I have written on practically all of Brittany and still a lot to go, but need to update three posts in one to tell you again about my lovely Bretagne, Therefore, this post will be on my black and white series, no pictures. Plenty of pics in my blog indeed, You can take this as a reference to check out those towns in my blog. Therefore, let me tell you a bit about the 4 départements of my lovely Bretagne/Brittany/Breizh !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
I will start this post with the a brief introduction to the department 22 Côtes-d’Armor. The department 22 or Côtes-d’Armor, previously called Côtes-du-Nord until 1990. It means Côtes du pays de la mer or the slopes of the country by the sea. It was created as the other depts of France on the French revolution in 1790. The department 22 of Côtes d’Armor includes part of the old province bishops of Cornouaille and Trégor, and almost all of the Saint Brieuc ,the extreme south given to the Morbihan, and the northwest of Saint Malo as well as a small part of Dol and smaller parts still of the northeast of Vannes. It extends on the counties of Penthiévre , Trégor, and most of Poudouvre and the northern parts of Poher, and Porhoêt. It ,also, take a large part of the old kingdom of Domnonée with the name disappearing in the 11C. It now has four counties those of Saint Brieuc, Dinan,Lannion, and Guingamp.
The Côtes d’Armor has 17 harbors for the commerce of fishing , and pleasure with four commercial harbors . The particular Saint-Quay-Portrieux river is the only one in deep water between Brest and Cherbourg. The Côte de Granit Rose has rocks of the color and big sizes such as at Ploumanac’h ; facing it you have the seven islands or Sept ïles making the biggest reserve of ornithologic in France. The Côte Grés has as well sites such as Cap Fréhel and Fort La Latte. Also, the most fartherst point you have the archipielago of Bréhat facing Paimpol with a rare tropical plants reserve in open air. The bay of Saint Brieuc is the second biggest in France after that of Mont Saint Michel.
The main towns in department 22 Côtes d’Armor are Saint-Brieuc, Lannion, Plérin, Lamballe, Dinan, Loudéac, Paimpol, Guingamp, Perros-Guirec, Pleumeur Bodou, Moncontour, and Tréguier.
The department 22 Côtes d’Armor tourist office : https://www.cotesdarmor.com/
The Bretagne region tourist office on the Côtes d’Armor: https://www.brittanytourism.com/destinations/departments/cotes-darmor/
I will continue the brief tour with the department 35 of Ille et Vilaine. The department 35 of Ille et Vilaine is divided into counties such as the pays de St Malo, pays de Fougéres, pays de Brocéliande, pays de Rennes, pays de Vitré, pays de Vallons de Vilaine, and pays de Redon. It is known as the upper Brittany area or Haute-Bretagne, and it has about 345 towns. The limits are on the dept 50 Manche,,and dept 53 Mayenne, and dept 49 Maine-et-Loire, dept 44 Loire-Atlantique, dept 56 Morbihan , and dept 22 Côtes-d’Armor, and it is watered by the Manche chanel as well its coasts is known as the côte d’Émeraude (emerald coast…) on the western part by the pointe du Grouin located in Cancale to Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, and the bay of Mont Saint Michel on its eastern side by the pointe du Grouin at Roz-sur-Couesnon.
The main towns in department 35 of Ille et Vilaine are Rennes ,Saint-Malo, Fougères, Vitré, Dinard ,Redon , and Bain-de-Bretagne
The department 35 Ille et Vilaine tourist office : https://www.ille-et-vilaine-tourism.com/
The Bretagne region tourist office on Ille et Vilaine: https://www.brittanytourism.com/destinations/departments/ille-et-vilaine/
Finally, I will end the brief tour with department 29 of Finisttére. But wait ,Finistére you say in French (end of the land) but in Breton you say Penn-ar-Bed. It was created by the union of the old Léon in the north, two thirds of the Cornouaille with Quimper as its capital in the south, and on the west Trégor and a portion of the Vannes area on the southeast.
The main towns in department 29 Finistére are Quimper. Brest. Morlaix. Quimperlé, Concarneau. Douarnenez. And Carhaix-Plouguer.
The Finistére dept 29 tourist office on its heritage: https://www.toutcommenceenfinistere.com/masterpage/culture
The Bretagne region tourist office on Finistére : https://www.brittanytourism.com/destinations/departments/finistere/
And why not finish with a bit of history on my current home department 56 of Morbihan. The word Morbihan means Mor for sea and bihan for small in the breton language so therefore small sea or in French petite mer (coming from the famous gulf of Morbihan) the local costumes is that in the South areas around Vannes (Gwened) Breton is spoken by the elders ,taught in schools ,and all signs on the roads, etc are bilingual. On the extreme north by Loudéac par example ,Gallo, a gallo roman language is also spoken, and the road signs are shown in both gallo and French. Brittany or Bretagne is Breizh!
The Morbihan has two languages other than French ; these are the Breton,on the western part and the
Gallo on the eastern part. It is spoken at last count by all levels in about 700K. The route signs and streets are done in French and Breton or Gallo in the area of language coverage. So therefore, where I used to work Vannes is Gwened and where I live Pluvigner is Pleuwigner, both Breton,
The biggest forests are amongst others the lands of Lanvaux , very near me especially the Domaniales de Camors, and Floranges. The highest point is at the northeast in Gourin, and the mount or Mont Saint-Joseph at 297 meters in the black mountain range or Montagnes Noires. The coastal line including the islands is of 800 km , while the distance at sight between the Laita and Vilaine rivers representing the east and west frontiers of the department is only about 150 km. The Gulf of Morbihan has about 42 isles and two forming towns such as île d’Arz and île aux Moines. Outside the Gulf or in the big sea or Mor Braz in Breton you have four inhabited islands such as south east of the bay of Quiberon : Houat ;Hoëdic ; and Belle-Île-en-Mer (the biggest Breton island with 8 560 hectares) ; and facing Lorient you have the
île de Groix. All gorgeous to be visited. The biggest cities are Lorient, Vannes, Auray ,Pontivy,and Hennebont but even with urban areas do not passed 200K inhabitant such as Lorient. Tourism, fishing, canned goods and agro industries are big here.
A bit of history I like tell us that the department as we know it was created after the French revolution in March 1790, and given the territory that extended on the old lands of the diocese of Vannes founded in the 5C (with some small parts north, east, and west taken away) in the far out of Cornouaille, south of the bishop of Saint Brieuc ,southwest of the bishop of Saint Malo, and northwest of the bishop of Nantes. The departments after the French revolution were given names to help erase the past identities of Angevin, Corsican, Alsacians, and Bretons, etc. and bring them to the French only identity. The names were chosen by rivers, seas, mountains and geographical locations. The presence of many small gulfs already called mor bihan by the inhabitants at Gâvres, and south of Vannes, finally was chosen for the geographical symbolism. During the French revolution several battalions were formed and the 1st and 2nd. Battalion of volunteers took part in the Haitian revolution and participated in the battle of Cap-français,Haiti. The
Morbihan was part in 1919 of the V economic region or Region of Nantes with several others and the tourist region of Brittany with the current departments. This was further confirmed as belonging to Brittany as the dept Morbihan 56,
The Morbihan dept 56 tourist office on its heritage: https://morbihan.com/decouvrir/
The Bretagne region tourist office on the Morbihan: https://www.brittanytourism.com/destinations/departments/morbihan/
There you go folks, many years of wonderful time and happier moments to remember forever. Thanks to all for following my blog all these years since November 26 2010, and yes some of you go that far back. My pleasure to partake the wonderful world of travel with you all. Bretagne/Brittany/Breizh is an important part of my life, Again hope you enjoy the 4 départements of my lovely Bretagne/Brittany/Breizh !!! as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 