So, Saturday night in Brest was quiet, compared to what we had taken to be normal in France, and Sunday (markets aside) was even quieter. Monday should see the place abuzz, right? Wrong.
I know Brest isn’t a tourist Mecca, and I know we’re over the height of the busy season, and I know there is no Rugby scheduled for Brest. But seriously? No danger of a terrorist running amok in Brest and trying to run down pedestrians on the footpath, there’d be more victims in an average hit and run.
The concrete blocks had been removed overnight, to allow traffic back into the city centre. News of this doesn’t seem to have gotten out. All the shops in the main drag seemed to be open, but there was nobody in them, nor any throngs of people going anywhere or doing anything. We checked our watches and the date.
Anyway, we weren’t here to worry about the viability of the average Brest retailer, we were here to see stuff. And that doesn’t take too long.
Following on from yesterday’s rambles, we walked down to the waterfront and took a cable car across to Les ateliers des Capucins, a former maritime workshop complex rejuvenated into a public space.
The centre promised “colour, action, shopping and excitement” (their words, not mine). I’ll let you judge from the photo how well it lived up to that.
We wandered around an essentially large empty space. It’s open everyday from 10am until midnight. I haven’t figured out why, but it is. To be fair, there were some shops, a food hall and a climbing wall. All fairly devoid of patronage. No queue for the toilet though.
Capucins didn’t really delay us very long, and we wandered off in search of Rue St Malo, the only medieval cobbled street left in town after the Allies did some urban rejuvenation works as part of their ‘bomb the crap out of the German U-boat pens’ program in 1944. The allies destroyed 75% of the city through bombing, owing to its use as a naval station by the Germans. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
Rue St Malo is intriguing, after descending the very steep staircase to get to it. It looks like it’s an artists’ precinct on one side of the rue, while on the other side there are signs warning about the application of the penal code for trying to get through the gates. I think the French navy has stuff thereabouts and they get a bit cranky about people wandering in. The rue also had a lot of cats, who pretended to be completely indifferent to our presence, but came out to see what we were doing regardless.
After the brief walk through Rue Saint Malo we headed back to the waterfront to have a look at the Tanguy Tour, a 14-century tower that was part of the port defences, in conjunction with the Château Brest across the way.
This was interesting, and free, which made it good value. It houses a collection of models of the city, depicting Brest’s growth across the ages. These were all done by a local French artist of renown, Jim Sévellec. Renowned in France, I’ve never heard of him.
Back over the bridge into the town centre, still eerily quiet, then back to the apartment, via the supermarche. We will eat cheese and baguette for the rest of the evening.
Tomorrow it’s off to Saint Malo – the town, not the street – after lunch before heading to Jersey via ferry on Thursday.
Stephen and Michelle
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