Iter Facere

Off to Morlaix

Off to another town I should have used as a base...Morlaix. One and a half hours from here, but an easy drive. Morlaix got rich from being a port in a convenient spot, shipping linen, lead and salt to Europe. A great view when you drive in, a huge viaduct across the city, which lies in a deep valley.








The fifteenth and nineteenth centuries meet in Morlaix.

Nice town. Excellent buildings, many of them covered in slate. I've not seen slate used on the side of building before. Makes sense, it certainly is weather proof.



We wandered for a bit, and found the museum. It was going to close in fifteen minutes, for lunch, so we walked over to the Maison de Duchess Anne, who theoretically stayed there, much like our own George Washington who slept everywhere. These houses were built to flaunt the owner's wealth, and are called pondalez because of their giant spiral staircases.




Pretty keen pondalez you have, Monsieur.

We then walk to number 9 Grand Rue to see another pondalez, but as it was part of the museum it too was closed for lunch. Taking the hint, we had lunch at a Moroccan place. Nice break from gallettes. Very tasty. Moroccan food got us to mourning the loss of Konak, our Turkish restaurant. Now we crave Turkish food.

Back to #9, which was also nice.







From there we went to the main museum, which had a show of Charles Lapicque, a twentieth century Brittany artist, specializing in maritime painting. More expressionist than I like, but okay. The show was silent about the period 1939-1945, and I noticed that he did alot of painting of French naval vessels in the 50s. Did I not understand the French descriptions or was that an odd silence?

Back to the car. Good views of the port....




And off on another scenic drive through the Mont's d'Array.

Near Huelgoat (Breton place names are fun) we saw a sign pointing off the road for an ancient mine. Gotta see that, so down the track we go to the old 18th century lead mine. I have to admit that the anticipation was better the the experience....




Lead mines are not exciting.

Back on the road, and near Loqueffret (really) we saw another parish close. Smaller, and no information other than a terse sign, but charming.




Many of the churches we've seen have some woodwork that I've not seen before. There is a carved wood piece along the top of the wall, were the roof joins.




Too bad it's blurry.

Also, there is a wooden crucifix where the chancel and nave meet, in the rafters.




Also, there are carved wooden beams traversing the nave and chancel. Interesting.

Finally back, through tedious traffic in Brest. Dinner at the restaurant the first night, Restaurant vue sur Mer. Kathy had many moules and I had veal. Tomorrow we leave Le Conquet and head for Dinan.

Location:Le Conquet

posted by Jim @ 7:25 AM