Paris1972-Versailles2003

We come by here always, we eat here , enjoy it here ,ride boats here, and do shopping galore on many items yet I need to update this older post on a fabolous spot in my dear Vannes, As you know if reading my blog, Vannes or Gwened (Breton) is the capital City of my beautiful Morbihan dept 56, in my lovely Bretagne,and my belle France. The fabolous marina or Le Port area of Vannes is awesome, a must to visit , wonderful alternative to medieval old town Vannes that you can passing the Porte Saint Vincent, Hope you enjoy this post as I

Where can I start! well not into the creative mind I will just tell you a bit of the history and what is around it updating text and using same older pictures. Just to remind you, if you are in Vannes you need to be here. And to some of my lucky friends who have already visited, you know it !!!

The port of Vannes is a commercial port, a passenger port and a Marina located north of the Gulf of Morbihan , mention as one of the most beautiful bays in the world (conde nast and great bays pubs) along a 1 200 meters  on a south-north  channel that leads the boats from the commercial port of Pont-Vert to the afloat basin , at the foot of the Porte Saint-Vincent, entrance gate of the old town of Vannes. The port is a lively area of the town of Vannes.

The docks of the port of Commerce welcome the goods arriving in Vannes after crossing the Gulf of Morbihan. At the exit of the Marina, the Parc du Golfe (Gulf Park) is the starting point for passenger boat cruises of the outlying islands, and the Gare Maritime. Many passenger and cargo boat cruisers are here to take you out into the outlaying islands. Popular with locals and visitors alike boaters and tourists thanks to its location in the heart of the city, the Marina is equipped with many facilities: harbormaster cultural kiosk, tourist office, green area  and underground parking le Port.

The place Gambetta, of hemispherical plan, marks the end of the port of Vannes and puts it in contact with the historic center by the Porte Saint-Vincent. The place was created in 1835 in order to clean up a low zone corresponding to the old ditches of the city, in which the sewage accumulated. The Marle river then threw itself into the channel leading to the Gulf of Morbihan, between two mudflats. The construction of the houses of the place du Morbihan(current Pl Gambetta) was completed in 1843.  The square was restored in 1976, which gave rise to the destruction of the surviving arches of the old St. Vincent bridge. New road works, in 2005, brought to light a last ark still in condition. The free space is almost entirely used by the terraces of cafes and restaurants. Very nice indeed !!!

Located on the right bank of the port, the Promenade de la Rabine walkway is made up of a long alley of trees stretching about 800 meters between the Esplanade of the Port to the north and the docks of the commercial port to the south. The construction of a wharf and the destruction of the Saint-Julien chapel in 1740 allowed the widening of the rows of trees in front of the convent of Carmelites barefooted in 1745. As the docks expanded southwards, the Promenade de la Rabine was extended. In 1887, the extension of the promenade beyond the Santière, to the Pont-Vert.

The Marina has a capacity to host 280 boats on pontoons. It can accommodate 34 boats on dead body. The port of Vannes has a visitor area for your stopovers with 60 places available. Popular with locals and visitors alike boaters and tourists thanks to its location in the heart of the city, the Marina is equipped with many facilities: harbormaster cultural kiosk, tourist office, green area  and underground parking le Port.

A bit of history I like

The first traces of the existence of a port in Vannes date back to the Roman occupation of the city of Vénètes (celtic tribe) then known as Darioritum. The research carried out on Darioritum shows that the port was the heart of the urban and commercial growth of the 1C to 5C .Until the end of the 14C, no document known to date allows to specify the actual configuration of the port. From 1604, a new wharf is built on the right bank. The Porte Saint-Vincent and the double-antenna bridge which served it  are completed around 1625 facilitating the passage from one side to the other south of the ramparts. At the time of the exile of the Parliament of Brittany in Vannes ,1675-1689,  a hunting lock is fitted upstream of the Porte de Calmont to clean the moat of the garbage and wastes that accumulate there and weaken the current of the river. A second lock, known as Kérino, is mentioned in 1683, much further downstream.

In 1697, the left bank of the port saw the realization of its first wharf, the pier Billy, the name of its owner. In 1754, recurrent problems of pollution and siltation forced the city to incur considerable costs for the construction of a new hunting lock in front of the Saint-Vincent bridge, and the development of new docks to the south in order to facilitate the docking of boats. At the end of the 18C, king Louis XVI wanted to take out the cities of the middle ages, the reorganization of the space by the filling of ditches. This project is accompanied by the desire to build a place in the form of a hemicycle. It is only in 1835 that the place Gambetta (old place du Morbihan)  is carried out, The project of requalification of the left bank between 1995 and 2001 is continued by the operation of raving and restoration of 45 facades located around place Gambetta, rue du port and Rue du Drézen.  Finally, in 2003 , in order to give a more important place to pedestrians and to create new service establishments it was done the landscaping of the spaces: realization of a parking under the paved esplanade of granite and the driveway of wood decking, construction of the new harbormaster , the cultural kiosk and the Tourist office. The current look of the port of Vannes and its neighborhood dates from the end of 2000. The second phase of the project which was started in 2011 took care of the  the upstream of the port of the Marina, such as the development of the commercial port and the maritime station on the right bank, the future of the buildings of the departmental Directorate of Territories and the Sea (ex DDE ) on the left bank and the construction of the Kerino tunnel at the port entrance.

The city of Vannes on the Port Marina :https://www.mairie-vannes.fr/le-port-et-la-place-gambetta

The local Gulf of Morbihan tourist office on the port marina of Vannes: https://www.golfedumorbihan.bzh/fiche/port-de-vannes/

The Morbihan dept 56 tourist office on Vannes :https://www.morbihan.com/accueil/decouvrir/le-morbihan/les-principales-destinations/vannes

The Bretagne region tourist office on Vannes :https://www.brittanytourism.com/destinations/the-10-destinations/southern-brittany-morbihan-gulf/vannes/

The tides of the Gulf of Morbihan on Vannes : http://maree.info/107

There you go folks, something nice around boats, history, architecture, the sea what else do you want ! I am always around here just sublime ! Hope you enjoy this post on the Port Marina of Vannes as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

We are back my wonderful capital city of Vannes, let me continue telling you of its gems from a medieval look ramparts comes the wash houses or lavoirs.  Let me tell you more with new text and new older pictures in my blog. Again, thanks for reading me since Nov 2010!! As mentioned in bits and pieces in my other posts on Vannes, I like to tell you a bit more on the wash houses or lavoirs of Vannes!

These washhouses are part of the most famous landscape of Vannes. The washerwomen took shelter under the covered gallery to rinse the laundry in the Marle river. You are at the foot of the Garenne bastion, built at the beginning of the 17C, it is the last defensive element added to the medieval enclosure. Its terrace made it possible to receive large pieces of artillery. These so-called “French-style” gardens were laid out in the 1950s and now serve as a natural theater for the great festivals of Vannes.

These washhouses were actually first built between 1797 and 1807. To cope with the influx of washerwomen, they were enlarged twenty years later, between 1827 and 1831. Private property, the Taslé family and their descendants who sold them to the city of Vannes in 1928, The washouses were restored in 2006.

The whole building is about 40 meters long, protected by a slate roof. The first building, a rectangle of about 13 × 7 meters is built of timber with exposed beams. Despite its small size, the main building has a chimney roof. And for good reason: this is where the laundries were located where we put the laundry to boil. Under the gallery covered with a slate roof, which follows the curvature of the Marle, the women came to wash and rinse their linen in relatively polluted water. Then, they invested the banks of the river and the orchards, which were replaced by French gardens, to put it to dry, Upstairs, it now houses the heritage animation service. On the ground floor: exhibition rooms.

The City of Vannes on the washhouses or lavoirs : https://www.mairie-vannes.fr/lavoirs

The local Gulf of Morbihan tourist office on the lavoirs of Vannes in pdf file format : https://golfedumorbihan56.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/lavoirs-de-la-garenne.pdf

There you go folks, another enjoyable stroll in quant medieval Vannes, right off the ramparts and heading on the Porte Poterne along rue Porte Poterne into the old town and its laberynth of beautiful architecture, history, and shops/restos to please. Hope you enjoy this new post on the lavoirs or wash houses of Vannes !

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

So you know Vannes is my capital city and administrative center for us. It was as well for 9 years my place of work, just outside city limits, and we go there every week at least once ! Therefore, I have written plenty about Vannes in my blog; but as often the case there are some missing parts.. I found me more pictures of this wonderful monument and they need to be in my blog, Therefore ,here is more on the Tour du Connétable in the ramparts of Vannes,  See my other posts on the ramparts of Vannes! Hope you enjoy this post as I.

The  tour du Connétable or Constable tower was built in the first half of the 15C, is a building integrated into the ramparts of Vannes in Morbihan. Despite its fortified appearance, resolutely turned towards the defense of the city, and although the tower has artillery casemates in the lower room, the initial destination of the Constable’s tower was to house the chief of the Duke of Brittany’s armies. . Its name therefore comes from its function, the most illustrious representative of which was Arthur III of Brittany known as “the Constable of Richemont”, Constable of France and Duke of Brittany.

The Constable tower is located on the eastern flank of the second wall of Vannes, south of the Powder Tower and north of the Garenne spur. At its feet is the public garden which extends along the ramparts, a garden itself bordered by the Marle, the “river of Vannes” Extra-muros, the tower is visible from rue Francis Decker. The tower is also visible from the Promenade de la Garenne located to the east of it. Within the walls, the tower is visible from Place Lucien Laroche as well as from Rue du Rempart.The tearing away of the walls on either side of the cant, visible from the Rue des Remparts side, shows that the tower was part of a second enclosure protecting the lower courtyard of the Château de l’Hermine.(see post)

The Tour du Connétable has five levels as well as a poultry yard at street level on the intramural side. Part of this farmyard still exists. This is made up of several parts. Tower rounded on the outside and heptagonal on the inside comprising five levels with an outer turret which houses the spiral staircase serving the 3 upper floors, the two lower levels being served by another circulation system. The upper three floors include three polygonal rooms. The third floor is illuminated by high mullioned windows and includes a monumental fireplace. The lower level includes a low battery in casemates opened by sight cannons almost invisible from the outside because they are buried under the modern embankments of the Garenne gardens.

The Constable’ tower was affeagated in 1676 following the disappearance of the military interest of the fortifications. The City of Vannes regained ownership of the building in 1786 and used it for the confinement of mentally unstable people and girls of bad life In the 18C, the tower was used as a prison, especially during the French revolution when emigrants captured in 1795 during the Quiberon affair (see post) were locked up there.

Passing through town in 1834, Victor Hugo made a drawing of the Constable’s tower. In 1890, Albert Robida illustrated his book La Bretagne with the washhouses of Vannes and the ramparts, the Constable’s tower and the Old Town in the background.

The City of Vannes on the Tour du Connétable :https://www.mairie-vannes.fr/tour-du-connetable

The Local Gulf of Morbihan tourist office on the ramparts: https://golfedumorbihan56.com/le-jardin-des-remparts-de-vannes-ses-fleurs/

There you go folks, a wonderful monument to see each time by the City, the Tour du Connétable is a sight to see, not to forget the wonderful gardens and ramparts that surround it ; sublime Vannes ! Hope you enjoy this additional post on the Tour du Connétable of Vannes as I

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!