Brittany Regional Info

History | Geography | Food / Drink

"I've never had such fun on any vacation, anywhere, ever. The meals were fabulous everywhere, the routes were almost always delightful, the roads mostly quiet, and the people were completely charming." - G. Antal, Brittany Tour

History

Brittany France, aka Bretagne - French Brittany, is the country of the menhirs, dolmens, and of legends. It was a long time ago when the region formed part of Armorica. Armorica was the center of a group of Cymric Celtic tribes. The Romans under Julius Caesar invaded the country in 56 ad, and it became the Roman province. After the withdrawal of the Romans around the 5 and 6th century, Celtics natives of Britain (Grande Bretagne), called the Britons, took refuge in Armorica from invaders of their homeland. Later on, the Britons (called today Bretons) converted the Armorican Celts.

In Brittany, people still use their own dialect, the Breton, but it has disappeared progressively. It is why, the dialect Breton is now recognized as a language to be studied in high school and universities.

Geography

Brittany France is a country by the sea with its wild coasts but also a region of land and forests. L'Ar-Mor: The Ar-mor coast is the Brittany ocean side. Its coasts offer a grandiose spectacle and the beaches are composed of fine golden sand.

Some majors cities are Brest (port of war), Lorient (founded in 1666 by the Company of India) and Saint-Malo (old corsaire city) and Concarneau (fishing port). The sweet weather from the marine winds allow the agriculture of vegetables and fruits to flourish.

The beauty of the sites and the sweet weather attract an increasing amount of tourism to many cities and villages: Dinard, Dinan, Perros-Guirec, Quiberon... L'Ar-Coat: In the past and covered with forests, Brittany of the interior ( ar-coat) has a granite ground and prairies. Rennes is the historic capitale of Brittany.

Food / Drink

What good "stuff' can you eat?
Seafood served on a bed of crushed ice ( oysters, various kinds of clams, mussels, scallops, large prawns, periwinkles...)

Lobster a L'Armoricaine (Lobster swimming in shellfish stock enriched with tomato, cognac, cream and herbs)

Les crepes ...deliciously made in Brittany.

Far breton ( consistence of a flan with prunes)...is the specialty of Quiberon

What about a drink?
The Calvados and the Cider ( as seen in Normandy)