Motte castrale, medieval fortress, then a residence of pleasure: a thousand years of lives sit in one building. Ten steps reach the keep, twenty-five the main building, twenty-five more the attic, one hundred and seven the clock tower. A castle chapel turned contemporary art centre stands on the way, and at sunset the walls start telling their stories. Departure is from the Pays de Châteaugiron tourist office, and a hand torch is needed.
Tag: guided-tours
Saint-Énogat Cemetery, the Cradle of Dinard
Saint-Énogat cemetery holds the burial monuments of the figures who shaped Dinard, from the prestigious first English families to the local councillors who ran the seaside town. Stylistic wealth is the thread of the walk: tomb and mausoleum styles read as a hidden facet of the parish the tourist office itself calls the cradle of Dinard. Dinard Émeraude Tourisme leads the visit and takes bookings in advance at its reception areas, with no reservations by telephone or e-mail. Topography and street layout close the route to people with reduced mobility, though other routes are possible on request.
Le Petit Théâtre en Famille at La Passerelle
La Passerelle takes children through the Petit Théâtre, the Italian-style house it keeps at Saint-Brieuc, on a free visit. The room is inscribed on the inventory of historic monuments and has carried thousands of spectators across its seasons. Visitors learn the vocabulary of the place: where cour and jardin fall on a seating plan, where the parterre sits and the poulailler hangs. One group takes five to eight year olds, another nine to twelve.
Brasserie de Launay: a Breton organic brewery visit
Wheat beer, pale ale, red ale, IPA, dark ale and strong ale make up the range, which runs to 75,000 litres a year. Each stage is explained in order by the brewer, from the selection of raw materials to brewing, fermentation and bottling. Lamballe-Armor holds the brewery today, after a start at the Gare de Moncontour, in the old Penthièvre country that modern Breton calls Pentevr. Groups run to fifteen people at most, and the route stays accessible to people with limited mobility.
Dawn in the Criée at Saint-Quay-Portrieux
Fifteen participants at most follow the fish through the criée at Saint-Quay-Portrieux, from the unloading and the sorting of the catch to the auction hall and the loading of the trucks, before things settle down for breakfast at the harbour. A lab coat and shoe covers come with the booking, and the visit is open from twelve years up. It is one session of the fifth Les Minutes Bleues, which opens heritage sites of the Côtes-d’Armor in blue light.
Café-criée : les coulisses de la criée de Concarneau
Concarneau’s criée works in the early morning, as the catch is graded and sold on the floor. Visitors follow the rouages of the sale, then sit down to a breakfast with the guide-conférencier of the town’s Patrimoine service. Talk turns to testimonies collected from the men who worked the hall, to fishing techniques, and to how the whole filière has changed. The auction is the emblematic site of fishing in Concarneau.
Erquy on Foot: Chapelle des Marins to the Sea
The Office de Tourisme leads this walk through Erquy on the theme of its réginéen religious and seaside heritage. It sets off from in front of the Chapelle des Marins and works from the town centre out to the boulevard de la mer. The guide sets the commune’s religious buildings beside its villas de bord de mer and the protected natural setting that frames them both. Children from ten upwards can follow, and a place has to be reserved.
Cidrerie Kerloïck : le parcours de la pomme
The Kerloïck cidery at Plestan follows the apple from the orchard to the bowl, a route opened for the Economic Tourism and Craftsmanship Weeks. It begins in the heritage orchard, among the varieties, where the growers explain planting, pruning, mowing and grafting, then continues through the pressing workshop, in operation while the Weeks run, the cellar and the bottling line. A tasting of the house products closes it, for groups of four to twenty-five visitors.
Du Val sans Retour au Graal avec Ozégan
Ozégan leads this balade contée out of Tréhorenteuc into the Val sans Retour, the valley at the heart of Brécéliande that Breton legend gives to Morgane la fée. Tales of the Golden Tree, the Fairy Mirror Pond, the Rock of False Lovers and Merlin’s Seat are told along the way, legends of this mysterious forest. The Chapelle du Graal ends the route, a mythical and mystical place whose uniqueness in the world the storyteller explains on the spot. His bag of tricks, tales and music honours the beauty and magic of life, played on unusual instruments, some of them medieval reconstructions.
Tréguier’s episcopal city, walked with Ella or Yvette
Ella or Yvette lead the walk through Tréguier, the ancient episcopal city above the Jaudy estuary. The route follows imposing facades of stone and half-timbered wood that made the Petite Cité de Caractère famous, then stops beneath the elegant spire of the cathedral of Saint-Tugdual, 63 metres up. Tréguier’s quarrels of opinion and of territory come into the telling. The little local anecdotes hold the larger history together.