Iter Facere

Fougeres to Auray

I was a little down on the Hotel Balzac when we checked in, but upon leaving I take it all back. If we hadn't just come from the grand Hotel D'Argouges, I wouldn't have blinked. Framing is everything. Certainly the room was small and plain, but the hotel was right in the middle of town and Madam Le Proprietre was very helpful. Again, when do these folks sleep? She was up making breakfast before 7:00, and at the reception at 11:00 pm. When we left, she gave us a number of suggestions for sights elsewhere to see and some cookies. She told us to look out for "Kig ha Fanz", which is a specialty of Breton food in southern Finisterre, and off we went.

Fortified by the cookies and playing with our new hotel Balzac pen, we drove to Vitre in a downpour. Halfway there we saw a sign for la Roche aux Fees. A detour took us the dolmen, where the rain let up enough for us to get out and explore. This apparently was a chamber tomb, and would have been covered with earth. The stones were each taller than me and had been moved from a quarry 2 miles away.

Back to the road, and the rain increased. By the time we got to Vitre, where we had planned to stop, the rain made wandering around the city look unappealing. Vitre looked great, with a dense center ville and a massive chateau. Hmm, should we have stayed in Vitre instead of Fougeres? We wimped out and declined to explore in the rain and headed south.

The tourist office in Bazouges had given us a terrific guide book. We picked Malastroit, labeled a small town of character, as our new destination. Good labeling. We had lunch in a creperie next to the church. There seem to be three types of church steeple in Brittany, the oddly shaped semi-Russian, short and squat, and tall slender and pointy with sub spires.




Short and squat...





Odd shaped...





Tall and pointed...





Combination...

The town is next to a river, so we strolled along the canal bank to the locks, which were emptying, and through the old quarter. Many nice medieval structures, both half timbered and stone. Many had extravagant carvings at the corners or over the doors. Great place.




Maletroit

The tourist guide worked, so we chose another town, Rochefort-en-Terre for our next stop. We noticed along the drive that a number of the towns are labeled ville fleuries, which apparently is a designation they receive for their flower displays. Whatever it is it works. They look great, with cascades of geraniums, petunias, coreopsis and marigolds. Rochefort is both a small town of character and a ville fleury. A little overwhelmed, but a nice place for a glace on a terrace overlooking the countryside.

No chance of stopping in Vannes as originally planned, so straight to Auray. A big traffic jam and the main road outside of town diverted all the traffic into the little town. Gridlock. Several wrong turns and my poor map led usntonthe wrong side of town, where the bridge we wanted ovemthe river was down a pedestrian only street. Oops. Back through, down alleys, and poof we were on the ride side of the stream. The Hotel Le Marin is right on the port quay and very pleasant. The owner let us park our car in his parking spot for the duration so no humping up and down the steep hills to the parking lot.

Auray, despite the traffic is nice. We are is St. Goustan, which is the port. Auray is on the other side of the river. Sailboats line up along the middle of the river, and the water is framed by the old structures and ends with a medieval bridge. Many restaurants. Excellent. Dinner was next door to the hotel at Le Bout de Quai. The rain looked like is was stopping, so we took a table at the terrace. That wasn't accurate, but we settled under the umbrellas and had a great time. The food was excellent, two local kids were playing music and the staff was a lot of fun.




Auray

Location:Auray

posted by Jim @ 7:27 AM