Sunday 21 April 2019

Back in France! Visiting Vannes in Brittany

I'm linking up with The Sunday Post at Caffeinated Reviewer and The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz.

Thank you so much for all your kind wishes last week. We've just about recovered now and have had a nice week pottering around discovering a few new places in France. It was frustrating not to be able to explore with our usual energy, but I think we both appreciated getting out of the motorhome for a few hours each day which is more than we'd managed the week before!

Vannes in Brittany is our great new-to-us discovery and most of the photos on this post were taken there. It has a kind of a La Rochelle vibe, but less touristy and with more open spaces. We loved the half-timbered houses, the historic (and huge) old town walls and the beautiful municipal flowers in the parks. There is a town-wide outdoor photography festival on at the moment with free-to-view galleries in seven locations. The theme is Music of all types so there are images of rock stars, classical musicians, rappers and breakdancers. I was a little disappointed that women musicians are almost completely absent other than in the classical gallery. The classical had the most inventive and entertaining images too. If you're anywhere nearby, the Vannes Photos Festival is on until the 12th May.


We parked up in a paid-for motorhome aire at Conleau on the coast which was perfectly situated for the bus into Vannes town. It wasn't the prettiest aire, but is in a lovely spot for coastal walking - and we could have walked into Vannes and back had we been healthier! The aire is one of 160 in the same group, Camping-Car Park, which we didn't know until we got there, and we now have a membership card so we can easily stay at any of the other locations too.


In bookish news, congratulations to Rebecca W who won the signed PBs of The Melt Trilogy to celebrate the publication of Listen To The Birds by K E Lanning!
If that's not you, there's more Literary Flits giveaways to enter ...

Giveaways closing soon
26th Apr: Win a $15 Amazon gift card to celebrate the Writer Get Noticed! by Colleen M Story blog tour
28th Apr: Win an ebook copy of An Empty Nest by Sandy Day
(All current giveaways here)

On my blogs this week were:

Stephanie Jane
Book Blogger Hop - Do you check how many views your posts have received?

Literary Flits
When the Pipirite Sings: Selected Poems by Jean Métellus review
A Change Of Time by Ida Jessen review
Fatboy Fall Down by Rabindranath Maharaj review
One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez review
Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekback review
We, The Survivors by Tash Aw review
The Stars in the Night by Clare Rhoden review + #Giveaway

Have a great week!




24 comments:

  1. That is disappointing that women musicians weren't represented. Hope you and Dave are getting back on the road to recovery.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the photography galleries kinda gave the message that it was fine for girls to aspire to play classical music, but rock and rap are Men Only!

      Delete
  2. Lovely photos! Thanks for sharing, and have a great new week. Here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Laurel! Vannes is such a beautiful and photogenic town :-)

      Delete
  3. Sounds like you're having a good time. I loved the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Still difficult getting around with the aftermath of that bug, but Vannes was well worth the effort of exploring :-)

      Delete
  4. Those pictures are lovely. I hope you had a great time.

    Gayathri @ Elgee Writes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We did, thank you :-) We both love visiting new places, especially historic ones

      Delete
  5. Pretty houses! We don’t have anything that looks like that around here. Enjoy France. Have a great week!

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We were so lucky that Dave spotted Vannes as a potential to visit, and then I saw an advert for the photography festival in a magazine so we Had to go. History and art in one day :-)

      Delete
  6. You are staying in a beautiful place. I dream of living in France; when I'm not dreaming of living there, I dream of visiting there.

    Thank you for all the wonderful giveaways! And thanks for joining in with Sunday Salon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd love to take the plunge and really live in France too! Maybe one day

      Delete
  7. What a lovely town, the history of such places is always so appealing. The photo exhibit sounds interesting, a shame women were underrepresented.

    Have a great reading week

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was delighted to discover such a beautiful place. It's not too far away either so we could happily return and explore more

      Delete
  8. I love that half timbered look. And great pics this week- looks like a neat area.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gorgeous pictures! It looks so beautiful there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vannes was a gorgeous place to visit and to wander around :-)

      Delete
  10. Oh gosh I love all the photos. Thank you for sharing. Hope all are well soon!

    ReplyDelete
  11. oh how beautiful! It looks like the weather is pretty good. I am reading Mortal Heart by Robin Lefevers and it is set in Brittany so I looked at a map and you are near all the towns I have been reading. In the book, Brittany is a separate kingdom being invaded by the French. Well it ended up as part of France, at a later date than the book. Have a wonderful week!

    Anne - Books of My Heart Here is my Sunday Post   

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittany strill has a strong sense of its own identity. Signposts are in Breton as well as in French and the towns have a distinctive look to them

      Delete
  12. Glad to hear you're recovering and enjoying France - they are fantastic photos! Thank you for sharing your experiences with us all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vannes is a gorgeously photogenic town. I love Brittany!

      Delete