Brittany!

It’s quite the place they have here! It is similar to Cataluña in Spain, in the sense that it lives apart from its country.  And of course, because of this they have been oppressed by their country and region for hundreds of years. Just 10 years ago they finally made it legal once again to speak Breton, which is the native language here. Before, it was illegal to not only speak it but also to write it or possess the flag of Brittany!  The ancestors of the people here a mostly Celts instead of the much more common Franks, hence the segregation. Amazingly though, throughout all of the repression they have managed to hold on to their heritage and culture.   Now kids in school here learn Breton as well as French and the flag of Brittany flies all over.

The Rocks!

            One of the main reasons we came here is because of the rocks. There sure are a lot of them all right, and they’re big, really big! Its said by some to be the Stonehenge of France, I’m not sure quite who said this, but I’m sure they had their reasons. One I’m assuming is because (like Stonehenge) nobody knows what the heck they were for! Archeologists estimate their age to be around 7000 years old, and nobody knows how they were able to do it! (You’d think that after all that time they’d have some idea). While driving along you’re likely to pass thousands of these giant boulders all lined up in neat little rows that stretch for kilometers. There are many theories as to why they are here but personally I’m going with the alien theory. Obviously they were runways and docking stations for flying saucers. Other than the rocks there isn’t a whole lot to talk about I’m afraid. We stayed in a small bed and breakfast run by an old German/French couple for four nights and would have loved to hang around for longer, but duty called so we said goodbye to the couple and headed north.

More rocks!

The couple who owned the Bed and Breakfast

Josselin Castle 

We drove through many a quaint little village with roofs of thatch or black slate dotting the countryside for miles around. And of course the customary row upon row of giant upright rocks that really made me wonder, didn’t those guys have anything better to do? It was a beautiful day though, the blue sky and the rolling green hills tempted us as always to walk up into them and stay there for a good long time, letting the problems of the world go by without hearing the smallest detail. It was a shame that we spent most of the day in the car. Thankfully though we did get the chance to stop at the old castle town of Josselin, as I’m sure you have guessed, there was indeed a fairly large castle sitting atop a hill overlooking the meandering canal below. 

We took a stroll around the ramparts and while looking for a coffee shop, stumbled upon a small second hand English bookstore run by an elderly man from Britain. It was a great place and had a wonderful selection of books, we bought a new book about General Bernard Montgomery’s (AKA Monty) liberation of North Africa and Southern Italy during WWII.

We continued along the cost for several hours, watching the rolling hills zoom past one after another until we passed around the ancient fortified city of Dinan. Where we finally found our little place on a small road that wound through fields of golden wheat and forests of evergreens. My dad had found a great deal for a little cottage just outside of Dinan, it’s at least 300 years old and you can definitely tell, it has a great feeling to it and was super cozy. But the best part is that it actually has a laundry machine that works!

Our cottage