A lighthouse, a church, ruins of an abbey, a French Navy Observation post and a WWII Memorial museum at Pointe Saint-Mathieu in Brittany. Quite a place to visit.

The Port-Louis Citadel/Fortress in Brittany is in a very good state, and is now a museum. Built by the Spaniards and improved by the French (and Germans during WWII), it’s quite a spectacle.

The initial construction of the Brest Fortress/Castle started in the 3rd century.It is still one of the biggest fortresses in France, it’s still used by the French Navy and it’s the National Navy Museum… it’s definitely worth a visit.

Here is how to get to, where to go, what to see, where to eat and sleep in Les Sables-d’Olonne in the Pays de Loire on the West coast of France.

The Saint-Clair Castle at Les Sables-d’Olonne is small but does its job; protecting the harbour entrance. Now it’s a museum.

The Chateau de Noirmoutier-en-l’Ile, on the Noirmoutier island, is quite amazing for such a small village. Today, it’s a museum

The “Machines de l’Isle” is an entertainment area on the island of Nantes (located on the Loire river). It includes a massive steampunk mechanical elephant that regularly walks around the area. The area is located in the former Nante shipyards, and is a cross between Jules Verne, Leonardo De Vinci and the industrial history of […]

Camaret-sur-Mer in Brittany is a small town, some 2700 inhabitants, with a very scenic harbour, enormous dramatic cliffs and a very big monument. The village/town is old, very old. Traces of habitation can be found as far back as 2500 years BC! In those days, the place was for druides and their magical stone, the […]

If you are into sailing, then the name “Eric Tabarly” will probably be known to you. For those of you who don’t know the legendary French sailor, you can read more about him by clicking here. The museum doesn’t just look at his life and sail races, but explores mostly the art of sailing. The […]

The Submarine museum (in French “Musee Sous-Marin“) is NOT a museum of submarines (for that you can visit the Flore submarine next door, click here to read more about it), but for a look at the life of the divers underwater. The most interesting part of this museum (a private and volunteer endeavour) is the […]

The Flore submarine museum (a diesel submarine) in Lorient is located in the former German WWII submarine base, which includes 3 enormous submarine pens (which could host up to 30 submarines). Next to the 2nd German submarine pen (K2) you can immediately see the Flore submarine. This sub can be visited. You can see the […]

Lorient in Brittany is a rather large city of some 60,000 inhabitants which has as main attraction an enormous harbour area that hosted during WWII, the German submarines. The city dates back to the year 1666 and was constructed by a French trading company (the French East Indies Company) to be the base for their […]

Dinard in Brittany is a fantastic place to stay for a few days. The seaside promenade is an incredible walk, alongside a narrow winding pedestrian area, covering the beaches and rock formations. Dinard is located just a few kilometers from the more well known city of Saint Malo. They are divided by the “La Rance” […]

Transport Getting there There is NO train service from/to Concarneau to the big cities in France. If you are coming from one of the ferry harbours, you’ll need to change twice and then take a bus. Air: There is NO airport serving Concarneau. Ferry: There are no international ferries serving Concarneau. Closest ferry harbour would […]

Transport Getting there There are two railway stations in Valence, the city centre one with “normal” trains (called Valence Ville) and the TGV (High Speed Train) which is located 10 kilometres North/East outside the city. Air: Valence Chabeuil airport, located close to the East of Valence is a military/civilian airport. They don’t offer many international […]

Valence, a scenic and older city, lies pretty much South on the Eastern part of France. With its 65,000 inhabitants, it’s close to Switzerland and Italy (close enough for day trips) and it is in the crossroads of the North-South and West-East traffic. It was, once upon a time, a major colony for Rome (121 […]

If ever there was a castle that merits a detour to view, it’s this one. The Suscinio castle is a fortress, including a real moat, built for the Duke of Brittany in the 13th century.   The castle was built as a hunting lodge for the Duke who was a passionate hunter. The castle, including […]

In the beach town of Concarneau, alongside the city centre and harbors, you will find this amazing fortress. It was voted as the favorite place in Brittany by the Bretons. On the outskirts of Concarneau are several spas and thalasso hotels, but if you keep driving away from these hotels alongside the coastline, you’ll head […]

Fecamp is a quaint small city, full of character. Although in dire need of some TLC, strolling around the sea and harbour side of the city can be very rewarding. Fecamp was once a main hub for commercial fishing, particularly for trawlers crossing the Atlantic to fish for cod in Newfoundland. The cod would be […]

If there was one essential and strategic point during the invasion of Normandy, also known as D-Day, by the Allied troops, it would have been the capture of the two bridges in Benouville and the neighbouring Ranville. The two bridges were essential for the liberation of France and the rest of Europe. The operation was called […]

The Utah Beach was one of the D-Day landing beaches, this one mostly staffed with US Army soldiers. It was on the Western edge of the D-Day beaches, and the beach consisted of deep sand and dunes.   3200 soldiers died on the beach that day. To commemorate this occasion, a museum was erected to display and […]

Normally speaking the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise should mean nothing to most people. Unless you are a WWII buff or a movie buff. The movie in question is “The Longest Day” starring none other than John Wayne trying to get to Sainte-Mere-Eglise during D-Day. The village itself nowadays consists of some 2,500 inhabitants (that is, after […]

Transport Getting There There is a direct rail line Cherbourg – Paris which makes getting there easy and fast if you are arriving from the capital. By Air Cherbourg has a small airport (Maupertus Airport) but there are no scheduled flights in or outside of France. It is mostly used for private an charter flights. By Ferry […]

One of the few things that are worth a visit in Cherbourg, or even doing a detour to visit, is the Cite de le Mer museum. The museum is quite recent, it opened its doors in the year 2002. But the building is not new. It is the former transatlantic terminal building from the glory […]