| You buy them
directly - a dozen large cancales for 3 euros. Squeeze a drop of lemon
on one (if it contracts it’s alive) then scoop it with your fingers
and drop it into your mouth. It slides down the throat in sea-salted silkiness.
To enhance the experience, look at the horizon. If you’re lucky with the
weather as I was, you will see the awesome Mont. St. Michel rising in the
distant mist like a ghost abbey.
Now you have
what the French call an embarrassment des choix.
For me there
was no question. I would travel with my rail pass south to Quimper,
pronounced “camp pair.” Quimper lies gracefully along the Odet river.
It is an endearing town of about 100,00 souls. The lively, medieval center
is gathered around the cathedral of St. Corentin which has a chancel that
is completely crooked so on entering the church the aisle gives the impression
of a derailed train. Quimper is a fun, vibrant city with a terrific art
museum and loads of charming restaurants. It is said to be the most Celtic
town in Brittany. In Quimper, you can still see ladies with the tall
white lace hats and in fact you can buy handmade lace here from a stand
in front of the cathedral.
But I came
to Quimper for an entirely different reason; I came as on a pilgrimage.
Quimper boasts
the oldest company in France H. B. Henriot and it is to this company that
I journeyed. For more than 30 years I’ve been collecting the painted
pottery that H.B Henriot has been making continually for nearly 400
years. Quimper ware often painted with images of the Breton peasant, is
collected worldwide and sold throughout the United States. I took a tour
of the workshops where dishes, figurines and literally hundreds of objects
are hand-painted on the metal glazed earthenware. The factory has an enormous
gift shop with excellent savings whether you’re tempted by a 12-euro egg
cup or a 4000- euro Italianate platter.
Quimper
is the place to buy not only Quimper ware, but local specialties: algae
liqueur (yes!) mustard with algae, the fine flower of the salt,
the“fleur de sel” in pretty purple sacks from the marshes of Guérande,
soft, rich Breton butter cookies called palets, the Kouign-amann,
the dense butter cake to be washed down with cider, and my favorite, Far
Breton, a flan studded with velvety prunes.
To cap the
trip, I used my French Railpass to Quimperlé then it was a short
bus ride to Pont Aven. American realist artists began flocking to this
picturesque village on the River Aven in the 1860s. Later, the Impressionists
came. Then, in 1886 Pont Aven’s most famous inhabitant arrived: Paul
Gauguin. The seduction of the mysterious and even primitive Celtic
culture set against a legendary coastline drew him to Brittany.
In Pont
Aven, Gauguin developed a new technique of painting called Synthecism,
an Expressionist style of vivid colors, and figures outlined in black.
Above all, Gauguin developed a startling new idea which he advised others
to take up: to paint what you feel, not what you see. Soon,
all those young men of Europe who were bored with merely optical delights
of Impressionism, came to Pont Aven to learn this shocking new way of painting
and so began the Pont Aven School including the well known: Paul
Serusier, Emile Bernard and by correspondence, Van Gogh. The
group, known for their wild carousing, later moved on to the nearby seaside
hamlet of Le Pouldu. Many critics think that Gauguin did his finest
work not in Tahiti, but in Brittany. He and his followers certainly put
Breton culture “on the map.” Their vivid, stylized depictions of
Breton peasant women in their foot high lace caps. black dresses and wooden
clogs have become icons for the Pont Aven School and have intrigued viewers
with the unique customs and activities and products of these hardy fisher
folk: gathering seaweed and algae, fishing for oysters, painting pottery,
making lace and celebrating Catholic rituals infused with Celtic mythology.
Perhaps most important the non-realist techniques of the Pont-Aven painters
led the way to abstraction and thus, modern art.
Pont-Aven
has more than 80 galleries as well as very good museum. The neighboring
village of Le Pouldu offers the art lover a more intimate experience. One
of the highlights of my trip was visiting the Inn of Marie Henry in Le
Pouldu. Marie Henry was the beautiful, unwed mother who owned the tiny
inn in which Gauguin and other artists lived and painted. In lieu of rent,
they not only gave her paintings, they painted her inn. Today you can visit
a perfect reconstruction of it. You will find the walls, ceilings, mantel,
doors and windows entirely covered in fine works by Gauguin as well as
more than 100 works by Pont-Aven artists. In Le Pouldu, too, you
can take the “La Route des Peintres,” a scenic walk
through farms, pastures and along the beaches and cliffs, stopping at the
exact scenes that the artists painted. Images of the paintings are shown
along the route with explanations and as you ramble, you discover how today
the countryside looks pretty much the same as it did when painted more
than 100 years ago. From both Pont Aven and Le Pouldu, you can ramble into
the romantically-named forest, the Bois d’Amour where the painters would
gather to paint. In these woods they found mystery and solitude in these
dense woods. The woods contain the ancient Trémalo chapel
whose altarpiece inspired Gauguin’s famous “The Yellow Christ”
Near Le Pouldu
is a golf course with panoramic views of the sea. In fact this area is
called the Emerald Coast and is studded with magnificent golf courses.
There is also sailing, kayaking, fishing, swimming bicycling and hiking,
camping, horseback riding and tennis, casinos, thelassotherapy and a host
of other sea spa treatments for which Brittany is renowned.
I fell in love
with Brittany and I fell hard. Both for the “big” cities of Rennes,
St. Malo and Quimper but also for the little nooks, unknown to Americans.
I took to my heart the tiny seaports of Bénodet and San Marine.
In these wee places, the pace slows and it’s awfully good to dine on garlicky
lobster in an outdoor café while gazing on the same Breton sea that
Monet called “incomparably beautiful.” This is Cape Cod as
you might want it to be— but isn’t. It’s Brittany and whether in city or
hamlet, you will, as the French say, amuse yourself well.
For information
On Visiting Brittany:
Western France
Tourist Board
444 Madison
Avenue New York, NY 10022
Tel: : 1 41
02 86 83 10
Fax : 1 21
28 38 78 55
www.westernfrancetouristboard.com
For Information
On French Railpass:
Rail Europe:
1-888-382-7245
www.raileurope.com
Picks Of
The Trip
Paris
Rue de Montalembert
(off Rue du Bac)
The chicest
and most comfortable hotel on the Left Bank
Terrific location
for sights, shopping and open air markets
4 star hotel
with hip bar. See and be seen.
To kick-start
your arty tour of Brittany, take advantage of their “Art deVivre” package
including 2 nights in a double room for 650 euros plus breakfast plus a
3 course meal with wine for two and a one day pass to all Paris museums.
Other great deals available on hotel’s website.
Tel: 800/447-7462
Fax: 011-33-1-45-49-69-49
welcome@montalembert.com
www.montalembert.com
St. Malo
Hôtel
Central
Reasonably
priced, centrally located and with a cozy restaurant
6 Grand Rue
Intra Muros
Tel: 02 99
40 87 70
Fax: 02 99
40 47 57
Hotel St. Pedro
Cute, 2-star
with 12 quiet rooms, situated at the top of the fortress
Inexpensive
with terrific sea views
1 rue Sainte
Anne
Tel: 02 99
40 88 57
Fax: 02 99
40 46 25
hotelsanpedro@wanadoo.fr
Crêperie
du Corps de Garde
Right inside
the old seawall itself
Authentic
18th century house serving the terrific crêpes and light meals
3 Montée
Notre-Dame
02 99 40 91
46
Boutique Vent
de Voyage
Chic sailcloth
totes and ethereal plastic jewelry by Anne Limbour
3 rue Saint-Thomas
02 99 20 17
91
Quimper
H. B. Henriot
Extensive
and dazzling array of painted pottery
Faïenceries
de Quimper
Rue Haute.
BP 1219
Quimper
Fax: 33-2-98-90-16-02
www.hb-henriot.com
La Fleur de
Sel
Beautiful
Asian inspired restaurant
with much
original art.
Sophisticated
meals for lunch and dinner
1 Quai Neuf,
Cap Horn
02 98 55 04
71
Pont Aven
Les Ajoncs
D’Or
Basic 2-star
hotel
Friendly,
fine food and location
1, Place de
l’Hôtel de Ville
email Ajoncsdor@aol.com
Fax: 02 98
06 18 91
Tel: 02 98
06 02 06
Galerie Le
Breton
Fine selection
of French and International art
2 rue des
Meunières
Tel: 02 98
06 18 46
Pont Aven
ymlebreton@aol.com
Biscuiterie
Penven
Breton Butter
cookies and cakes packaged in beautiful gift tins.
1, Quai Théodore
Botrel
Le Pouldu
Hôtel
Restaurant du Pouldu
Inexpensive
family run inn with half board available,
Peaceful setting
facing the water. Lovely meals, try the stuffed clams: les palourdes farci
Tel: 02 98
39 90 66
Fax: 02 98
39 99 64
Sainte Marine
Café
du Port
Wonderful
seafood restaurant, scenically located at the mouth of the Laïta river.
Picturesque
view of Bénodet from outdoor terrace
You don’t
need address: everyone’s there.
If you would
like to contact Maxine Click Here |
