malo - France
This old fortified port is unbelievably charming & still
a hive of activity. Someone has said
that it is smaller than the Jardin de Tuilleries in Paris & this air photograph shows how
true that is. The walls are still
completely intact, but after the revolution in 1794 they dismantled the guns
trained on the town, but there was considerably more fighting against the
English after that. The entire bay was
tremendously fortified - 11 forts altogether, on every rocky islet, & they
are still there.
2) St. Malo - View of
Chateau and street
This shows part of the walls & the castle built by the
Duchesse Anne's grandfather. She was a
hard bitten old dame. The round tower is
called "qui qu'en grogne" - whoever grumbles. She was fixing up a few extra guns facing the
town & they sent a deputation to protest.
She replied "I wish it & it shall be qui qu'en grogne" -
so to hell with the lot of you! There is
now a marvellous collection of Breton antiquities in the castle, & R. was
interested to find that one of the designs were the same as the Celtic carvings
- actually were the same as in Iona & the
Orkneys - Brittany was Celtic too!
3) St. Malo - Fishing boats
in the port
These are the small inshore fisher boats that go out
trawling for mackerel, manned by the old men.
The young men go over to Newfoundland
for cod & other fish. We watched the
old papas come in from 5 to 7 every night, anchor & go to the quay in their
dinghies with their baskets of fish.
Their old wives were waiting and they rush off into the town & sit
in the street selling off the fish till it is gone. If the catch is big it goes to the market
next morning. Today was low tide. The harbour looked indecently naked & all
the boats were lying about drunk till the tide rescued them.
4) St. Malo - Statue of
Jacques Cartier
This statue up on the walls was paid for by subscriptions in
Canada
& locally. In the castle are the
remains of Cartier's smallest boat that sunk in the St.
Charles River at Quebec. It was recovered in 1814 after 300 years,
& sent by the Quebec historical society to
France. I don't know when it was sent, but not in
1814, I imagine, when we were still fighting Napoleon. They don't make a great fuss over Cartier as
losing Canada
must have taken the shine off his exploits.
5) Dinan - St. Sauveur church
This church being made of hard granite, is not nearly so
beautifully carved as the elaborate churches in Normandy.
It was beautifully decorated with flowers however, mostly field daisies,
cornflowers and roses. Just behind the
church is a garden with a marvellous view of the River Rance, up which we
sailed this morning & very lovely it was.
6) Dinan - Castle
of Anne, Duchess of Brittany
Dinan - This little town is almost completely surrounded by
its medieval walls & one walks along the top from tower to tower. This is the Chateau of the Duchess Anne of Brittany who married two kings of France in
succession. Having twice been Queen of
France makes no impression on the people here.
They call her the Duchess of Brittany, for that is what matters. We had lunch on a balcony looking out over
the walls into green trees and foliage.
7) Dinan - A
street of old houses - Rue de la Cordonnerie
There are still several 15th century streets like this here
with tumbledown old houses that certainly don't smell so good. R. says that every other shop is trying to
sell plumbing of sorts but it seems to me with little success. One catches sight of old dressers, beds and
winding stairs to the upper floors. Some
of the older women wear their white coifs, but the younger ones do not.
8) Dol-de-Bretagne - Cathedral porch - 15th Century
Dol is the railway junction between St. Malo and Mont. St. Michel, but fortunately there is this small
cathedral & a good hotel to help pass the time. The churches frankly are not equal to those
in Normandy
as they could not manipulate the stone so well.
But for the elaborate tracery they have transported stone all the way
from Caen in Normandy where we were last year. Some quite good glass in this church &
many pretty shade trees which do not show in the picture.
9) Dol - Tomb of the Bishop Thomas James
This Renaissance tomb is the glory of the interior of this
little cathedral. It was carved by two
Italians who came to France
& settled at Tours
where they founded a school of carving.
It was blazing hot here, so we sat in the church and cooled off. It was so dark & pleasant in there. Unfortunately, all the strange animals the sculptors
have conjured up hardly show in this post card.
Note the English name of the Bishop.
The Breton monasteries are closely linked with England & especially Wales.
10) Dol-de-Bretagne - Main street
This is the main street of Dol, showing some of the medieval
houses, but they are quite 300 years later than the Romanesque house in the
next card.
11) Dol-de-Bretagne - La Maison des Plaids (old house)
This is the oldest house in France. As you see by the semi-circular windows that are
now filled in, it is Norman or Romanesque as they call it here. There are several other old houses in the
main street of this little town, and strange to relate all in very good
condition.
12) Mont St. Michel -
Full island, taken from the north-east
Mont. St. Michel is certainly
going to be the big thrill of our whole trip, but what an effort getting to the
top of the mount. We decided to spend
the night there in one of the half dozen hotels on the Grande Rue leading up to
the Abbey. The hotel went up & up
with a winding staircase, as there was so little ground to build on. Apart from the hotels and a couple of cafes,
all the space was given up to souvenir shops filled with the most disgusting
junk imaginable. The saleswomen stood
out in the narrow street about 10 feet wide, & repeated their chant urging
you to buy, ...
13) Mont St. Michel - Full island,
taken from the north (slightly different angle)
... have a cup of coffee or stay at their hotels. They were as bad as the Moroccans at St. Malo
trying to sell rugs, pouffes & Breton bracelets. One shook them off like flies. The tourists trailed up the steep street,
many with little children whom they could not leave at home. Believe me those rackety children were no
help when we were going through the echoing chambers of the Abbey. They got very restive & kept running to
terribly dangerous windows & climbing up.
The patience of that guide!
14) Mont St. Michel -
Abbey church, the nave (from inside, looking to the end of the church with
windows)
On the summit of the mount, the monks cleared away their
monastery buildings & started to build this lovely church. The nave as you see is 11th century or
Romanesque & the Chancel 12th to 13th.
The chancel was the glory of the Abbey with light flying buttresses
& tracery, to support the wide windows, which were rather a risk at so
great a height. The refectory, a story
lower down on the side of the rock, was built with 15 narrow windows on each
side. On the top of the spire is a
statue of the winged Michael in copper, but he has often had to...
15) Mont St. Michel -
Abbey church from outside
... be renewed as he is always getting struck by lightning. The church has been set on fire 13 times, of
which 10 by lightning. Once they think
was by the English prisoners of war who were interned here during the
Napoleonic campaigns. As we climbed the
steps to the Abbey, the weather was close & hot. By the time we were in the church there was
an electric storm for fair! Some people
had paid extra to climb the escalier de dentelle among the lacy carving of the
buttresses & they insisted on going.
The forked lightning was rending the sky & the thunder was crashing
about, so we were glad when they got back.
16 Mont St. Michel -
The cloister
The mount was practically impregnable, at any rate to the
English. Henry V made two attempts to
take it after his victory at Agincourt and
they now show you one of his cannon that was captured and an enormous stone
cannonball. The guide was rather
embarrassed at this as he said that France
& England
were such great friends today. Before
this in 1203, one of the French kings sent an expedition against the Bretons
who were never subdued, & in the fray part of the Abbey buildings were
burned. Philip Augustus, the king,
however compensated the monks royally, & with his gift ...
17) Mont St. Michel -
Salle des Chevaliers
... they rebuilt part of their monastery, which they called
La Merveille. The top storey was these
beautiful cloisters, for which they brought some Purbeck marble across the Channel
from England. Underneath was this Salle des Chevaliers, or
scriptorum or library. The earliest
chapters of the Order of St. Michael were held
here.
The two great problems were to get water and food to the
monks. They had a big wheel which they
turned like a treadmill & this pulled a sled up a stone ramp up the side,
with food, stones, etc on it. When the
Napoleonic prisoners of war were there , they had to ...
18) Mont St. Michel -
Salle de l'Aquilon
... feed more people but having plenty of free labour, they
put in a much bigger wheel, which is still there. They used the Abbey until 1864 when it was
turned over to the Office of Works, restored, put in order & got ready for
tourists by 1874. Madame Poulard started
an inn there at the foot of the rock, gave good cooking & specialized in
omelettes which she did superlatively well.
In time she became famous & her prices rose accordingly. She died about four years ago well over
eighty years of age [Actually 80 exactly 1851-1931: GJ]. In the diminutive village along the street
going up the ...
19)
Mont St. Michel - Ramparts and the East Bastion
... rock half the people seemed to be Poulards. The hotel is now run by one of the old girl's
descendants but when we heard his prices we told him it simply could not be
done. He sent us "de sa part"
to the Hotel St. Pierre, which is one of the cheapest, but my word it was
good! Mme Leroy who runs it with her
young son, her husband having been killed in the war, immediately served us
l'omelette Poulard. I worked in their
kitchens in my time," she explained.
"In fact we all did. We know
all Mme Poulard's secrets!" What
meals she gave us! We thought of staying
a second day & doing the Abbey over again, but the effort was too great -
the climb & then 1½ hours on your feet going through.
20) Reproduction of drawing of old Breton lady in
traditional headdress
While we were having dinner about 25 or 30 Breton women, all
wearing caps, trouped up the hill to another hotel. They had been on a pilgrimage to Lisieux, Normandy, where
we were last year & were stopping off at the Mount on their return to Brittany. Some had caps like this, others taller
ones. They looked most attractive
sitting at table.
All the water for the mount has to be brought 5½ miles by pipe
line & is very expensive. No baths
were offered. In the past they depended
on rain water and a well.
21) Vannes - Cathedral - front view
This church is not particularly interesting as it had a
rough journey in its youth and in its old age Renaissance parts were added
& the rest was considerably restored.
However its spires looked well towering above the gables of the old
houses which do not show in this picture.
The interest is in the people, who are more charming & friendly than
the French elsewhere. We talked to one
old woman, for 31 years a dealer in antique Breton furniture - beds &
armoires - and her house facing the apse had tumbled to bits - defriselé - to
use her picturesque expression. She had
re- ...
22) Vannes - close-up image of ancient carved figures on a
house
... built it, but figure to yourself how awful to have a new
house like that in the close! She had
installed her son with a butter & egg business on the ground floor &
retired to the first floor up. Although
the rich old girl owned two houses, she wore the pretty Breton cap. She led us along several streets to show us
this quaint medieval carving on the corner of another house.
All the little kiddies were having their first communion the
day we arrived, so they were all cleaned up & so were their Mammas. The latter wore their bonnets but also black
dresses with full skirts ...
23) Vannes - City walls and defensive tower
... of finely woven alpaca & black velvet bodices, some
of them embroidered. In the evening the
patissiers were sending cakes of chocolate & mocha for their parties. Next morning we saw some of the kiddies going
to be photographed, the boys with great satin bows on their sleeves.
We went into the fish market, which to me was a great sight
with every fishwife wearing her white bonnet, & dispensing lobsters,
shrimp, sardines, etc. Their men were of
course out in the boats.
24) Vannes - Chateau Galilard, formerly the Parliament of Brittany (medieval stone
building)
We then went outside the walls shown in the last picture,
& saw the public lavoirs, part of which were very old indeed. Only the washing on the line shows on the
last [ #23 ] card. We sat on the wall
above the river by the road, & watched the women lay on the soap, rub it
with a brush & make a pile of the family wash on the flat stone before they
rinsed it out in the swift current of the river. Each woman kneeled in a wooden box with the
top & one end removed & this kept them dry. At the end of the row they were boiling the
white ...
25) Vannes - St. Vincent
gate (in the city walls)
... wash in copper kettles over a wood fire. To cart the clothes away, they had little
wheelbarrows without sides.
Here is one of the gates of the town, leading to the river
where we took a boat for a long sail out through the gulf to the open sea,
passing islands on which we say a row of menhirs & a barrow of prehistoric
times. Note the ducal coat of that hard
boiled old ticker Anne de Bretagne, & a statue of St.
Vincent, patron Saint of the town.
I bought the next card of the Conservatoire de Musique, now
defunct, to show the old ...
26) Vannes - Old
City Hall (medieval
building with newer curved staircases)
... staircase which is the same form as the famous one at Fontainebleau, where
Napoleon bade farewell to the Old Guard at the end of the Hundred Days. Close here we saw a woman exercising her
animals in the evening after closing her handbag shop. One was a pure bred Irish setter that had won
first prize at the show & the other a beautiful Siamese kitten six months
old, who had a green harness & lead.
We stayed quite a while, & when we returned next evening the woman
was out but both animals came to the glass door, & the pussy put his hand
through the letter box to be petted!
27) Quimperle - Eglise
St. Michel (14th c) Porch
Quimperlé is divided into the new upper town, & the very
old lower town at the bottom of the hill where two rivers meet. It is extremely picturesque. This church is just at the top of the hill
& is attached by buttresses to the adjoining houses.
The next card gives a very inadequate impression of the
Abbey which is unique in France,
being in the circular form of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. In England
we have four of these round churches, one in the Temple
London, another at Cambridge,
one at Northampton in Essex. Unfortunately, this 11th century church was
crushed to pieces when ...
28) Quimperlé - Eglise Ste.-Croix (front of church)
[ no text ]
29) Quimperlé - Ancient Staircase "Présidial (old stone
stairs over a entryway)
... the belfry fell down in 1868. They built it up with the same stones as best
they could, but naturally it has rather a new look.
We saw this old stairway and many old homes in one of the
main streets but more thrilling was a creperie which is typical of this
district. In a very old home was a woman
making pancakes as thin as lace - crepes dentelles - on a flat griddle over a
wood fire which her daughter was tending.
Once cooked on one side she lifted the pancake with a wooden paddle on
to a second griddle alongside. [ Doris spelled
griddle as "girdle" ] We watched ...
30) Photo of a young Breton couple in traditional dress
sitting on a bench in front of an old bed)
... them for a while, as she was filling an order for a
dozen pancakes for someone who was waiting & then came someone else who
wanted six. At Vannes we had crepes
flambée au rhum in a restaurant started by two girls from Quimper, but there it was rather a
novelty. The old woman who sold antiques
had been taken twice by her daughter-in-law!
Mostly they eat them with butter & jam for tea or breakfast. They are made with egg, milk, flour, & a
liqueur like kirsch or some vanilla.
This card shows ...
31) Market at Pont l'Abbé (drawing of two Breton women in
trad. outfits selling live chickens from baskets)
... peasant costumes & so does the next one, but they
vary from one district to the next. Note
the bed which is like the old Scottish box beds. You slide back the panels to get in. The chest or settee is placed alongside to
help you get in. These caps are like
some of the ones we saw at Mont St. Michel,
and a man we talked to said his wife wore one of the tall ones & it looked
like a light house - "un phare!"
32) Concarneau - walls of the fortified old town
In many ways Concarneau is proving to be the most enjoyable
place yet. It is a thriving port,
actually the biggest in the world for tunney fishing. The boats in the next card will be going out
to the Spanish coast for the beginning of the season on June 20 and later, in
September, they go off the English coasts.
Now the fishermen are busy repairing their boats, painting them and
applying a blue or tan waterproofing to their sails. The boats are every colour - blue, green,
brown, yellow & red, & look very pretty. Alongside each mast are two tall fishing
rods, which hinge down level with the deck.
From there they put out five or six lines and ...
33) Concarneau -
Fishing boats
... drift along when they find a school of fish. In the town are the big factories where they
can the tunney fish which are quite a delicacy with us in England. In the next card you will see the size of
these big fish.
The charm of the town is the little old city on the island
in the harbour entirely surrounded by ramparts which go right down to the water
as you see in the earlier card. The
fisher folk live in this little old town which is pretty dirty and shabby. We found a little Siamese kitten there, six
weeks old, and its father was brought from Siam,
no doubt by a sailor, from Indo China. We had a long talk with the fish salesman who
owned it ...
34) Concarneau - Fish factory - fish laid out in rows in
front of female factory workers
.. and like all Frenchmen he got on to politics. He had Chamberlain's number - to my surprise!
- and said he was working to make Germany
master of Europe, but France
would oppose him in every way she could.
I told that Chamberlain might be indifferent to the Germanisation of
Europe, but the English people were not.
He said he hoped so, but obviously did not believe me.
Sunday was a great day, When we celebrated the Fete Dieu,
with a procession from the church up to a little chapel on the sea front. Already the night before they were arranging
an impromptu altar ...
35) Concarneau - Photo of young woman in traditional
clothing and headdress
... of evergreens & early next morning they were
decorating it with pots and vases of flowers.
Along the route of the procession they were hanging red and white
streamers along the walls of the houses, but not the cheap bunting we use for
royal processions but really good material which apparently they bring out
every year. Where there were gaps they
put up sheets - & what sheets too! hemstitches
& with big embroidered initials. On
there they pinned roses every couple of feet or bouquets with lupins &
dephiniums.
36) Concarneau - The market (women in trad. clothing and headdresses)
"We must give the best we have to the Bon Dieu"
one woman said to me "as he gives everything to us!" The church was filled with women in costume
& men in their best & then the procession started. Three big girls dressed as angels led dozens
of little ones as cherubim, also with wings.
The road was strewn with rose leaves & the little kiddies had more
in boxes hung around their necks. The
little boys carried several model boats, & these were blessed when the
Priest blessed the sea. After singing at
the little chapel, they went along to bless the tunney fish factories too! This card shows a typical market scene &
the last one gives a good impression of the local cap & collar.
37) Finistere - Old lady in traditional costume
This medium height coiffe of embroidery, not lace, comes
from near here.
Our personal excitement was sneaking out of the fashionable
Hotel Atlantique facing the sea and moving Chez Armand, a grand old peasant
woman who is famous for her cooking. She
has a most unpretentious looking place on the quai, filled with artists'
paintings, & many of the artists themselves. People keep rolling in all the time,
including many of the guests of the Hotel Atlantique, who have to pay extra for
their rooms if they take any meals out.
Never have I tasted such meals, and as a result I am suffering from
gourmandise.
38) Near Concarneau - Chateau de Kériolet (front view)
Our best excursion from Concarneau was out to this charming
little chateau. It is filled with art
treasures, tapestries & old furniture & china, which were collected by
the wife of the last heir (see next card for the reproduction of her
portrait). She must have been a charming
woman, the Russian princess & she was very rich besides. She more than doubled the size of the
chateau, adding the big hall and the chapel.
Her husband died in 1889 & as they had no children she left the
chateau and its contents to the State.
After the Russian ...
39) Near Concarneau - Chateau de Kériolet - Painting -
Portrait of the Princess Narishkine
... Revolution, one of her nephews turned up from Russia, and
tried to claim the property. His efforts
were fruitless, as the Princess's will was in perfect order.
She had collected as many souvenirs of Anne de Bretagne
& her two husbands as she could, including letters with their signatures
& warming pans that had been used to heat their beds.
40) Quimper
- Cathedral - side view with market
This granite cathedral is by far the finest in Brittany and even compares with the lovely cathedral of Bayeux, while the spires are reminiscent of the ones of St. Pierre at Caen, in Normandy. We sat in a cafe just where this photograph
was taken, & watched the market going on, & the peasant women going
about in their coiffes. The local one is
quite pretty, but not so showy as the one at Concarneau or so dignified as the
tall one of Pont Aven.
41) Quimper Cathedral - medieval statue of Saint Jean des Oiseaux
In the cathedral is this remarkably fine piece of statuary
which dates from the middle ages, & has a character and individuality of
its own.
42) Quimper
- The Évêché tower and Mont Frugy (as seen from up on the cathedral)
On one side of this picture you have the roof of the
cathedral & on the other the tower of the old Bishop's Palace in which is
an exceptionally good museum. The guide
was a great fellow, who had been in charge of the Chateau of Keriolet & had
stepped up one when he got this job. He
gave us the low down on the story of the chateau. It seems that the Count de Chauveau was not
as careful as he might have been & the result was a couple of illegitimate
children. The ...
43) Quimper
- Guéodel Road
(heads carved into the medieval stone walls of a home)
... Princess having restored the chateau & filled it
with art treasures was not going to hand it down to one of these, so after her
husband's death she personally made it over to the State by deed of gift. And that was that!
These old stone faces are quite delightful as they are all
laughing.
The guide was a Celt enthusiast & he sang the Welsh
National Anthem for us, which he said might have been in Breton, the two
languages are so alike. At the ...
44) Quimper - Cathedral Spires
... end of the month they were holding the Celtic festival
at Quimper, with delegates coming from Scotland, Ireland,
Wales and Cornwall.
He was going to sing in Breton & play the binion, the Breton bagpipe
which is similar to the Slav and much simpler than the Scottish and Irish
pipes. The people seemed to turn from
French into Breton as if they spoke the two languages equally well.
45) Quimper
- Old homes on the Steir river
This little river running through the centre of town was
very picturesque & pretty.
46) Saint Pol-de-Léon - The front facade of the Kreis-Ker (a
church)
June 15. We are now
nearing the end of this delightful holiday, but still having a day in hand we
got off the train & spent last night at the little town of Morlaine, &
made an early start for two little towns by the sea. The first was St. Pol-de-Léon, famous for two
singularly beautiful churches, almost within a stone's throw of one
another. This one was burnt down by the
English in 1375, but the Bretons, probably enraged by their loss, built it up
again at once and more beautiful than every, especially this lacy graceful
tower. All the church spires in this
district are very ...
47) Saint Pol-de-Léon - Creisker porch (Church doors with
fancy carving around it. A Breton woman stands in front)
... slender & with little turrets all round. It is compared to Caen which we saw last year & which I am
critical enough to consider finer. Salisbury also is better,
as the Kreisker is top heavy by comparison.
This porch, carved in the local warm granite, is quite lovely, &
this old woman, with her stall of apples, bananas, chocolate etc., actually was
there today. There are not nearly so
many coiffes as at Concarneau but they are quite pretty, made of filet net with
long streamers which are often pinned up to get them out of the way.
48) Saint Pol-de-Léon - The Basilica (view of church
including front and side)
These spires in the cathedral are not nearly so daring as
the Kreisker one, but they are very fine.
In fact the whole granite church is very satisfying. When we arrived, they were having a
children's service & they all came out into the square in procession. Even the tiniest children carrying banners. Then bigger ones carried little statues of
the Christ child, the Virgin etc. on sort of platforms with handles. What work for the priests & helpers, for
some of the banners drooped badly & some kiddies got tired & began to
cry. However, it was quite an attractive
sight.
49) Saint Pol-de-Léon - Présendale house (16th c.)
This old house in the high street, as it were, has quite a
Scottish look, even apart from the fact that it has a turret made of
granite. There was always a good deal of
intercourse between Scotland
and France
& especially among the Celts in both countries.
50) Roscoff - House said to be that of Mary Stuart - the
cloister in the inner courtyard
From Saint Pol-de-Léon we went on the end of the little
peninsula, where Mary Queen of Scots landed to become betrothed to the Dauphin
when the poor little thing was only five years old. This is the courtyard of the house where she
stayed, & there were several others very similar in character. The tower at the back of her house is
something like the turret at St. Pol, both very Scottish in character. We lazed about on the beach of the little
port and then visited a monastery ...
51) Roscoff - Turret (of Mary Stuart) in a wall overlooking
water
... which has a fig tree which is unique in the world. It was planted when the monastery was founded
three hundred years ago and has since grown to an immense size. Botanists come great distances to see it and
try to decide the cause of phenomenon - whether soil, climate or a perpetual
spring just beneath it. Meanwhile, the
monks have so many figs they do not know what to do with them, although they
give them away on all sides. They are a
friary order & therefore cannot sell the figs for money, ...
52) Roscoff - Eglise Notre-Dame de Croaz-Batz
... not even to support their mission as I suggested. So they make jam, & believe me it is at a
discount by the time winter is over!
This church is quite different from the Gothic ones, but like many
others in this district. There is
something quite distinctive about it. Roy was very much intrigued to discover the ship of Lorne,
which is part of the Campbell
crest, carved in several places in church, on the main door, or the tower,
& so forth.
53) Two Breton men wearing traditional outfits
We saw one or two men wearing these broad velour hats, but
the costume seems to have died out.
Here & there we saw the men in their little workshops,
making sabots in one case, willow wand baskets in another, & mending their
lobster nets. Most people wore sabots,
with a carpet slipper inside to keep their feet from blistering. When they went into their houses they left
the sabots just inside the front door, & slopped around in their slippers.
54) Young Breton woman in headdress
Fortunately the peasants do NOT wear their hair in marcel
waves like this!
The End
