Concarneau & the Southern Coast of Brittany
Note to self… the Friday before Bastille Day is not a great day to visit a tourist destination!
It didn’t even cross my mind when we set out for Concarneau. Parking was a little rough, but we found a spot near the water.
A nice view of the port from the parking lot!
On top of being a holiday weekend, it was also market day. We arrived mid-morning which is the worst time to shop at a farmer’s market in France. People can start to get very pushy and rude and the French have never heard of waiting for your turn. More than once, I gave up after seeing people cut the line.
We did manage to get a kouign amann neatly shaped into a triskelion, the symbol of Brittany.
And a far breton, which we ate on the way back to the car. I’m going to have to make this when I get home!
Like St Malo, but on a much smaller scale, the old town is fortified with ramparts and surrounded by water. In the distance the market is still going on.
Inside the fortifications, there is one main drag. It’s a world class tourist trap. Nothing but ice cream shops and “breizh crap” stores selling striped tee shirts and personalized cider bowls. And people, lots of people.
We braved the crowds to visit the Georges Larnicol patisserie. It’s more of an outlet, actually. These shops are all over Brittany in busy tourist towns.
It’s basically a serve yourself pastry shop, which I find very cool. Everything, like these “kouignettes” or mini kouign amanns with flavored fillings, is on display and so tempting!
How about these chocolate that look like moules, or the “oeufs de mouette” or sea gull eggs in several flavors? This would never work in the states. Can you imagine the shrinkage?
Super cute packaging!
We got a big bag of goodies and got the heck out of there!
Our hosts at the gite suggested that we visit the Point de Trévignon, which is just down the road from Concarneau.
We drove as far as we could to the very end of the point and found this cute restaurant with an outdoor patio looking over the sea.
We had some cider and settled in. It was a perfect day for a seaside lunch and the food was amazing. Seems like they could get away with serving frozen fish sticks with such a great location, but everything was fresh and delicious.
Even the coffee cups added to the ambiance.
The southern coast of Brittany looks and feels a lot like the Mendocino coast. Makes me a little homesick!
