Our Blog - Quiberon, France

We spent the majority of our time, 5 nights, in an apartment at the tip of the Quiberon peninsula. It is quite a long peninsula, which we realized *HOW* long it was when you have to drive off and on it every day. According to the French wikipedia, it was actually an island in the 11th century. Over time, the sand gradually moved, creating a small isthmus, making it a peninsula. Tourism is probably by far the biggest industry here (only 1/3 of the residences are main residences)... the population increases tenfold during the two months of summer vacation. Fishing is still a big industry, with 1500 tons of fish sold through auctions yearly. There are also a few factories for biscuits (Bretagne is famous for its cookies) and canned fish.

A point of trivia: Quiberon is the home of a professional Quidditch team operating within the Harry Potter universe. The Quiberon Quafflepunchers team members players wear shocking-pink robes.

One sad point in the history ... during the Second World War, Penthièvre Fort was occupied by the Germans. It housed various blockhouses but was mainly used by the infantry. In July 1944, 59 resistance fighters were tortured and buried alive there. A Cross of Lorraine mounted on a stone pillar, with a plaque listing the names of the fighters stands there in memory of them. Although the fort is still of active with military training, you can park across the street and enter the grounds, where the tunnel where the bodies were discovered can be visited.

I'll start with some night pictures of the moon reflecting off of the ocean as we took Lucy for a walk.

And now some of the same area, the savage coast, at low tide. We tended to walk mostly at low tide for some reason. There were a couple "normal" beaches, where you could lay on the sand, but for almost the entire ocean-side of the peninsula, the coastline was line this.

There was one beach that allowed dogs, although I think it was the "fisherman's port" because there were always lots of pieces of shellfish (crabs mainly) littering the beach. The first time we took Lucy there, she was so busy running up and down the beach, barking at the waves, that she didn't really notice. But the more times we took her there, the more crap she found to try to eat! She also has started going more into water, so we may actually have to buy her a little life jacket for her.

Château Turpault - At the beginning of 20th century, George Turpin bought an old house and the surrounding land on the south-west tip of the Quiberon peninsula. He then had an Anglo-medieval style castle built which he called "le château de la mer" or the castle of the sea. The construction lasted 6 years, from 1904 to 1910. During the Second World War, the castle was occupied by the German army who built two blockhouses there, seriously damaging it. At the end of the war, the castle was sold to the mayor of Quiberon who partially restored it before selling it again 1967, when the restoration work was completed. It is still private property, with the last sale taking place in 2014. So if you have always dreamed of having a medieval castle on the cliffs, perhaps you can put in an offer! However, beware as the castle is "deteriorating". Basically, during the latest set of renovations, the work was done horribly wrong and the house is not waterproof at all. When it rains (which it does a LOT in Brittany), the water flows in from everywhere.

And just more pictures of the coast. There are lots of paths for walking and mountain-biking. You have to be cautious during at night because there are no lights out there ... so we would take the iPhone for the flashlight to make sure that we didn't inadvertently walk off the cliff.

I tried to get a couple views of hide tide vs low tide, so these first two are roughly the same place: one high tide and one at low tide. The 3rd and 4th pictures are the same beach as the video with Lucy running in it. You can see how much sand there is in the first one and if you look at the top-right, you can see a ramp and a boat along the side. You can then see the same in the 2nd high-tide picture, but it is just from the viewpoint of that ramp.