I have written several posts on this quant city of Brest, of the Finistére dept 29 of my lovely Bretagne. In my latest visit this week I went to our memorable resto and did some walking as usual all for the memories of always, We came with the family here often and always a nice trip, Therefore, let me put these wonderful monument as a short introduction on things to see in Brest, Hope you enjoy the post on the curiosities of Brest as I.
The Bastille Quilbignon or Motte-Tanguy tower is built on a rocky mound along the Penfeld river, Recouvrance, facing the castle of Brest (see post). It is accessed from Rue de la Porte by the Place Pierre-Péron, at the foot of the Recouvrance bridge (see post). This tower of the 14C houses the museum of old Brest. The city of Brest becomes the owner in 1954. The Tanguy tower is restored and inaugurates the museum of old Brest in 1962 which then had only two rooms. A third room was opened to the public in July 1964. In 1971, a pepper mill was added to it and its neo-Gothic cornice was replaced with crenellations to give it a medieval silhouette. The museum houses a set of models and historical reconstructions that constitute a walk through the picturesque streets of Brest before 1939, that is to say in the city as it was before the Allied bombing during WWII.
The Pont de Recouvrance is a lifting bridge which crosses the Penfeld, in Brest. Dominating the arsenal and the military port, it connects the bottom of the rue de Siam to the district of Recouvrance, replacing the swing bridge or National bridge destroyed in 1944 by the Allied bombings. The new bridge was inaugurated on July 17, 1954, it was for a long time the largest lifting bridge in Europe. Each pylon, built in reinforced concrete, is 70 meters high. The current mobile steel span, installed in 2011, is 88 meters long, 15 meters wide, and weighs 625 tons.
The American Naval Monument, more commonly called the Pink Tower, is an American Memorial erected at the Cours Dajot, The Pink Tower was designed from 1930 to 1932, and inaugurated in 1937. The Memorial consists of a square tower in pink granite of 44 meters high or 30.5 meters (100 feet) from the cours Dajot. In front there is an esplanade and a public garden. The whole is owned by the Government of the United States but does not benefit from extraterritoriality as commonly the case in American cemeteries in Europe ,due to the fact there is no one buried in it. The Pink Tower was destroyed by the Nazis during the occupation on July 4 1941 and they built a bunker at its location. The purpose of this destruction could be to deprive the British aviators who used the tower and the Portzic lighthouse as an alignment for their bombing. After the war, in 1958, the tower was rebuilt identically, on the bunker, slightly shifted in relation to its original location, and inaugurated on July 16, 1960.
The Brest arsenal or military port of Brest is a naval base of the French Navy consisting of a set of military and naval installations located in the Penfeld River in Brest.
At the Place des Français Libres, near tram station 6 Château, grows the L’arbre empathique or empathetic tree.
Half-metal, half-vegetable, it is a 12 meters high sculpture, a hybrid tree that wants to bring nature back to the city center, It has plants in it, of seven different species that grows there: ivy, laurel, speedwell, palm laurel, pittosporum, filaria, and arbutus, And, thanks to the 300 meters of pipes hidden in the tree, an ingenious drip system will irrigate the plants. Three cameras have been installed in the tree , to film the birds that will venture there. This was done by Spanish architect Enrique Ruiz-Geli, of many other works elsewhere.
La Carène is a contemporary music hall . The venue opened its doors in March 2007, at the commercial port, consisting of two concert halls and six fully equipped rehearsal studios, open to amateur music groups. A team and recording equipment are available to the artists. This is by the entrance to the City of Brest on Rue Jean Marie le Bris.
The Pont de l’Iroise bridge spans the Elorn river between Le Relecq-Kerhuon and Plougastel-Daoulas (see posts) on the highway (voie express) RN165 which links Brest to Quimper and further into Nantes. Among the cable-stayed bridges, it has the third largest main span in France, behind the Normandy bridge and the Saint-Nazaire bridge and before the Millau viaduct.
The Brest metro tourist office on its heritage: https://www.brest-metropole-tourisme.fr/explorer-brest-metropole/nos-incontournables/
There you go folks, now I feel better having this unique post in my blog, The city of Brest is worth the detour indeed. Again, hope you enjoy the curiosities of Brest as I. And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
Leave a Reply