Travel to Bretagne

Day 8 Rennes - Nantes (160 Km.)

Rennes: s you know, the two neighbourhoods of the Old Rennes are very different: situated north of the river Vilaine concentrated nightlife and cultural city, while the southern stretch of modern residential neighborhoods.

We started the visit by the Place de la Mairie, an elegant square, classic neighborhood center, where they erected some beautiful public buildings. Among them the town hall, built in style Louis XV and crowned by a watchtower of the eighteenth century. The interior highlight an impressive staircase and good carpets.

Opposite is the Theatre of the nineteenth century. To the left of it, a street leading to the Place du Palais. It is also quite beautiful with elegant classical buildings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which included the Palace of Justice (XVII), former seat of parliament of Bretagne. The interior is worth a visit by decorating the halls, based beautiful antique furniture and tapestries.

It is especially nice the Grande Chambre du Parlement (to enter must ask the concierge).

From one end of the square leaves the rue Saint Georges, one of the most beautiful of the city by its old houses and in which you will find some cafés and restaurants that are quite well. We also see here the old Palais Benedictine abbey of Saint Georges (XVII). Later, after leaving at right the church of Saint Germain (XV-XVI), we reach the street Gambetta. Towards the left, the street leads to the church of Notre-Dame-in-Saint-Melaine. Of the original abbey remaining the tower and the transept (eleventh century), while the rest of the building is from centuries XIV and XVII. In the northern part is the cloister, with a beautiful gallery, and right the Jardin du Thabor, former garden of the abbey that was transformed into the nineteenth in a pleasant park. We return to the place du Palais by street Victor Hugo.

To the left of the square are the medieval streets, which are grouped around the cathedral. The rue Du Glescin leads to the church of Saint Sauveur, from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, inside which there is a beautiful organ. From here, the streets of Saint Sauveur leads to the streets of Psalette, which preserves houses from centuries XV and XVI and are located around the northern part of the cathedral.

Besides, two streets that retain some of the most beautiful houses in the neighborhood, Saint Guillaume (number 3) and du Chapitre (numbers 6, 8, 11, 18, 20 and 22).

The cathedral of Saint Pierre began to be built in the late eighteenth century and was completed at the end of fifty years. It retains two towers of the sixteenth century and in its interior, in a chapel on the right, there is an interesting gilded altarpiece of the fifteenth century. Leaving the cathedral we went to the Place des Lices. To do this we must go through the portes Mordelaises (XV), ancient gates to the city, which were used to come when the Bretons Kings gone to be crowned at the cathedral. The square is, as its name suggests, the place where were celebrated the just and medieval tournaments. It preserves old houses, as the neighbouring streets Saint Michel, Place de Sainte Anne, rue des Ponts aux Foulons and rue du Champ Jacquet. We visit the museums of the city, installed at the Palais des Mus�es (20, quai Emile Zola). It contains the Museum of Bretagne and the musée des Beaux Arts. The first follows the region´s history from prehistory and ethnography collections presents: coins, statues, musical instruments, clothing typical, and so on. The second shows good collection of paintings, since the sixteenth century to the present day.

(in 160+- Km.) We take the N24 towards the beautiful forest of Paimpont, which according to legend was the forest Brocéliande, abode of fairy Morgana and King Arthur. We continue to Josselin, a beautiful town that preserves houses from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries but who is known especially by its castle, built on a rock what about the channel. The building is from the eleventh century, but was destroyed by Henry II of England, so we will have to wait until the fourteenth century to see its current form. The interior, which houses a museum of the doll, can be accessed. You can also see the church of Notre Dame du Roncier (XII-XIII) and the Chapelle de la Sainte Croix (XI-XVI).