La Mer, le Canal & les Pyrénées

[Jacques Vert]

How is the every day life in France / your accommodation?
The highlights and the attractions I understand but the everyday things - are they easy to manage?

Interesting question; I'm not sure how to answer it and even whether I'm qualified to.

Things are significantly more expensive than when we were here 5 years ago, but that is probably true of most countries. Petrol is around Eur1.65/l. Food in the markets is fresh and good quality especially fruit such as strawberries & blueberries but availability is drying up as we are now in autumn. Given our current exchange rate the food seems expensive. However, I have no idea about electricity, etc. What the cost of living is like for those working here is something I can't comment on. Although wine is cheap (except champagne), as are spirits (for example, a full sized bottle of rum is between 12 & 20 EUR, depending on the brand.

As far as I can tell the people in this part of France seem happy and are very patient. Life is more relaxed than in Aus; most businesses (except restaurants) and all govt agencies close between 12 and 2 for lunch and almost everything is closed on Sunday (including most supermarkets on Suday afternoons). I wonder how some businesses survive as they seem to be closed more than they are open.

The language remains a challenge, even the French admit it is difficult; and some young people have told us they prefer to speak english as they find it easier despite the fact they have lived here all their lives.

Finding what you are looking for in the supermarkets is like looking for that needle in the haystack.

Driving is a challenge, not only because they drive on the right but also because they have some rules that seem crazy to us. When driving along what would be considered a through road, you have to give way to cars entering from side streets on your right unless they are at a stop or give way sign. There are pedestrian crossings everywhere and the pedestrians have right-of-way. Then there are the round-abouts, thousands of them. Some of them have bus lanes and bike lanes through the middle of them and some round-abouts have traffic lights as well. And then there are intersections with two small round-abouts adjacent to each other. Add in chicanes, speedhumps, numerous other traffic calming devices and very narrow streets.

 

[RooFlyer]

<French shrug>

 

[FlyingFiona]

This was the topic of an 'abandoned engineering' TV episode. As you observed, it was built incredibly strongly.



Just swoonsville ! Trying to visit next year. This also was the topic of a TV show, about the architecture and engineering of it. Remarkable.

I'd love to see the pulley system for hauling items up the mount in action!

 

[Jacques Vert]

I'd love to see the pulley system for hauling items up the mount in action!

Are you volunteering to go inside the wheel or will you supervise?

 

[FlyingFiona]

Are you volunteering to go inside the wheel or will you supervise?

Maybe I'll risk it and be in the basket!

 

[Freq Flier 2013]

Interesting question; I'm not sure how to answer it and even whether I'm qualified to.

Things are significantly more expensive than when we were here 5 years ago, but that is probably true of most countries. Petrol is around Eur1.65/l. Food in the markets is fresh and good quality especially fruit such as strawberries & blueberries but availability is drying up as we are now in autumn. Given our current exchange rate the food seems expensive. However, I have no idea about electricity, etc. What the cost of living is like for those working here is something I can't comment on. Although wine is cheap (except champagne), as are spirits (for example, a full sized bottle of rum is between 12 & 20 EUR, depending on the brand.

As far as I can tell the people in this part of France seem happy and are very patient. Life is more relaxed than in Aus; most businesses and all govt agencies close between 12 and 2 for lunch and almost everything is closed on Sunday (including most supermarkets on Suday afternoons). I wonder how some businesses survive as they seem to be closed more than they are open.

The language remains a challenge, even the French admit it is difficult; and some young people have told us they prefer to speak english as they find it easier despite the fact they have lived here all their lives.

Finding what you are looking for in the supermarkets is like looking for that needle in the haystack.

Driving is a challenge, not only because they drive on the right but also because they have some rules that seem crazy to us. When driving along what would be considered a through road, you have to give way to cars entering from side streets on your right unless they are at a stop or give way sign. There are pedestrian crossings everywhere and the pedestrians have right-of-way. Then there are the round-abouts, thousands of them. Some of them have bus lanes and bike lanes through the middle of them and some round-abouts have traffic lights as well. And then there are intersections with two small round-abouts adjacent to each other. Add in chicanes, speedhumps, numerous other traffic calming devices and very narrow streets.

Thank you for writing this. Very interesting to see the real life compared - in your case 6 months to just visiting a country for a few days. I’m interested in following your footsteps and spending 3 to 6 months in Europe at some point so following with great interest

 

[Jacques Vert]

Just swoonsville ! Trying to visit next year.

Try and time your visit to avoid peak season and school holidays (July/August).

And if you want to stay on the island or in the villages on the mainland (Beauvoir/La Grève & La Caserne) at a reasonable price, book early.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Try and time your visit to avoid peak season and school holidays (July/August).

And if you want to stay on the island or in the villages on the mainland (Beauvoir/La Grève & La Caserne) at a reasonable price, book early.

Also, time your visit for a high tidal coefficient of more than 90, if possible.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Carnac

Carnac is famous for its thousands of prehistoric standing stones. From April to September you can only visit the stones with a guide. From October to March you're free to visit. I'm sorry to say that they did nothing for me.






OTOH, the beach and town are well worth a visit.






Some nice old homes and good places to eat.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Carnac

Carnac is famous for its thousands of prehistoric standing stones. From April to September you can only visit the stones with a guide. From October to March you're free to visit. I'm sorry to say that they did nothing for me.

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OTOH, the beach and town are well worth a visit.

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Some nice old homes and good places to eat.

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Ah! I loved Carnac! Was some 25 years ago now though1995-2024

The sight and sound exhibition used to be good. Is it still there?

I remember reading the outrage that some locals knocked down quite a few stones on one avenue to build a DIY store!

French Archaeologists Decry the Loss of 7,000-Year-Old Standing Stones on a Site That Was 'Destroyed' to Make Way for a DIY Store | Artnet News

 

[Jacques Vert]

Ah! I loved Carnac! Was some 25 years ago now though1995-2024

The sight and sound exhibition used to be good. Is it still there?

I remember reading the outrage that some locals knocked down quite a few stones on one avenue to build a DIY store!

French Archaeologists Decry the Loss of 7,000-Year-Old Standing Stones on a Site That Was 'Destroyed' to Make Way for a DIY Store | Artnet News

Didn't see any mention of a sight and sound exhibition but I was only there for half a day.

 

[Jacques Vert]

St Colomban de Carnac

Not to be confused with a number of other St Colombans, including one near Nantes, this St Colomban is a small village about 2 km south west of Carnac. There is a small chapelle dating from the 16th century and the houses appear to be from the 16th to 18th centuries. An interesting village with most of the buildings from local stone...

 

[Jacques Vert]

Quiberon

Situated at the southern end of the Quiberon peninsula is the town and tourist resort of the same name. It is also the main port for ferries to a number of the Brittany Islands, including Belle-Ile-en-Mer, the largest of the Brittany Islands and the second largest island of mainland France.

Unfortunately, there is only one road across the isthmus connecting the peninsula to the mainland and the traffic jams in peak season are legendary. If you want to take a ferry to one of the islands (especially in peak season) it is best to stay the night before in Quiberon as travelling on the day could result in you missing your ferry.

Here is Belle Ile taken from the mainland...




The ferry returning from Belle Ile...




I visited Belle Ile's main port and largest village, Le Palais, by yacht many years ago and it is certainly an island worth visiting, but not for us on this trip. On this occasion we stayed on the mainland and looked around the town and beach at Quiberon which are both very nice.

 

[Jacques Vert]

St Cado and la ria d'Etel

There are numerous small inlets along this part of the South Brittany coast called "rias". One of the prettiest is the ria d'Etel and within this ria is the small island and hamlet of Saint-Cado...

 

[FlyingFiona]

St Colomban de Carnac

Not to be confused with a number of other St Colombans, including one near Nantes, this St Colomban is a small village about 2 km south west of Carnac. There is a small chapelle dating from the 16th century and the houses appear to be from the 16th to 18th centuries. An interesting village with most of the buildings from local stone...

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I love villages with lots of buildings made from stone like this. And I really like the arch French-doors seen here.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Le Golfe du Morbihan


(The above photo has been borrowed from a Brittany Tourist site.)

The name Morbihan is derived from its Breton name, Ar Mor Bihan, which means "the little sea". Locally they refer to it as the "Petite Mer", as against the "Grande Mer" (which we call the Atlantic). Within the little sea there are 43 islands, all but two of which are privately owned. It is sometimes claimed that there is an island for every day of the year but you would need to count every rock that pokes its head above the surface at low tide for that to be true.

Being quite a large area (20km from west to east; 15km from north to south: a total of 40 square kilometres) and having a narrow entrance of just one kilometer, as well as being situated in an area of large tidal variations, the tidal flows within the sea and between the islands are quite impressive: up to 9.4 knots (more than 17 km/h). Near the entrance and between some of the islands, the tide really rips through and forms whirlpools in places...











It is a beautiful area and well worth a visit. I sailed a yacht in here many years ago but this time we took the ferry. There are a couple of ferry companies to choose from and various cruise options from a short 15 minute shuttle to the largest island, to a full day cruise with stops at the two largest islands. We chose the latter through Izenah Cruises: Izenah Croisières : Croisières dans le Golfe du Morbihan Our cruise was the Formule 3b - Tour du Golfe + 2 îles for EUR26. We departed from Port-Blanc Baden at 1015, cruised down to the entrance and back up the other side of the sea before stopping at île d'Arz at 1145; just in time to have crepes for lunch...

 

[Jacques Vert]

île d'Arz

After lunch we took a quick walk around part of the island, We only had time to reach the first village before heading back to the wharf from where we were due to depart at 1430. (There is also a 1645 ferry on Saturdays.) An alternative would be to hire bikes at the ferry wharf which would allow time to explore quite a bit of the island, especially if you skipped lunch.








Tide is out...






Leaving the wharf the restaurant where we had lunch is directly in front of you and bike hire is available just past the building on the right.

 

[FlyingFiona]

Le Golfe du Morbihan

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(The above photo has been borrowed from a Brittany Tourist site.)

The name Morbihan is derived from its Breton name, Ar Mor Bihan, which means "the little sea". Locally they refer to it as the "Petite Mer", as against the "Grande Mer" (which we call the Atlantic). Within the little sea there are 43 islands, all but two of which are privately owned. It is sometimes claimed that there is an island for every day of the year but you would need to count every rock that pokes its head above the surface at low tide for that to be true.

Being quite a large area (20km from west to east; 15km from north to south: a total of 40 square kilometres) and having a narrow entrance of just one kilometer, as well as being situated in an area of large tidal variations, the tidal flows within the sea and between the islands are quite impressive: up to 9.4 knots (more than 17 km/h). Near the entrance and between some of the islands, the tide really rips through and forms whirlpools in places...

I confess not to knowing Brittany all that well (preferring the southern central areas more) but this is really piquing my interest! Must add it to my list of places to visit in France.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Brittany is well worth a visit but it does get busy in school holidays (July/August) due to an influx of Parisians. Make sure you book ahead if travelling at that time.

 

[Jacques Vert]

île aux Moines

We departed île d'Arz at 1430 and arrived at île aux Moines at 1500. From there, you have a ferry back to Port-Blanc every half hour until 8PM (10PM in July and August). Again you can hire bikes near the wharf and there are a couple of bars and restaurants as well. Ile aux Moines is the largest island within the gulf (7km x 3km). Again we decided to walk and having up to 5 hours before the last ferry we were able to cover a lot of the northern half of the island before catching the ferry back to the car...




The tide was still out when we arrived...

















Looks a little different once the tide returns: