I bring you back to my lovely Bretagne. This time in the dept 35 of Ille et Vilaine and the historical city of Rennes!! Of course, this will be in my black and white series, no pictures. I will write about the Ville haute, Rive gauche, and de la gare or upper town, left bank and the train station respectively. I have several posts on this pretty city ,but need to tell you that is wonderful sublime to walk on it, so therefore, here is my take on this is Rennes !!! Hope you enjoy it as I.
The City of Rennes is 55 km from the coast of La Manche closest to the sea. Rennes is located 63 km from Saint Malo, 128 km from Angers , 210 km from Brest, 154 km from Caen , and, 129 km from my house. The city is very easily accessible as it is located at the crossroads of a star network of expressways such as the N157 to the east to Vitré, Laval, le Mans and Paris. The
N 137 to the south towards Nantes, La Rochelle and Bordeaux. The N 24 to the west towards Vannes, Lorient, Quimper and me. The N 12 to the north-west towards Saint-Brieuc and Brest. The D 137 to the north towards Dinan, Dinard and Saint-Malo. The
A84 to the north is towards Fougères, Caen, Rouen and Lille. The TGV Brittany, takes you from the train station or Gare de Rennes to Paris Montparnasse in about 1H25 (taken connections here to Paris and CDG ), and 45 minutes from Le Mans by TGV. Rennes is also accessible in about 2h22 from Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport (TGV station), 1H22 from Massy TGV, 2H05 from Marne-la-Vallée (Disneyland), the Rennes-Saint-Jacques Airport, located 7 km from the city center, on the town of
Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande. The airport opens the city of Rennes with national and European destinations such as Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Strasbourg, London, Barcelona, Dublin, Manchester,Madrid, Birmingham and Amsterdam, etc, I have taken it to Lisbon connecting in Madrid once. The city is divided from 1983 into neighborhoods sort of like the arrondissement of Paris. These count 12 such as the Centre, Thabor-Saint Hélier, Bourg-L’évêque, Saint Martin, Maurepas-Patton-Bellangerais,
Jeanne d’Arc-Longs-Champs-Beaulieu, Francisco Ferrer-Landry-Poterie, Sud-Gare, Cleunay-Arsenal-Redon, Villejean-Beauregard, Le Blosne ,and Bréquigny. From a tourist point of view I mark in black the pertinent ones
The Place des Lices in ville haute is the departing point, here you have the second market in France ! Font columns and brick walls this is from the 19C, At the No 26 and 28 place des Lices you have medieval mansions as a inverse boat done in the 17C for parlamentaries of Brittany ! At the top of the square next to it, you have the rue Saint Michel with beautiful wooden houses and vast terraces very much in vogue at nighs, Next to it the Place Sainte Anne preserves wooden houses from the 14C and 17C.
You leave the squares and look for book sellers along rue Bonne Nouvelle and take a look at No 9 of the rue d’Antrain of the first department stores in Rennes,the king Mercure is shown on the facade, Near too is the rue Saint Melaine where the roman Decumanus is one of the oldest in town, This was the axis east west in Roman towns, At its extremity you find the Church Notre Dame, the former abbey of Saint Melaine of 14C, and the huge parc Thabor, behind it at allée de l’Enfer you see the small jardin des Catherinettes, When you leave the park you come into rue du Général Guillaudot and the contour de la Motte pass in front of the square de la Motte just after the prefecture and hôtel de Cuillé , Just in front the palais Saint Georges huge building in arcades of the 17C, You left the rue Saint Georges with more wooden houses and restaurants, See the nice hôtel de la Moussaye at No 3 with half timbered and medieval decorations like figures of Adam and Eve, Facing it another 16C with horizontal windows looking for more light.
The old cité showing the chevet back of the Cathedral Saint Pierre and the Hôtel de Ville within narrow streets, Go back to the 16C and 17C in the rue du Chapitre, rue de la Palette, rue Saint Guillaume, rue des Dames, and rue Saint Yves, In the rue de la Palette No 1 you have a prebental house where a dignitary of the church who levied the taxes lived, it dates from about 1609, At No 8 the Maison de la Palette built in 1476 site of the meeting of the children of the master of the Cathedral St Pierre, At No 14 is the Maison de la Prévoté, taking the name of the supervisors and receivers of the cathedral chapter.
We go now to the immense Place du Parlement de Bretagne aka palais ,built in 1532 after a fire in 1720 it was rebuilt in the 18C style, You see the Hôtel de Ville in the place de la République done between 1732 and 1742 much later the Opéra, Go up to the Place du Champ Jacquet then take the rue et allée Rallier du Baty to the maison dite du Guesclin at No 2 (never lived) ; a bit down close see the rue de la Palette when a curve shows the choir of the Cathedral Saint Pierre, and in a few steps arrive at rue du Chapitre and its houses from the 15C, Continue down toward the rue des Dames back of the Chapelle Saint Yves, making a curve of the old remparts of the 15C taking you to the parvis of the Cathedral, At the end pass under the Portes Mordelaises. Under these gates the Duke of Brittany must past to take possession of Brittany with the words, « who’s there ?»
We move on to the rive gauche neighborhood or left bank of Rennes. Long quays with the romantic look of quai de la Prévalaye and the quai Saint Cyr, First you come to the Place de Bretagne and next the quai de la Prévalaye and see the union of two river Ille and Vilaine (the dept 35 is Ille et Vilaine), You go to the rue Poullain-Duparc then left into the rue du Champ-Dolent with a simple passage,There is a contemporary building on stilts.
Cut across the rue Lanjuinais to discover the trade of leather makers and butcher shops of old,one of these house Guenzel was renovated into the theater la Parcheminerie. By the rue de Nemouirs see the Haussmanian style buildings , In this neighborhood stop by 34 rue Vasselot and see the convent of the Carmelites in Rennes since the 15C, Later change during the French revolution by the 18C it was a military hospital and recently restored, By the quays and Place de la République you see the halle centrale and the criée or fish market, This is done like a pagoda at boulevard de la Liberté that is on the former medieval ramparts that protected the lower town in the 15C and today mark the limits with the neighborhood of the gare or train station.
On the Vilaine river and by the Place de la République there were done wonderful buildings like the university palace and museum palace done in 1858, Short periof afterward, the inspiration art deco on the quai Duguay-Trouin, By 1912 it was thought to cover the Vilaine from the pont Jean-Jaurés to the Pont de Nemours by a grand dome, however, today there is just a big terrace to link the north and south of Rennes with parterres French style.
Lastly but not least, my memorable quartier de la gare or train station neighborhood. Vast interconnected spaces with architectural works, The avenue Jean Janvier long from the quais de la Vilaine to the pont Pasteur and to the train station, After the bridge you can do a wonderful walk, You see a great view over the Abbey Benedictine of Saint Georges, former palace of the 17C, Before enjoy the long facade of the fine arts museum (Beaux-Arts) at 20 quai Emile Zola.
The boulevard Jean Janvier is one of the most important arteries of the left bank, Do a left orientation here to go into the rue Duhamel to your left to see the building Art Deco 1931 gray and cover with mosaics of Odorico. This street is known for having kept Captain Dreyfus while his case revision was going on ; a bit further see the arm of the Vilaine river with the Grands Moulins mills dating from the 19C to 20C.
You continue your walks into rue Saint Héllier , to the right built in 1966 the National Theater of Brittany, not easy to imagine if I tell you that here in 1857 was the train station. Now there is a much more modern train station with bars and brasseries terraces etc. The back of the train station you are in boulevard Magenta and see the wonderful architecture of the Champs Libres, a cultural space ,it leans back and reached the Esplanade du Champ de Mars, the current esplanade du Général de Gaulle.
A bit of history I like tell us that Rennes covers a period of several centuries. Too long to tell in one blog post !! Under the old regime (monarchy), the Union of the Duchy of Brittany in 1532 to kingdom of France gradually up Rennes to the rank of big provincial city. The establishment of the Parliament of Brittany in Rennes in the 16C and the Palace of Brittany in the 17C, however, allowed Brittany to preserve until the French revolution a certain autonomy with regard to the royal power of the time. Victim of a terrible fire in 1720, Rennes is one of those cities that have had two lives: before and after a disaster. In this case, it is the great fire of 1720 which, in one week, devoured 950 houses: almost half of the city disappeared in flames! In the process, architects were sent to give a new face to the city, but, in the medieval districts, the half-timbered houses remained. The medieval wooden center of the city is partially rebuilt in stone (granite and Tufa). After the fire of 1720, it was the architect Jacques Gabriel, who was responsible for rebuilding Rennes. He notably created the city/town hall, which can be visited. It traces rectilinear arteries, lined with mansions, which can be admired on the place de l’Hôtel de Ville and around: rue d’Estrée, rue Nationale, on the place du Parlement de Bretagne. In the middle ages, the city was surrounded by a wall fortress of 1200 meters,until the 15C, even as far as the 16C the most relevent aspect of the city was the Cathedral.
I like to put this memorable moment for me on this post, bear with me, please. My dear late wife Martine was an avid gourmand and great cook which we missed greatly, WE are nulle at the kitchen ! She could speak fluent English and Spanish and was always looking for recipes in all these languages. The University hospital of Rennes , Centre Eugéne Marquis one of the best in
France for cancer treatment and where we got second opinion on her treatment, The staff and the Doctor were great! I did told them so! This place is worthy of the mention of one of the best in France by several leading publications. The official Centre Eugéne Marquis: https://www.centre-eugene-marquis.fr/en/patients-our-families/clinical-research/clinical-research-at-the-eugene-marquis-centre/
The city of Rennes on its heritage : https://metropole.rennes.fr/resultat-de-recherche?q=patrimoine
The Rennes tourist office : https://www.tourisme-rennes.com/en/
The Ille et Vilaine dept 35 tourist office on Rennes: https://www.ille-et-vilaine-tourisme.bzh/partez-a-la-decouverte-de-lille-et-vilaine/sites-remarquables/rennes/
The Bretagne region tourist board on Rennes: https://www.tourismebretagne.com/destinations/les-10-destinations/rennes-et-les-portes-de-bretagne/rennes/
There you go folks, hope you enjoy the post and do get out and walk the towns, cities ,villages of my belle France. They will amaze you with their beauty, architecture,and history. Rennes will not be behind the city is a marvelous medieval field of sublime buildings and great ambiance on the bars, restos, brasseries, and else. Again, hope you enjoy this is Rennes !!! as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
