Brittany Advice?

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Kavey F	Brittany Advice?	Lead	[-]
Posts: 1378 (03/15/09 14:28:47) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None We'll be visiting Brittany in mid-June, staying at a friend's parents' house in Kernelo. That's about 75 km NW of Nantes, near the mouth of "La Vilaine" river. We'll have cars and are happy to venture a fair distance from our base so would appreciate any tips for attractions in the immediate and wider area. Am particularly interested in recommendations for particularly special food/ drink experiences including restaurants, cafes, shops, markets etc. We will definitely be heading into the Loire to visit some of our favourite vineyards in the Touraine, so some wine tasting (and purchasing) is already on the itinerary! (We're more familiar with the attractions of the Loire, East to West, than with Brittany). Any other recommendations gratefully received!
SkywalkerBeth		#1	[-]
Posts: 1059 (03/15/09 15:38:12) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Kavey On my last trip to Brittany, in 2004, I was as far east as Vannes. Vannes is a GEM. I had but one night there and really wish I had more - I basically made it a pit stop on the way up to Bayeux. I had planned on a Gulf of Morbihan cruise before taking off for Normandy and didn't time my exit from the hotel very well and just missed the boat by seconds - oh what a bummer. I stayed at Villa Kerasy, a Hotel de Charme. ( http://www.villakerasy.com/index.php ) just in case you decide to make an overnight of it. The owner is interesting, he has spent some time in India so each room in the hotel has a different Indian name - mine was Pondichery. Not very far from there is Carnac, where you will find menhirs and dolmens. http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/the_universe/uts/carnac.html
cigalechanta		#2	[-]
Posts: 526 (03/15/09 22:00:14) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	in Nantes the beautiful Brasserie La Cigale...... Brittany's Belon oysters are the best.....cotriade, a sort of Breton Bouillabaise, and the fruit de mer. crepes are a specialty. The fermented ciders are surprisingly very good. The drive around the coast is lovely
Kavey F		#3	[-]
Posts: 1381 (03/16/09 08:25:19) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Thank you ladies, much appreciated!
SkywalkerBeth		#4	[-]
Posts: 1094 (04/12/09 20:12:38) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Did you see my ancient Fodors post? Also, I have my Pudlos Normandy/Brittany finally. Fire away with town names, once you firm them up. I will also be home from there (only just) by the time you take off, not that we are visiting the same area...
pflefaou	Men Lann Du	#5	[-]
Posts: 1 (04/14/09 15:32:43) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Hi, It's a bit far from Nantes but if you venture into the Finistère, here's the best "crêperie" (Breton pancake restaurant) of the area: Men Lann Du (which means "the stone of the black moor": this refers to the dolmen just opposite), in Plomeur. If you have Google Earth, you can see it at 47,8305 N, 4,3026 W. It's full every evening in the summer, simply from word to mouth. So you'd better arrive soon (before 7:30 PM) or late (after 9:30 PM) if you don't want to wait too much… The surroundings alone are already worth being seen, this is a former farm, with traditional furniture and the typical clay ground (it has nothing to do with the French Tennis Open, it's quite black and hard!). About the cooking, of course you'll find delicious filled pancakes, seafood (I recommend the scallops and the olive oil mussels) and salads too. PF
TheRealDoctorLew		#6	[-]
Posts: 727 (04/14/09 17:13:04) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I googled based on this first and only post and found an interesting page. Zip down to the bottom and read where the above was cut-and-pasted from. I think the poster is pierre-francois@le-faou.com http://www.le-faou.com/lesconil/44e.htm On the plus side, it is a nice website.
pflefaou		#7	[-]
Posts: 2 (04/16/09 13:38:27) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	And on the minus side? :-s
TheRealDoctorLew		#8	[-]
Posts: 729 (04/16/09 20:19:01) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	No offense meant. Sometimes a one-time poster will come to a site for commercial purposes (spam). As your post was a cut-and-paste about a commercial enterprise, I had suspicions, but I found the site from which it came to be interesting. If you have other useful information about France, please post, as we are always interested in having new members with something to add. Welcome!
OleSouthernBelle		#9	[-]
Posts: 2628 (04/18/09 20:24:33) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I hope Pif wasn't offended. I do understand where you're coming from, but he is a personal friend of mine who is from the Paris region. His folks still live there, but are planning to buy a retirement home in Brittany, where they spent their childhood & many holidays with their children. So, I assure you he only posted at my request & in hopes of helping someone. Maybe I should have posted prior to his, but I sent a link to this thread, hoping he would have recommendations to help the poster, as I know he knows Brittany well. I didn't want to say he'd post & then he not choose to do so. His sister was fairly recently married in a small castle there in Brittany & he spent many boyhood family holidays there. He is a wealth of info when it comes to France & self professes he loves to play 'tour guide'.
pflefaou		#10	[-]
Posts: 3 (04/19/09 01:18:10) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Thank you OleSouthernBelle ;-) ;-) Seriously, Men Lann Du is a wonderful place and the program of the above mentionned wedding celebrations even included a big dinner there later in the week. PF
OleSouthernBelle		#11	[-]
Posts: 2631 (04/19/09 07:48:14) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	No, Thank You, Pif, for offering your excellent advice here!
Kavey F		#12	[-]
Posts: 1417 (06/03/09 09:26:09) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	We'll be off soon so am topping for any last minute advice!
Kavey F		#13	[-]
Posts: 1418 (06/03/09 09:41:09) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	By the way, we're staying in one place for whole week, in Kernelow.
OleSouthernBelle		#14	[-]
Posts: 2713 (06/08/09 19:32:35) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	If you have a specific request, I'll ask Pif to check back in here. He is thoroughly familiar with the area.
SkywalkerBeth		#15	[-]
Posts: 1116 (06/09/09 11:19:25) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Kavey Let me know which towns you might visit near Kernelo and I will look up some Pudlo resto recos for you.
Kavey F		#16	[-]
Posts: 1419 (06/11/09 04:59:34) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I have no idea, Beth, we've really not made any firm plans at all... No worries, we'll wing it!
Kavey F		#17	[-]
Posts: 1420 (06/23/09 15:16:39) Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Am back from a lovely week in France. First of all, a big thank you to those of you who so kindly took the time to give me your tips and advice. Much appreciated. Usually, Pete and I find that our style of travel is MORE laid back than other travellers and we don't like to cram too much into a given period. But on this trip we were with friends who didn't seem to have much interest in getting out and exploring at all. Infact, most of them restricted themselves to trips into our local town, Roche Bernard, just a few minutes drive (or a 40 minute coastal walk) away. A beautiful town indeed but Pete and I wanted to see more. We did trips on our own out to Rochefort-sure-Terre and Vannes as well as a few extra jaunts to do some shopping. A number of the recommendations we gleaned from the various forums on which I posted were on the North coast of Brittany, so just too far for us to visit on this trip. The one trip we did influence the others to make too was to the standing stones of Carnac. Compared to the single stone or handful of stones one usually sees these "alignments" of rows upon rows of huge stones were very striking. Our friends aren't as into eating out as we are either so our meals out consisted of local creperies, one somewhat posher local restaurant and a lovely and simple pork specialist restaurant in Herbignac. The one exception was a fabulous seafood restaurant Pete and I visited on our own when we drove to Vannes. I'll do a review of that for my blog (Kavey Eats) soon. We cooked at home on a number of evenings and enjoyed great produce from local markets as well as supermarkets. I even cooked langoustines for the first time! Anyway, we had a lovely week, came back with lots of goodies and are now back into working life again!

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