Touring Guérande: Walking
around a Medieval Granite Town in Brittany, France with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
The
Collégiale is named after Guérande’s patron saint Saint Aubin (St. Albin in
English). He was the Bishop of
Angers. The town legend says that when
Guèrande was under siege by the Normans in the 9th century, he sent
a knight in shining armor astride a winged, white horse to save the town from
pillagers.
After
visiting the Collégiale St. Aubin, I walked around the town. There were many pottery, painting, and
regional products shops with cute to expensive souvenirs. I liked the cider, sea salt, and sturdy dish
souvenirs the best.
Guérande
is an adorable tourist trap with most tourists being French, German, or
English. I was tempted to buy some
chouchen, a Breton honey liqueur for my small cocktail cabinet at home.
I
spent the rest of my time trying to look over stonewalls or peek through gates
to see flowers and gardens. One house
had little hedges arranged in a square around a tree with flowers around
it. That was cute.
I
did not know the names of all the flowers except for pink and lavender
hortensias that grow well in Brittany with its morning fogs.
Ivy
covered many homes and walls. In fact,
the vegetation was very lush and green.
The winters in Brittany are rainy.
Most homes in Brittany must look desolate in winter from the outside due
to the rain and cold weather.
The
homes are usually made of granite and other more malleable stone. Steep, blue-gray roofs let the abundant
winter rains fall off away from the homes.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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