Le Finistère, de Quimper à Landerneau – Les 100 Lieux qu’il faut voir – Documentaire – MG

Le Finistère, de Quimper à Landerneau – Les 100 Lieux qu’il faut voir – Documentaire – MG

Do you like France? Do you like to explore it,
discover it, and meet it? Sometimes you even
feel like you know her well. We all have a small beach,
a small cove, a clearing, a hamlet or a path that belongs
only to us, far from the beaten track and that we only want to share with
those we love. This is the France we want
you to discover through 100 places that you absolutely must see in your lifetime. We are going to take a trip to one of the most beautiful coasts in France. Located in the far west of Brittany,
Finistère has managed to preserve a wild and authentic character. In
its center, we will set off to explore
the Crozon peninsula, with its dizzying cliffs. We have a breathtaking landscape. I’m amazed every
time, it’s fabulous. Then, to the south, we will open the doors
to cities of character like Quimper. To the north, in the Léon region,
we will go in search of seaside treasures, islands surrounded by blue
and small, wild, secret coves. Here, after the steps, comes the reward. The view! Passing by the marvelous
Trévarez castle, we will go to Trégor to discover the rich heritage
and captivating legends of the Wellegouat forest, without forgetting the most
beautiful recipes that Brittany has to offer. There you go, all that’s left is to enjoy. We’re having a great time, we’re having a great time. On this land and sea journey,
we will discover together the millennia-old secrets that these
passionate inhabitants will share with us. Our journey begins in the capital of Cornwall, Quimper. This is where our first
Breton guide, Lucky N Kergoat, a retired lecturer
and Breton language teacher, lives. My attachment to this country
is first and foremost an attachment to a language, Breton, which is my mother tongue. A language is a culture. Each language sees the world in a
slightly different way. The culture of Brittany is unique. Brittany is a story. Living here also means living in
an environment that is earthquake-resistant. It is an extraordinary country. Extraordinary. Lequien is at home here and is eager
to show us, at the end of Quai Réon Street, the jewel
of the city, Saint-Corentin Cathedral. A true treasure of Gothic art,
it is the symbol of the city and an unmissable stopover. For this visit to this
sumptuous building, Le Quien chose to be accompanied by Élodie Poireau,
urban planner and guide of the city of Quimper. Do you know that here
we are on Quai Réon Street? Quai Réon Street, yes indeed. Shoemakers Street. Quereon, in Breton, is the plural
of kere, which means shoemaker. And in front of us, the cathedral. I always ask myself a question. Why is the bottom axis
offset from the whole? You probably have the explanation. I have some hypotheses. There is no written explanation,
but we have some hypotheses. The first one, you do it yourself. When you look at the main window,
you see Christ with his head bowed. Yes, as almost everyone believes. Yes, but like the heart
of this cathedral. Afterwards, it is also likely that this
nave absorbed the old Romanesque church. And then, there is one that I find
interesting, it is the idea that the western portal, when it was put in place
in the 15th century, was also on the axis of rue Cairéon. And Cairéon Street
is the entrance to the bishop’s city. So, it is not forbidden to imagine
that from an urban planning point of view, this facade is highlighted
in relation to rue Cairéon. To go straight to the cathedral. It will come from the street. And then Cairéon Street is the
main street of the episcopal city. So, after this explanation, there
is a place I would like to take you to, it is in front of
Father Monoir’s painting. My pleasure.
Here we go. The painting depicts Father Monoir
on his knees and then the angel who seems to give him the gift of speech,
the gift of the Breton language, because according to legend, Father Monoir
learned Breton in three days. A miracle.
A miracle. We owe him the first
grammar of the Breton language. And a very effective method
for learning languages. Elodie decides to gain some height
and climb with Lucienne to the top of the cathedral, at the foot of the spires. They were erected in 1854. To pay for their construction,
the bishop of the time imposed on the faithful the sou of Saint-Corentin,
consisting of each inhabitant of the diocese giving one sou
per year for five years. There, you see,
we are at the very top of the north spire and you are beginning to see a little of
the magnificent view we have from here. It’s fabulous to have
this view of the city. And then we can let our imagination
run wild and imagine the city of the Middle Ages before our eyes. On the other hand, I would like to point out that the part
which is just below, there is a whole complex, an island,
a part of the water which burned in 1762. Up to the half-timbered houses,
which you can see a little further down. Exactly. You see, there is a house whose gable
protrudes onto the street which is a radius. This is exactly where the fire
stopped because the houses were half-timbered and fragile. And this fire will make us
aware of the fragility of this city. It was during the night of June 17 to 18, 1762,
that a fire broke out in a shop on rue Cairéon,
then quickly spread to neighboring houses, most of which were made of wood. Nine houses were completely destroyed
and six others were seriously damaged. The following buildings will be made
of stone to protect against these destructive fires. Despite this, there are still many half-timbered houses in the streets
of the old town which are
the pride of the people of Quimper. Next to the cathedral,
there is a strange and magical place where L’Uquienne wants to take us
and which most visitors are unaware of. This is the Bishopric library. The Uquian spent a lot of time with him
during her university studies. Yann Selton has been there for 25 years and is the Library of this place. Here are the places. And for a chapel, it is truly
an inspired and successful conversion. Yes, it is true that before,
it was a chapel built by the Jesuits in the 19th century
which served as a neighborhood chapel. The library has been here since
the 70s, simply. And this is something that is
quite common in France at that time. Diocesan libraries were being created
everywhere at that time. It was around this time that I first visited him because I was working on my thesis. At the time, it was a pile
of storage boxes. I’m excited to see
how the fund has evolved. I hope it has
changed a little since then. This is a good thing. That’s good because I’ve just
shown a rarity that you may not have seen, precisely,
at the time of your thesis. We’ll go see that. Here on the table are two of the
oldest and most precious books that we keep
here in our library. First of all, this one
which is an incunabula. The incunabula
are the earliest books by de Primery, dating from
Gutenberg’s Bible to 1500. It is a very beautiful volume in perfect
condition, but it is perhaps not this one that is the most precious and the most
endearing to us, it is this one that is much more modest. It is a book from 1526.
It is the Micelle of Leo, a liturgical work, and it has a particularity. This is one of the first books to have
a text printed in the Breton language, which we see here in the marriage liturgy. Yes, I do see a paragraph:
Otrumus, grede ganom, mon imbando. Gentlemen, we have published
the announcements, the banns. Yes, the Breton text inserted into Latin. It is a work which is also related
to another work which is a trilingual dictionary, Breton, Latin, French,
which is by the same token the first French dictionary which exists. I believe that the Breton language was
very, very widely spoken, at least in Lower Breton. It was spoken by the
majority of the population. It also served
as a teaching vehicle. The language was standardized. At the other end of the town,
in the Locmaria district, an activity was born which has contributed
to Quimper’s reputation for over 300 years : earthenware making. And it is in the workshops of the legendary
earthenware factory in Rio that Luccienne has an appointment with Fabienne Kernéis. Like most people from Finistère,
our ambassador has had a Breton bowl with his name on it since he was a child. Here they are, the little bowls of my childhood. Yes, that’s the one, but smaller here. This one is 10 centimeters in diameter. It is reserved for
very young children. You must have had
the bowl a little bigger. I got the adult size
right away when I was little. So with my name written on it, my
kids got their bowl in Rio too. My grandchildren
also have their bowl in Rio. I drank my coffee with milk there,
my grandchildren their hot chocolate. It doesn’t surprise me, it’s passed down from
generation to generation anyway. With its typical ears and
naively colored characters, this cult object was born here more
than 300 years ago and the manufacturing technique has hardly changed
since the 18th century. But what fascinates Luccienne
is the decoration of the bowl. He wants to know how
the characters of his childhood were drawn. When the railways arrived in Quimper,
the first tourists began to ask for
very typical local products. This is where
the famous setting of Le Petit Breton was invented. And today, it is all the Bretons
who are the ones who have appropriated it and who have reappropriated it and who offer it to each other,
this bowl, with the Breton inside for births, birthdays,
when there is a new arrival in the family. We know that the person is accepted
from the moment they have their bowl with the Breton inside
and the first name in front. I see a fresco,
but where is the flower? On my childhood bowl,
there was a flower. If you want, I’ll let you do it, and
then I’ll guide you. Draw a flower?
Yes. I don’t know how to draw. I will guide you.
The Ukrainian will try the exercise. What he doesn’t know
is that it takes three years of training to master
the gesture with precision. The Ukrainian woman only has a few minutes. We’re going to try to make
a kind of petal. And we give three brush strokes
like that, three touches. There you go, hop, like that.
And we continue. We will try to make a little foliage. And then you need foliage. It’s small, big foliage
that small foliage. It’s emotion.
It’s not easy. You have to have the knack.
After… After, you can write
your first name on the other side. So, I write my first name.
He’s the one who loves… He’s Lucien’s Breton correspondent. There, it’s finished. I stop.
It’s not bad. Well, it’s readable,
but it’s not this bowl that I’m going to give my grandchildren when I get home. It’s still not bad. It still takes several years before you
can acquire the brushstrokes. So, I think it’s pretty good. I still have three years to work. Well, at least, yes. Fabienne suggests to Lucienne that they climb
the sugar cane trees at the house in Rio. He will have the exceptional opportunity
to enter a place that visitors never see. So here, it’s a magical place. This is where the molds
used to make the porcelain busts that adorned
Breton castles in the last century are kept. It’s really fabulous. This is the whole story of
Rio that we have before us here. That’s exactly it. This is where all the
plaster molds and all the artists’ original models are kept. The oldest here
date from the end of the 19th century. The others were lost through
buyouts and moves. So, I wanted to show you some busts
that were used to make molds. They are
quite astonishing characters. Yes, this one doesn’t look
like she’s in a good mood. No, it doesn’t look
very comfortable, indeed. I think it’s because
she was taking a break. But practically all the people
you see there, the busts, represent people who
worked at Henriot, who used them as models. And this one that doesn’t seem comfortable
was the grandmother of someone who worked with me. I’m sorry for the
derogatory comment. You are welcome. She scares everyone, actually. Everyone wore their
formal attire to pose, but when they worked here,
they were in work clothes. To make, for example,
the molds that were used to make the oldest bowls. This may be the one that was used
to make my childhood bowl. It’s possible,
this one is quite old. Yes, I was born in the last century.
Excuse me. No, but this one is
n’t that old, actually. It is not very old. So, it’s definitely yours. THANKS.
You are welcome. Far from the big city bordered by the ocean, the Crozon peninsula offers sumptuous landscapes. A central point in Finistère,
it separates the harbor of Brest and the bay of Douarnenez. It is a magnificent nature reserve,
a place where Ukrainians love to take long walks on
heavenly beaches and along the edge of impressive cliffs. The cliffs of the Peninsula preserve
the memory of hundreds of millions of years of history. And it is to tell us this
geological saga that the Ukéenne joins Yves Cyril, a passionate geologist
who lives and works on the edge of the city. Guernes, you see, here
we are facing a large site on the Crozon Peninsula,
in Camaret-sur-Mer, with L’Anse de Penade, which is bordered to the south by the large point
of Penière, with its islets that we call the state of weight. And then we also have Lion Rock. It feels like you have
a sphincter lying down. And then, the end of the Pointe
du Thoulinguet, with its lighthouse and its semaphore. Thoulinguet, the Little Knight’s hole. It’s full of fabulous beings. Penhath, the head of the Hare,
the lion that is in front of us. And then my faith,
a knight, then knight. I see more of a ship’s prow
that is sinking. We’re not going to sink, but
I’ll stop you right there. We are here on a beautiful testimony
of the history of the American massif. Namely, we have a cliff with
layers that are inclined and they are juxtaposed
next to each other. He is the great American. Here is the second rock
of Brittany after granite. Yes, completely. And this American sandstone
is 475 million years old. So, we are in the primary era. And what you need to know
is that each layer that we see today initially corresponded
to a deposit of sand that was in a horizontal position. And these layers which are also striated. These are faults that cut them,
so that this stone, which is very, very hard, is already
cut for the mason. Absolutely. Here, on the Crozon peninsula,
in the past, the quarrymen were geologists
who were somehow unaware of it, since in fact,
they took advantage of geological structures to exploit the rock, namely
strata, layers cut by a fracture system. And this meant that when we opened
a quarry, we simply had to cut down the face and we had
ready-to-use masonry rubble. Descending from the cliffs towards the nearby sea
, Lucienne and Yves set out to discover one of
the treasures of this wild coast: the Morgate sea scum. Inaccessible by beach, you have to
take a boat to discover them. The Peninsula has the
richest coastline in marine cavities in France. It has more than 440 caves
over its 110 kilometers of caves. Hey, Luc Dian, I wanted to show you
one of the Morgate caves, the altar cave.
Look, she is majestic. Yes. Under the sandstone strata that we
see there, why a cave? The structure of the cliff. Overall, the cliff
is stratified. We can clearly see these successive layers. Seepage waters infiltrate
into this fault zone. As a result, the rock is weakened.
And the sea benefits from it. So. And then we have big waves
that hit the rock face, which act like a real water
hammer, ultimately. And so we have this
quite spectacular digging. The Morgate Sea Caves are
home to a magnificent spectacle. The beauty of these cavities lies inside. An impressive coloring
covers almost the entire wall. Why is there
red in one place? So this red color
is due to iron oxides, but there is also a reddish color. These are red algae
that attach themselves to the rock. I live a few
dozen kilometers from here. I didn’t know about these wonders. Yes, it is one of the treasures
of the Crozon peninsula. When you come here by boat
or canoe, you will have the chance to admire
ever-changing paintings in these caves , as the brightness of the colors varies
depending on the ambient light. After this walk around the superb
cliffs of the Crozon peninsula, we will head to the north
of Finistère, a region with irresistible charm. There are many protected natural sites. Coasts lined with small islands immersed
in turquoise blue water and welcoming towns like Anderno,
at the bottom of Brest harbor. It is on this steep coast, made up of long wild beaches and called the Coast of Legends, that one of the
greatest Breton sailors, Jacques Carraès, lives. Born in the department,
he is a navigator and director of international races like the wind of the globes. Here, we never get tired of places. There are so many little coves,
so many little islets. So it’s a beautiful paradise. I love going far away. I love going to all the oceans through my
job as a sailor, but I always love coming back home
because I think it’s the highest country in the world. For this sea trip,
Jacques is in the company of another local girl: Gaïd Le Nail, a
guide from the Abers region, a Celtic word meaning estuary. It heads towards the Ile Vierge, served
every day by a river shuttle. Gaïd and Jacques land on the island,
located one kilometer off the coast. The lighthouse standing on this rocky site is
the tallest in Europe and the tallest in cut stone in the world. The interior is lined with
12,500 precious opaline tiles. Climbing the 397 steps
doesn’t scare Gaïd and Jacques. They know that in a few moments,
they will see one of the most beautiful landscapes in Finistère. Come see Jacques. This whole coast is extraordinary. Seen from this high up, how high are we
there, for you? We are 70 meters away. You know, I remember coming
here well as a kid with my friends, we were friends with the lighthouse keepers. We used to come and visit them,
often in the summer, and they would give us the key, so
we could come up here. And it was definitely magical. That’s extraordinary. And it’s true that automation has meant
that there are more of them, but these were extraordinary moments
to share with these people. It makes you want to look up there. Tell me, the lens, Gaïd, it’s
placed on a mercury bath, I think. Exactly,
it actually allows the lantern to rotate on itself to be able to
scan the horizon. And thanks to that, we’re going to have
a perfect rotation. It gives a burst every 5 seconds. And that is the hallmark of this
lighthouse on the Île Vierge. A white flash every 5 seconds,
this is its light signature and this is how sailors
will find their way. Almost 27,000 nautical miles in range,
so we can see it from almost 50 kilometers away. That’s it.
So that’s halfway through. So, in fact, when you are in the middle
of the Channel, you can see the light from this lighthouse in good conditions. And you, Jacques, who sails a lot,
have you ever used lighthouses to find your way? Of course, just because we have
GPS and very precise satellite positions doesn’t mean that headlights are no
longer useful, quite the contrary. Also, in the fog, they honk,
so we can hear them too, so that’s very important. And then, if one day you have an
electrical fault on your boat or you run out of battery, it’s still the old
lighthouse with its fire that will get us out of trouble, especially in regions like
here, which are extremely poorly paved. So, I think that the Yves
Vierge lighthouse, like many others, still has its uses. He’s here for
a while yet, I think. I hope so. After this great breath of iodine and fresh air, on the way back, Jacques wants to stop in a corner
of paradise little known to tourists and which was his
childhood playground: the island of Stagadon. With its white sand beach and its lodge,
this tiny islet is a haven of peace with the allure of Robinson Crusoe islands. So, what is it? On Stagadon,
this paradise island, you can’t come without the fruits
of Adères, the oysters. There, it’s perfect.
Here we go. It was Father Jaouen,
a Jesuit priest who died a few years ago,
who made the island a place of rest and retreat for young people
affected by drugs and marginalized people. Here, Stagadon is clearly
Father Jaouen’s island, right? Yes, Michel, quite a character. Did
you know him? Yes, very good.
It’s literally his island. It was the painter Bernard Buffet who
gave him this island a symbolic franc. And he made it a paradise
for young people, for people in difficulty too. They often bring them here to sleep. For that, it’s a place, there’s no
better. We are calm, it is soothing. And today, it’s a bit
like a mountain lodge. They give the key to those who want it. Hey, Gaïd, look at this,
some good products from Abers. Pratacoum oysters.
Hollow. Do you like it? Do
you like oysters? I love it. Great. THANKS. It’s good, right? A delight. I will eat it every day. Really, I would eat it every day. Facing the island of Stagadon,
on the rocky coast of Kèrelouan, lies the picturesque Hamlet of Ménéam. This former fishing village is
nicknamed the land of wreckers. You who know the Antilles well,
the colors, there, that must speak to you. The colors are like the Antilles,
but you shouldn’t put your foot in the water.
It’s a little colder here. It’s quite inhospitable, but at the same
time, it’s magical, it’s beautiful. I understand well at the time what was
called the legend of the Pagan Country, where merchant ships
passing through the Channel were attracted by placing lanterns on the cows’ canes. They thought it was a
harbor entrance, but it was the opposite. These were very exposed rocky plateaus. And eventually
they would suddenly run aground and be plundered by the people
of the pagan country, as they say. The paganists.
Pagans, that’s it. It was a way of life
here since they lived on very little. This is a great boon
for the coastal residents. We can salvage wood from boats for
heating, maybe even treasure. And they had a full view
of what was happening here, since they were right behind it. We can go see a bit of Sarceau,
precisely where they live. That’s interesting. There is stone everywhere here. Did
you see? There are even lots of little houses
like the one in front of us there. It was the materials of the
moment too, surely. Well yes, we made do with what we had. There were up to 80
people living here. And there we have a pretty luxurious house. It must be said that there were inhabitants
here from the middle of the 19th century. So, a family of fishermen and farmers,
they ultimately combined both professions, no doubt.
And a gremlin maker, too. And gremlin.
And yes. Shall we see the inside? Yes, we can go see what
‘s inside. There is a nice surprise. Ah, Gaïd, so that’s what we
call bed-nails, Gaïd? Exactly. Here, at least, we have something to keep warm,
because in the houses, it wasn’t very warm,
fortunately, with all the wood there is here.
It’s incredible. You don’t want to be too claustrophobic,
but it must have been incredibly effective.
Exact. Because you can imagine, here,
everyone lived at the same time, the whole family lived together. And that way, it allowed
for a little bit of privacy. And what’s more, they’re raised. So, this allowed us to avoid being
in contact with the humidity of the ground which was made of beaten earth. And we could wedge it under
the furniture to be able to store linen or all the
important equipment for the house. And the openings rather on the south side? Well, yeah, we’re going to look for the sun
and the heat wherever it is. And the north walls,
we close them and we can put the big wardrobes and the closed beds here. There was a lot of common
sense in all of this, ultimately. Our visit to this part of Brittany with Jacques le Marin will take us inland,
to the mouth of the Bay of Brest, to a small town that he
loves very much: Andernot. He is expected by Mariel Le Bœuf-Proust, a
city tour guide. Rich in a history forged around
the linen trade, Andernot has managed to preserve
its authenticity over the centuries. But what Jacques wants to show us
is the monument which, for him, makes up all the charm of the city. The famous Roan bridge. It spans the River Éorne and
thus marks the boundary between South Finistère and North Finistère. Marielle, the Roanne bridge,
who was this Roanne? In fact, Roanne is
the builder of the bridge. First there was a wooden bridge. It is believed to have been made of wood in the Middle Ages. And then, in 1510, the lord of Roanne
had a stone bridge rebuilt with six arches. And I was even told that it was paid.
Is that true? Yes, indeed, yes. In fact, the Roanne were
the lords of Anderno. They were the ones who built
the bridge and maintained it. And in fact, in exchange for this maintenance,
they charged the right of way on the bridge. This bridge is very special
because it is inhabited. Inhabited bridges are very rare. Yes, it is very rare today. In the past, there were
many bridges to inhabit. Today, I think that in Europe
there must be six or seven left, no more. And the definition of an inhabited bridge
is that it is inhabited day and night. That is to say that you see all the bridges
which simply have shops, are not considered as bridges to inhabit. I know someone
who lives on the bridge. It’s a house that is quite high, so it
has a very beautiful view of the Lornes. So, I suggest we go.
Can we go? To go there, of course.
Here we go. Here we go. The river Orne, spanned by the bridge,
rises further up in the Monts d’Arrée and flows into the harbor of Brest. It is thus, from the Anderno
to the sea, subject to the marshes. Marie-Allez Jacques are going to visit
Suzanne Colangelo, one of the nine people
who live on the Roanne bridge. Suzanne, you live on the third floor,
above the Élande. You’re a little privileged, then.
Absolutely, a privilege. In any case, it’s wonderful
to be able to see the east side. We would like to go and see the west side.
I beg you. Please go ahead. Suzanne, we’re due west. You must see some great
sunsets, I guess. Gorgeous.
It’s very pleasant, I admit. Yes, absolutely. It’s a beautiful place and you get a good
idea of ​​the riverbed and the maritime difficulties too,
since ultimately, they were grounding areas.
Exactly, yes. We see that it is the
navigation specialist who is speaking. It always
reminds me of that, that’s for sure. Besides, I would like to go
back to sailing because I think we can still go back to sailing. Today, finally, with all this
mud, it’s still a big problem. This is also what makes the quality
of navigation, it must not always be too easy. So, I think I
would be quite tempted to do it. Listen, I encourage you. And if you do it one day, in any case,
let me know so I can give you a little hello from the window. Thank you very much Suzanne, for your welcome. And Finistère never
ceases to surprise us. After the Roanne bridge,
Jacques takes us further south towards another jewel of the region,
the sumptuous Château de Trévarez. The castle grounds extend over more than
85 hectares of forest and floral parkland. Completed in 1907, it is one of the last
castles built in France. It is a very particular element
that attracts Jacques to this place. Requisitioned by the German army,
it was bombed in 1944 by the Royal Air Force. While the restoration has restored the
splendor of the most beautiful rooms in the castle,
it has made the very original choice of preserving part of Trévarez as
it was, just after the bombing. It is Noëlie Blangarin,
the exhibition manager, who will guide Jacques through this superb building. Impressive, huh?
Impressive. So Noëlie, it’s not a wooden frame,
it’s metal. Yes, exactly. A metal frame, in fact,
and the bombing of July 44 allows us to see this metal structure. It’s the origin,
a bit like the Eiffel Tower, it’s the airiness of the Eiffel Tower? Exactly, exactly that.
It’s roughly the same time. Is its restoration fairly recent? Yes, it was in 91 that they
started to do the work. The aim is to preserve
this space as it is, like a sort of architectural decor,
because at least it has the merit of being able to show the space
and especially the metal structure, which otherwise we would not see.
Yes of course. It was still interesting. To really keep the
original parts as much as possible too? Yes, really.
What a park! That’s it. There is a chapel
that also depended on the castle? Yes, exactly, but it was there
before the castle was built. By the way, I don’t know if you see,
but on the left of the chapel, you can see a building behind the trees. There, that’s the original manor. James de Kherjégu, who was to build
the castle, was born in this manor. So that explains why he decided
to build the estate here, on these lands.
It’s on his holiday estate. And then he said to himself: I
‘m going to make it a little bigger. That’s it.
It’s incredible. That’s it. Noëlie leads him into the basement
of the building, which is also awaiting restoration. So this is a place that is
normally off-limits to the public. Yes, it is not secure yet. At the time, 80 people could
work on the estate and the 920 square meter basement housed the
castle’s large kitchen with its gigantic oven. It’s huge.
Yes. Oh my, indeed. Oh my!
So this is cooking? That’s it. You see, that’s why
time has done its work. Amazing. What I also find interesting
is to see that we still have the floor with the earthenware tiles. And you see here, in particular,
the baseboards which are curved. This allows you to clean with plenty of water. That was something new. Oh yes, it’s true that it was already
quite modern, in fact, for the time. Yes. It’s amazing to see
it in its current state. It reminds me of the Titanic. The Titanic was in 1912 and Trévarez was in 1907.
So, we’re in that spirit. The Titanic, it’s at the bottom
of the water and we find… Yes, that’s a bit like it.
We have the same atmosphere, actually. Yeah.
It’s amazing. Who
knows, when you come to visit the Château de Trévarez,
perhaps you will have the chance to see these kitchens as beautiful as they once were. After this land-based stroll,
Jacques now wants to show us, very close to his home,
a place where an exceptional mollusc, typical of the
northern coasts of Finistère, the abalone, is farmed. At sea, he meets Frédéric Laurence,
one of the managers of an abalone farm. For three years,
the mollusks will live in these large cages submerged in deep water. Thanks to a mechanical shadow, the cages are extracted from the depths of the sea. There are people in there. There are about 500 of them. They will hide in
the bowls like that. They feel safe, protected. And as soon as they are hungry,
they will come and graze on the algae that will be available in the middle of the cage. It’s a hell of a foot. It almost looks like a giant snail.
It is a gastropod. It’s a gastropod, yes.
I was told they had eyes. It’s true ?
They have beautiful green eyes, yes. Look at. If you hold it in your hand like this,
you’ll be able to see its eyes. He’s a little stressed now,
but he’ll get his head out. It’s two little green dots. Yes, I say.
It’s incredible. There he winks at you.
That must be a female. Actually, how old are these abalones?
About three years? A little over three years. It will be available
for sale in a few months. How many kilos of algae does it eat? I think that when I see everything
that you harvest, it’s… We harvest a little over 140 tons
of seaweed per That is to say that to make one kilo of abalone, we will need
about twenty kilos of seaweed. It still crusts. It’s very noisy.
It’s amazing. Now they
deserve to eat a little. We’ll bring them some seaweed. Do
you want to help me? My pleasure.
So listen, go ahead. We feed. So we’re going to give them
about three weeks. And after three weeks,
all of that is digested. All of this will be digested. At the Aquaculture Farm, the spat grow in large seawater tanks. They will feed on microalgae there
before joining their elders at sea. And it is right next to this
culinary nursery that Frédéric offers Jacques the chance to taste these mollusks, a taste that is widely
consumed in the greatest restaurants in Europe. Frederic, how do we prepare all this? The first thing to do
is to remove them from the shell. And so, I’m just going to run
the spoon between the shell and the abalone. And then we’re going to remove the whole bar.
Do you want to try? I’d like to. There, like that? Try to follow the shape
of the shell from the front here. So. And I give a sharp blow? That’s exactly it.
Too strong. It’s not serious. Listen, I don’t have It’s very
clever, I think. There you go.
There you go, OK. There, I put them in a cloth. Yes. To soften them, we will use
the Breton method that you must know. With the spoon? With the mallet.
The mallet, absolutely. With the mallet itself. There you go, it’s a little more tender, yes.
And then? Just a little butter?
It’s actually a very simple recipe. It’s very simple. Good semi-healthy butter,
good abalone. So, what is it? Two, three minutes
on each side, barely? Two minutes on each side, 180 degrees.
That’s very Breton. Butter, abalone,
you can’t do better. It already smells good. There, it’s really perfect.
Look how tender it is. It’s tender, yes. It is the three blows of the mallet
that give this tenderness. It’s the three blows of the mallet, yes. A tiny bit of fleur de sel,
just taste it. That’s a great pleasure.
I’ll let you go. Yes. Yeah, it’s exceptional. Yeah, it’s simple and effective.
Oh yes, absolutely. I’d take
less than four hours. Well, listen, it’s welcome. Thank you so much.
It was a really good time. The last part of this trip,
in the northeast of the department, is just as unmissable. Between the sea and the countryside,
this region is rich in towns with medieval houses and forests
where legends run rampant. This part of Brittany,
formerly called Pays du Trégor, has managed to preserve its authenticity
over the centuries. It was a love at first sight for this piece
of paradise that prompted Marie-Laure Bourgeois,
more than 20 years ago, to abandon her Parisian life
to settle on this wild coast. The people who live here,
in North Finistère, love the landscape that is
so much their country, that they are constantly enriching it. They come back, they have lots of ideas. There is a dynamism. It feels like anything is possible. Marie-Laure takes us to a town she
particularly loves: Morlaix. Moreover, from the viaduct which seems to
dominate the city, one can see an extraordinary building which has survived
the centuries: the so-called Duchess Anne’s residence. Philippe Laelec, who led the
restoration work, is the current owner. This is Duchess Anne’s house. Duchess Anne’s real home? No, it’s a ranking name. It comes to us from the 19th century. There is this legend in Morlaix that says she
slept there one night when she came to Morlaix in 1505. The house is of such quality that…
That it’s possible. That it’s not absolutely incredible. So, come in.
You are welcome. Welcome to the house
known as Duchess Anne’s. And in the middle, we see a courtyard
with an antenna, so an interior courtyard. We can assume that it was
a pendant light, a lamp that lit the courtyard. So, it was artificial lighting. And which went down very low then.
Yes, probably. It is the skylight
at the heart of the house. So, this is truly
Morlaisian originality. A covered courtyard with its
large oak staircase. So the sculpted column is
11 meters high, practically. It’s as if we had an oak tree planted
in the courtyard and it dates back to the 1520s. It’s really very old,
almost 5 centuries old. And given that it was classified very
early, 1883, it is really very early in Morlaix. The whole is in a state of
preservation which is quite astonishing. All internal circulation
of the building passes through the central staircase. There must be about 400
square meters of living space in the house. So it’s really
a very big house. And in that part,
we didn’t live? Apparently not.
It had a representative role. The principle here is to have a place
where we show wealth, the importance of the family, its status. And there, we feel that we have invested a lot
in this direction. And there, the family
impresses the visitor. This house has been part of the neighborhood’s activities, as it was at the end of the 1920s, when it
housed a tea room and a crêperie. Since the 19th century,
several successive restoration campaigns have enabled it
to survive the years. Here is the renovated exterior courtyard
and facade. This red color refers to the
ox blood that originally covered the timber framing. It is a private facade. There are very few corbels,
if any, because there is no statue to place on
the facade to impress the visitor. There you have a view
of the centuries of this house. You speak well of it,
you know it well. It’s a bit personal, family-related.
Very. This was the family home on
my father’s side, from the end of the war until the 1970s. And I can tell you where
my father’s bedroom was, where the kitchen, dining room, and living room were. The idea is to restore the entire
building, to open as much of it as possible to visitors and for it to continue to be
fully integrated into the heritage of the Morlaix region, because it is truly an exceptional monument. One of the things that attracted Marie-Laure
when she arrived in Brittany was the cuisine. The restaurateur and owner
of the Puy de Jeanne inn in Plouet-Gate-Mouessant has become a friend. Hi, how are you?
How are you, Marie-Laure? Yes.
I see you haven’t forgotten. Well no, no, no, no, I was counting
on you to prepare the kikafarce. Alain Scarrella is a master
in the preparation of kikafarse, a type of stew
typical of North Finistère. We’re going to put the onions. That’s for horse racing. Horse riding, in Breton, means gentleness. They will be candied in butter,
we will deglaze them with vegetable broth and I will add cream. It caramelizes a little.
There you go, and it caramelizes. Vegetables and meat,
Alain will show Marilor what makes this Finistère dish special
: the stuffing. We will start with buckwheat.
Yes. Coarse salt, flour. Hot butter.
A little butter. Then we mix.
If you want, you can mix all that up for me. I’ll add some eggs.
There are the eggs. Four eggs and cider. Cider, that’s the secret. So. It gives it a
special taste after cooking. Just there
it smells amazing. It has a nice color, look. Yes, very beautiful. So I’m going to put it in for you very slowly, and
then you’re going to keep mixing it. This is your black joke.
That’s the dark joke. But it’s physical. Okay, is that okay? Oh, beautiful material, it’s magnificent. So here, we’re going to attack the white light.
Is this making crepe batter? Yes. It’s the same recipe,
but it will be a little thicker than a normal crepe batter.
Alright. I’ll put you in little by little. And we pour. It is not at all
the same material as black. No, it’s not
the same consistency at all. We’re going to finish. I put it delicately like this.
White eyeshadow, yes. I put the second one.
And we put the black eyeshadow in it. For two hours.
Two hours of cooking. So. Unbelievable, it actually makes semolina. And that’s since I started
putting cider in my recipe. And so,
we will serve the white far sliced. The time has finally come to taste this specialty. The moment of notch?
All that’s left is to enjoy. And so, we were taught
something in the country of Léon. You can put
powdered sugar on your flour. It adds a little touch, it’s nice. The shank remains. It’s huge. These are old-fashioned meals.
Yes. It is a festive dish, kikafarse. For For large families.
For large families, yes. So. And the little sweet treat
to top it all off, the oelipic. This is a magnificent dish. A traditional dish from North Finistère. It’s good. Thank you Alain.
We’re having a great time, we’re having a great time. I’ll make you an order
for the whole family. No problem. At your service. In this corner of Brittany, the forests contain extraordinary legends that are passed down
from generation to generation. It is in the Wellegouat forest
that Marilor finds Rémi Coletteyre. A local boy, this retiree
knows the area like the back of his hand. So Marilor, here
I would like to talk to you about something a little unusual. When we were children,
seven, eight years old, up to 13, 14. The kids, boys from Hellegouet,
all met here in the forest. It was our territory. We formed a little microcosm between us. We explained the sites and the
tourists gave us money. It was therefore necessary,
to be in the brotherhood of the little guides of Hellegouet, to undergo tests. We started
the ledge test here. We galloped from here, we climbed,
we climbed and we had to grab the small ledge with our right hand,
stay suspended for a minute. It’s high, I want it to be
high for an eight-year-old. And so there it was. If you passed the ledge test,
you were still taken seriously. Yes, all of that, you could
join the brotherhood. We could go back. This 1,000-hectare beech forest is said to be the domain of the corrigans. These little Breton elves are said to have
taken up residence in tree trunks. Are you following me?
Yes. Marie-Laure, I would like to
show you the Silver River. This is the Silver River. The trols, the Corrigans,
that’s where they are. But are they elves, are they corrigans? Yes, yes, little elves,
little sprites who are small, very small, often very ugly,
whose mission is to bring people together, children, for their
little scary cards. And so that’s the origin, the count,
in Brittany, in the houses that were part
of the linguistic heritage that understood each other, listened to each other,
memorized each other and continued on his way. These are little stories
specific to our Brittany. More and more
visitors are coming with their families who are looking for this aspect. With nature.
With nature. Which imposes itself. It’s true.
She imposes herself. All
these legends constitute an inexhaustible source of inspiration
for the region’s artists. And it’s not uncommon to come face to face
with a musician who teases the muse at the bend in the road,
like this Celtic harp enthusiast. Deep within this forest of legends, an enormous rock is
nicknamed the Trembling Rock. A granite mastodon weighing 137
tonnes and 7 metres long. Rémi discovered the secret
when he was a young guide. He challenges Marie-Laure
to make her move. You push with your legs,
not your back. I think nothing is happening.
You can’t come? It’s not there, no.
I can’t do it. Is she mute?
To you. I’ll show you. Yes.
It’s here. It was here. You push with your thighs. You push, you leave. That works.
Does that work? Amazing. It sounds like a monster breathing. It weighs more than 100 tons. It is 7 meters long,
3 meters high, 2.80 meters wide. It rests on a 90-
centimeter edge and weighs 1.7 tons per cubic meter. So. So, the trembling rock,
that is the attractive pole of Wildouette, certainly, but in our Celtic culture,
it had a meaning, this rock, Like all the rocks which moved,
there were still a few in Finistère. And the particularity of the moving rock
is that the expectant mothers would come and rub their rounded bellies against the moving stone
so that motherhood would end with a beautiful,
healthy and vigorous baby, a beautiful Breton baby. We are in Finistère,
here, the end of the earth. Death, of course,
is at the end of the earth. So death is very present
in our history, we Bretons. And very often, megaliths,
stones have a meaning, a significance in our
religious heritage, let’s say, and popular. I emphasize the word popular. It is with this forest and these
Celtic legends that we leave Finistère. For a wonderful journey to this land
bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, let yourself be guided by these locals who
love these rugged coasts and long white sand beaches, worthy of the
most beautiful destinations at the end of the world.

Côtes escarpées, eaux translucides ou forêts peuplées de légendes : la découverte du Finistère, de Quimper à Morlaix en passant par Landerneau, concentre tout ce qui fait le charme de la Bretagne.

Pour découvrir les merveilles des plus belles régions de France, c’est ici – Abonnez-vous 👉 http://bit.ly/3zjR2Vj 🙏

On y trouve des cités maritimes à l’architecture incroyablement bien conservée au fil des siècles, mais aussi des paysages sauvages à couper le souffle. Situé à l’extrême ouest de la péninsule bretonne, le département du Finistère a su préserver son caractère authentique. Visite guidée dans les pas de plusieurs enfants du pays, élévés à l’air marin.

Réalisé par François CHAYÉ.
© MORGANE PRODUCTION