A drive through north-west France

[VPS]

UK rentals are mostly manual.

I think that is changing now. Last year I had a lot of choice of autos

 

[RooFlyer]

To Vannes today, via Chateaubriant and Rochefort-en-Terre.



Fuel first - E1.95/litre! but I admired that you can get parfum alongside air in your tires ..



The stop at Chateaubriant was to have a gawk at the Chateau - just a walk around. For a lityyle place, some important history ..

Originally a simple keep, the castle was enlarged and fortified several times during the Middle Ages , while the town of Châteaubriant grew up around it, eventually surrounding itself with ramparts. The lordship of Châteaubriant, raised to a barony in the 12th century , passed to the Dinan and Montfort-Laval families . In 1488, the castle was besieged by King Charles VIII of France during the Mad War , which ended with the defeat of Duke Francis II . The king's marriage to Duchess Anne of Brittany in 1491 diminished the castle's strategic importance. The damaged keep and living quarters were rebuilt and modernized for greater comfort, and then, from 1500 to the 1540s, a "New Castle" was built in the outer bailey, following the principles of Renaissance architecture .

The barony of Châteaubriant passed to the House of Montmorency in the mid- 16th century , then to the House of Condé in the early 17th century . Subject to several sieges during the Wars of Religion (1562-1598), the castle was subsequently neglected by its owners, who rarely visited. After the French Revolution , the castle was sold several times and was finally transformed into an administrative center by the Loire-Inférieure department , which acquired it in 1853.

Every council needs its own castle.

 

[RooFlyer]

And then Rochefort-en-Terre. Marketed as a Petite Cité de Caractère and one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, I was a bit dubious(I mean, everywhere is a charming medieval village ..).

They have it set-up, though. Paid parking .... I could see it would be packed in summer.



I am using iPhone 'clean up' function to remove people in some pics .. no more photobombing!







There is a Chateau, of course, but ..

Built in the 12th century, the castle of Rochefort-en-Terre suffered three destructions and only ruins remain. But at the beginning of the 20th century, the American painter Alfred Klots used the outbuildings to transform them into a manor house and quickly made the village a meeting place for artists.

His son Trafford Klots inherited the château and continued to paint there and entertain other visiting artists. After his death his wife gave the building to the French government.[5] In the grounds of the building is the NAIA museum, named after an early-twentieth-century witch who lived in the town. It houses a small collection of fantasy and kinetic art and sculpture.

 

[RooFlyer]

At Vannes, I stayed 2 nights at Domaine du Liziec Vannes - MGallery Collection. I covered this in the Accor thread, but will put it here also as it was such a nice stay.

Converted and added-to large old house.

Reception side - under cover parking



The back - my room was the three right hand windows on the middle floor, old building.



Reception very polished - I was upgraded from a junior suite to a deluxe suite. Very nice - totally gutted and refurbed old building. Central aircon, so they cooled it right down for me. Bit odd that a second-level suite was just the one space (and a HUGE bathroom with HUGE bath). Wifi 40+ Mbps.







View



Bar. Staff here - in fact, all the staff were very obliging, although very variable levels of English.

 

[RooFlyer]

I don't usually post food type pics, but on this trip I'm getting into the swing of the food here - so there will be more!





Foie gras



Fillet of sole



Pav

 

[RooFlyer]

Next morning, to the old town part of Vannes. @Jacques Vert may be disappointed didn't do more in this city, but there was more on the agenda for today, away from town. Q-Park made the positioning easy.

Ramparts of the old city

The ramparts of Vannes are the fortifications erected between the 3rd and 17th centuries to protect the city of Vannes in the Morbihan department of France . Founded by the Romans at the end of the 1st century BC during the reign of Augustus , the civitas Venetorum was forced to protect itself behind a castrum at the end of the 3rd century , even as a major crisis shook the Roman Empire . This first enclosure remained the city's only protection for over a millennium. It was during the reign of Duke John IV , at the end of the 14th century , that the city walls were rebuilt and extended southward to protect the new districts. The Duke wanted to make Vannes not only a place of residence but also a stronghold he could rely on in case of conflict. The area of the walled city was doubled, and the Duke added his fortress of L'Hermine to the new enclosure .

One of the gates to the old town





The cathedral was undergoing renovation, so a dead loss



An excellent collection of maisons à colombages







The origin of 16th century Maison de Vannes et sa femmes is a mystery



Wednesday, and there was a market - I left through the gate in the distance