Trip to the coast of Brittany 5 - Chapelle de Saint-Conogan and Kouign-amann

Still in the village of Poullan-sur-Mer, we came across this charming 16th century chapel of Saint-Conogan

Trip to the coast of Brittany 4 - Saint Cadoan Par Elle-même

Sorry, no cartoon this weekend folks. I was too busy putting together a proposal for a publisher to draw. Instead, I'll post some more pics from our trip to the coast of Brittany. Featherbottom will be back next week, promise!

After spending the night in the coastal village of Dournenez, we set off next morning for hiking along the coast from a well-known hiking point called Pointe du Raz. But barely had we gotten out of Dournenez that we were arrested by the sight of this magnificent 16th Century church of Saint Cadoan Par Elle-Même (Saint Cadoan by herself), in the neighboring village of Poullan-sur-Mer.

Trip to the Coast of Brittany 3 - Douarnenez

The second day we finally got to our destination, and had our first look at the cold, windy coastline of Brittany. We set base in the small town of Douarnenez, mostly because it was the first place we found a B&B that was open during the Christmas holidays, wasn't too expensive, accepted dogs, and wasn't located in a big ugly city. Having said that, it wasn't such a bad choice. After we dumped our stuff in the hotel, went for a long walk on the quays of the town and along the coast. As you can see in these photos, Douarnenez is not without its charms. It is more of an overgrown fishing village than a town, and has sleepy, peaceful ambiance and great scenery.

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Featherbottom takes a break this week, to make way for "Little Eva". Nope, this is not the start of new strip. This is a special one-off strip for my little buddy Eva, whose 13th birthday it was a couple of days ago. Say "Happy Birthday" to Eva, folks!

The 13th birthday is around about the time when that dread term "BOARD EXAMS" enters the life of a little Indian child. Kind, loving parents transmogrify into obsessive-compulsive hyper-ventilating ogres. A happy, carefree child crumples into a bleary-eyed learning automation, a tiny cog in the educational grinding machine. The board exams, by the way, are the rough equivalent of SAT in US, BAC in France and Abitur in Germany, but far more malevolent. I have retained SAT for the English version, because many of the better-off parents have ambitions of sending their kids to the US for higher education, so these poor fishes have to prepare for the board exams and SAT.

Trip to the coast of Brittany 2 - Domaine de Mestré, Fontevraud-l'Abbaye

It was getting late by the time we hit the beaux villages of Montsoreau and Candes-Saint-Martin (see previous post). Following Blandine's usual policy, we started looking around for a B&B after hitting the place. This is the way we have hit upon the most amazing gems. Or not. This time we got lucky. But for a few moments, we panicked. Virtually every B&B in the villages were closed for the Christmas holidays. Then we hit on a lovely place, just outside the villages, technically in a third village adjoining the above two. So lovely, in fact, that it deserves a post all on its own.

This was Domaine de Mestré, in the village of Fontevraud-l'Abbaye. This was originally the main farm of the Abbey of Fontevraud. In 1791, the ancestors of Marie Amélie, the present proprietor, took it over and started running it as a farm cum inn for the pilgrims on the route of Compostela. So this place has been a running hotel for over three centuries, always with the same family! The buildings too date from that time. In 2013, it was renovated and made into a three-star hotel. 

Here are some pics of the buildings and farms...

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Trip to the coast of Brittany -1 (Montsoreau and Candes-Saint-Martin)

This Christmas break, Blandine and I had taken a trip to the Brittany coast, despite it being winter, as Blandine wanted a blast of cold sea air after being ill for ages. Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting photos of this trip. Since it was a long way from Lyon, we made an overnight stop midway, at the joint villages of Montsoreau and Candes-Saint-Martin (the villages are so close together on the bank of the river Loire, that they are one village, for all practical purposes). Both of these villages are in the official list of "the most beautiful villages of France", and if you follow my blog, you will know that I have the ambition of visiting all the villages on this list. These villages are not strictly in Brittany, they are in the department of Maine-et-Loire, at the border of Brittany. With ancient white stone buildings sleeping on the edge of the Loire, these two villages are as pretty as a pair of pictures. Here are the pics I took, with my brand new Huawei P30 Pro, allegedly the best camera phone on the market at the moment. I was impressed with the result. We got there late evening, when it was starting to get dark, and most of these photos were taken with the night mode enabled. None of the previous camera phones I have had could ever have managed these photos...

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