Hello Dear Reader,
We visited Quimper today, pronounced camp-air, as usual the emphasis is on the last syllable, not the first. We mooched about to get our bearings and found the 'halle' - a covered market where individual traders have their stalls. There were four fish traders. All busy with customers. Britain! Wake up and eat more fish!! It's wonderful food, people risk their lives for it and most British fish goes to France and Spain. At this rate, I could become a fish blogger.
They prepared fish, even my bad French got some gurnard filleted for our supper. I cooked it with a bit of olive oil outside on the barbecue.
These are my favourite, but no langoustine today.
Sorry about the odd colour, no massive strip lights, just the filtered light coming through the glass roof. A plate of fruit de mer, people have this on special occasions and a family share this for a Sunday lunch.
I liked the curved cross beams.
Some small producers just sold a few items. If you wanted something else, you wander to another stall. This man mainly sold radish.
Vegetables, no packets, with dirt on them. You wash them when you get home. Fish are entire, heads, eyes, the lot. They just wrap it in paper and even give you the carcass even if you've asked them to fillet it. (Boil up the carcass and head, with celery, carrots and onion to make fish stock)
Squid, another favourite, just slice and cook lightly in oil, add garlic and tomatoes.
Timber framed buildings.
Sad miniature pony and donkey, I didn't have the French to tell the owner that I thought he was the ass for tethering them for ages until children want a ride. It's what I wanted to say though. They don't deserve a little life like this.
If you want to sight see and not walk, you can ride the little train. We did for €6/£4.38 each for a thirty minute ride. The guide was obviously in French, I understood enough to look in the right direction, at a church, theatres, public gardens, monuments which in the main seemed dedicated to someone, I'd never heard of who had done something in the Revolution.
Old buildings, lots of old mill workings along the rivers that criss cross the city. England has so many of these that sadly were covered and became tunnels......progress they called it. I prefer the water on sight.
The river, or estuary as it's tidal runs through the centre as is behind that row of trees.
One of so many shabby buildings. I wonder, if you've that much history if you just take it for granted. A lot of the town is shabby but I thought it added to the charm. Faded glory?
We sat a while in the Cathedral. I love the painted walls, the frescos and statues. So brightly coloured unlike the post reformation cathedrals in the UK that have bare walls. And yes, photos were allowed.
We walked back to the car, this time the tide was rising and the river was full of fish, surface feeding. This is a close up, in some places the amount of fish was thicker than this.
The photo above is in Pont L'Abbee. Not as pretty as Pont Aven. Lots of derelict buildings. The facade of the crumbling cinema, those modernist 1930 lines. Here? Kevin Mc Cloud and some restorers would have been all over this. The outskirts of the town had new housing developments springing up whilst the town had river front houses with shutters hanging off their hinges. New houses are expensive, old houses are expensive to restore. Poor old towns suffer, it's a sign of the times.
A wedding took place when we were there. Cars with ribbons, bows and flowers. A small party of around a dozen people who formed a parade of cars, driving around cheering and hooting their car horns.
The church roof was amazing. If Darth Vader had his own church, he'd have a roof like this bell tower.
Some houses are so grand.....can you imagine the dusting in this place!
This sad stature was on the quayside, they are fishermen's wives, praying for their safe return. Can you see their clogs?
I liove their old houses, the doors, shutters, ornate gates, balconies and if you've got the price of a family car, you can buy one. It will need plumbing, electrics and major repairs but if you had the skill, time and strength you could renovate one. I don't think French people want a building project and it looks like they prefer new houses.
Last day tomorrow, we'll fit in some more of our tour of Finistere before we get on the ferry just before five in the evening.
Until then,
Love Froogs xxxc