Simple Style in Brittany
Camaret-sur-Mer on Brittany’s Crozon Peninsula is a place to find solace in simplicity
On a wind-blown Good Friday the cliffs of Camaret-sur-Mer, a small fishing village on Brittany’s south-western tip, are deserted.
A white-capped ocean is turbulent, wind racing across the grey expanse and rushing up vertical cliffs to hit us full in the face with its power. Only the graffiti-covered concrete bunkers – remnants of the devastation wrought on France during World War Two – provide shelter. At once wildly beautiful and ruggedly desolate, Brittany’s coast is no place for the fair-weather Francophile
Jutting out in to the Atlantic Ocean, Camaret-sur-Mer on the Crozon Peninsula is a well-preserved slice of coastal splendour and Franco-Celt traditions. It is a world away from the ritz of the Riviera or the stylised surf culture of St Jean de Luz. It’s also the birthplace of the galette, the gorgeously simple savoury pancake that came into existence in the Middle Ages, when bread was short and a butter-laden galette served as an admirable substitute.
But before food comes history, and Brittany – Bretagne for the French and Breizh in Breton – has an interesting past.
It was back in the 6th Century BC that the first wave of Celts hit Breton shores, the second Celtic coming occurring around 1000 years later, in the 5th Century AD, after Rome’s departure from the windswept coast. In the 9th Century, the battle for regional autonomy began when Nominoë – the region’s heroic figure – successfully revolted against French rule, taking the Breton towns of Rennes and Nantes. His successors defended against the Viking’s a little while later.
It wasn’t until 1532 that Brittany again came under French rule following a series of royal weddings that brought the region back to France. (Due to its position, the duchy of Brittany was contested by the ruling kings of both England and France throughout the Middle Ages.)
Such a long and varied history has helped to form a rich local identity that is still keenly felt (up until the 1970s Breton separatists continued a radical campaign for an independent state, culminating in the bomb attack of the Versailles chateau in 1978). Breton language retains a strong presence – signs throughout the region are posted in both Breton and French – and the rollicking Celtic music that helps define regional culture is still heard at local festivals.
And the food? Well, we were about to take our first bite…
Making our way back to town, exhausted and exhilarated following hours spent roaming the peninsula’s pristine cliffs and beaches, we duck inside one of the half-dozen friendly pubs on the town’s one-and-only main street. It’s 5pm, in France the ideal time for an aperitif and goûter (afternoon snack) – in this case, a glass of cidre alongside the galette complet, a perfectly more-ish buckwheat pancake folded around jambon, Gruyere and a lone egg, cracked and cooked by the dense heat of a black griddle.
As a taste of the region, snacks don’t come much better. After Normandy, Brittany leads the way for cider production in France, while the galette has been devoured as both a stop-gap and main meal for centuries: the pancake batter was at times used to make a kind-of porridge eaten with a wooden spoon while the cooked pancakes – a meal in itself when served with an egg, sausage, sardines or raw onion – were even used to thicken soups.
Of course whether or not the savoury crepe had satisfied our appetites was a moot point. While much of the area’s attraction to visitors is in the stunning landscape, food-lovers are invariably seduced by the local seafood. And I was no exception.
With the town wrapping itself around the small-but-active port, we’re left in no doubt as to the importance of the fishing industry to Camaret’s present. While locals play around with maintenance on the small sail boats, fisherman tidy and stack their bait and shellfish pots in preparation for the next outing. But even today the port sees but a small percentage of the action that once was – France’s biggest langoustine port until early last century, the industry is now but a fraction of its former size.
Not that the down-sizing seems to have had any effect on the local availability of the sweet-fleshed shellfish: prowling the street for a good dinner spot, langoustines take pride of place on every hastily scrawled blackboard menu. We stop in at Restaurant La Voilerie (7 Quai Toudouze, +33 (0)2 98 27 99 55), attracted by the stylish décor and – even in the tourist low-season – plethora of apparently-contented diners.
It’s a great pick. The langoustine salad is succulent and sweet, served atop a leaf of lettuce and mixed with a little creamy mayonnaise. And while my scallop main is as salty and fresh as the air blowing in from the restaurant’s seafront terrace, a Breton-style bouillabaisse wins the night. Stewing in a clear, lightly flavoured fish broth, hunks of fleshy white fish, scallops and salmon simmer alongside carrots and potatoes to create a thick and rich seafood treat.
Dinner down, we meander back along the port to our night’s lodgings at Hotel Vauban (4 Quai du Styvel, +33 (0)2 98 27 91 36; single $29/double €40). The two-star hotel is neat as a pin and perfectly positioned – opening the windows of our room overlooking the port, the fresh ocean air floods in. And with the patron himself a dedicated sailor, the hotel has become something of a hot-spot for those keen to sight France’s big-name ocean warriors. (Our room – number 3 – has slept famed French sailor Olivier de Kersauson.)
We sleep well that night. And the next. Ocean air, seafood and quiet, star-filled night skies. The closest thing, in other words, to an uncorrupted coastal paradise.
GETTING THERE
There is no short route to reaching Brittany’s shores: the TGV and major highways do not yet extend beyond Brittany’s borders. (And that is, informs a French friend, exactly the way Bretons – known for their antipathy toward visitors – prefer it.)
Trains from Paris to Quimper (the closest stop) run at just under 6-hours. Travelling from Quimper to Camaret-sur-Mer is best done by hire car, the journey lasting 75-minutes.