The day dawns gorgeous – not a cloud in the sky, warm, breezy. We head to the free shuttle into town, hoping we can easily find the rental car place. Ends up it’s right outside the port, but we can’t walk because it’s a restricted area, and the shuttle stop is almost further than the port. Oh well- we make it there after a 20 minute drive through town (stop 3 on the shuttle, coming back to the port – heck, we got to see Brest though!).
We are in the car and gone by 9:45 – not too shabby. Our plans are to visit Quimper, a medieval town about 50+ miles south of Brest, then explore the 2 peninsulas jutting out from the mainland. As we head toward Quimper, the cold front the captain told us about comes rushing in. No more beautiful day, now it’s clouds, wind and a sprinkling of rain. Oh well, that’s what rain jackets are made for!
We find our way into town, thanks to the GPS – because while everything is sign posted very well, you still need to know whether to take Quimper East/North or Quimper West/South to get to the center of town. We actually got a little turned around trying to find the main parking and ended up on these little windy roads going through a residential area. But, we lucked out when at the bottom of one of said windy roads, there was a teeny parking lot – that just happened to be right across from a Saturday market and at the bottom of the old town. Perfect!
We strolled into town and hit the first café we could find with indoor seating. 2 Cappuccinos please. Boy do I need the caffeine intake (not to mention the warmth) – one of the very few complaints we have about the Prinsendam is the coffee. It is beyond horrible. Fortunately, we can get very reasonably priced cappuccino on the ship ($2.60 for what we call the “soup bowl” – that’s how big the cup is!), but we always look for it on the outside as well.
After fortifying ourselves we wander around – hitting the food market (of course), drooling over the pastries and marveling at the fresh meat, poultry and fish. Then we just meander. It’s a charming little town and great for an hour or so of walking and sightseeing.
Hopping back in the car, we set our sights (not the GPS because she couldn’t find the town) for Pointe Du Raz – in Finistere, another “end of the world” (seems like we are on the end of he world tour here! this will be our 3rd I think!). The drive heads out of Quimper onto little country roads, through villages and towns big and small. It’s beautiful out here, and we watch the rural scenes through the pouring rain, thanking our lucky stars we are in the car and not walking around Quimper.
Unfortunately, the drive to Pointe Du Raz takes an inordinate amount of time. On the map it doesn’t look anywhere near as far as it truly is. By the time we get there we’ve run out of time and have to turn right around and go back to the ship. We’re totally bummed – because the other points of interest on our route looked so cool – but then again, there was probably no way we could have done everything if it took us this long to get here. A little too aggressive in our planning.
We take the time to at least stroll out to one of the viewpoints and take a few photos. Don’t have time to take the 1 hour hike around the park though. Oh well.
Back in the car, we make our way back toward Brest. It’s a gorgeous drive, through peaceful pastures, past French farmhouses, lovely even through the rain that is spitting down upon us.
We arrive in Brest only 15 minutes later than we had planned, turned in the car, then waved down the shuttle and were safely ensconced on the ship well before all aboard. One more port. Wow! this is going too fast!
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