My best French memories: Bretagne

This article takes part in the blogger event “what is your best memory of France/French people” organized by Sabrina, author of the blog Frenchness. I tell you about my best French memories in the beautiful region of Bretagne, where the famous French crêpes come from! Get on board and let your mind travel across the ocean…

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In September 2018, I went back to France and spent a week in Bretagne (with my mum, my little brother and his girlfriend); for those who don’t know it, Bretagne is a region in the North West, the «arm of France» in the sea Manche. My grandmother was from that region and my mum took us there many times when we were kids; it’s a family tradition now! Walking through the little streets, eating crêpes and kouign amann 10 years after the last time I was there, brought a lot of memories back… Today I take you on a tour of my favorite (sometimes secret 😉 ) spots in Bretagne!

Roscoff

Roscoff is a small town right next to the sea. This is a very special place for me as I spent most of my summers there when I was younger; it became a peaceful and sunny sanctuary when I was going through a very hard time as a teenager. Roscoff has been the destination of our family vacations for many years.

The first thing we HAVE TO DO when we arrive is to head to the Maison du Kouign Amann to grab a piece of the best one in the world… They asked us not to post the photo of their amazing kouign amann so unfortunately I can’t show it to you, but you can take my word for it!! They can warm it up for you, it’s caramelized and just melts in your mouth…hmmm food orgasm for sure!! 😀 It was as delicious as before, just incredible; it’s good to see that some things don’t change… 🙂

To give you an idea about what a regular kouign amann looks like, here is one we got for breakfast:

Sugar? I don’t know what you’re taking about… 😛 Disclaimer: I wasn’t fully vegan at that time so I ate dairy…

Once our taste buds are satisfied, we head to the beach and on the way, we can see the Estacade, which is a long bridge to take the boat during low tide!

When comes super time, we look for a nice little restaurant to eat…guess what? YES, crêpes, OF COURSE! If you didn’t know it, Bretagne is the one and only region for the original French crêpes; so when we go there, we eat des crêpes, des crêpes et encore des crêpes!! 😀 Here is a sneak peek into the delicious universe of French crêpes…

A restaurant I recommend in Roscoff: Amours Jaunes! Cozy, nice staff and delicious food; we went there 2 or 3 times during the week! Yummy, yummy!

Ile-de-Batz

Another must-see spot when we go in Bretagne is a cute little island you can access by taking the boat in Roscoff: Ile-de-Batz. We spend the day there and rent bikes to go around the island. It’s better to have a clear weather when you go there but if it’s cloudy, fear not; the sun is usually a sleepy head like me and may appear later!

As we are biking around the island, the landscape looks so familiar and different at the same time; it’s my little girl’s heart with my grown-up’s eyes! 🙂 We make a few stops for picture break and lunch; I’m amazed by the view we have all around us…

I breathe the fresh air, record the view in my head and keep the magical feeling in my heart…

Saint-Malo

Saint-Malo is a fortified city in Bretagne and my advice is definitely to go intra-muros, which means inside the walls. It’s a very different atmosphere once you step inside: the little streets between the big walls… There are many little shops and restaurants; we eat kouign amann and crêpes here too (I mean that’s what vacations are for, right?)! 😀

We walk on the walls and stop to admire the view…

Morlaix

This city is very famous for the bridge, that you’ll find on pretty much every postcard! There is a specific charm to this little place: the houses, the flowers, the boats… And some hidden treasures like the house of the Duchess Anne, thousands of years old, Ty Coz, a little café or A la Lettre Thé, a bookstore where you won’t see the hours go by!

Huelgoat

It took me quite a few times to say the name of that little town properly lol! Now this is probably my favorite secret spot; my mum talked to me about it before our trip and we decided to spend a day there together. So here we are, driving and looking around to find this enchanted place: Autre Rive, the bookstore in the forest… What a wonderful discovery!

This delightful hidden little paradise corner will take you to another dimension: you can have some delicious homemade food surrounded by many different books, you might hear some breton, which is the local celtic language, you can go upstairs if you wish to have a more quiet time, you’ll still be surrounded by books and able to take a look at the forest through the blue window… The rest of the universe pauses and you can just appreciate life for what it is, right here, right now…

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This trip was a very nice walk down memory lane; it always makes me happy to talk about my best French memories in Bretagne. Most people talk about Paris when it comes to traveling to France, but saying you love France when you only visited Paris, is like saying you love someone when you only saw their head! There are many beautiful places in France so like I always say: go to Paris but don’t stay there, push the trip into the heart of France and make some of YOUR best French memories… 🙂

PS: do you know how to say «lighthouse» in French? 😉

To discover other special moments in France, you can download the blogger event’s Ebook!