We had such a great first day in France that we were excited to get up early the next day and explore something new. We drove to yet another Breton department called la cote de Amor to see the red granite coast. And it did not disappoint.
After a long drive around some windy roads and very small towns we finally found the proper parking lot in a very unobtrusive spot. I was not that impressed with what I saw but knew Tasha had something up her sleeve with these “red rocks” she kept raving about. We walked up a dirt path and were suddenly hit in the face with an expansive view of the sea and… yes… RED ROCKS.
I felt like we were in some sort realism painting or Tim Burton movie set. The red rocks were enormous and had a cartoonish quality that made them seem fake. Like those fake boulders actually made from styrofoam. We were in some sort of warped French Disney World complete with a gaggle of Italian tourists shouting about pizza.
We took our picnic in the shade of the ginormous rocks and hoped that we weren’t crushed to bits. The sun was white hot but the shaded rock was cool to the touch. Probably anything could have happened and we wouldn’t have noticed, we were too busy devouring more baguettes and soft cheese. God I love France.
After walking around for a bit we left the magnificent Red Rocks and drove down to Perros-Guerec, a small town on the sea. But hey what am I saying, Brittany is full of picturesque small towns on the sea. It is disgustingly cliche. We snagged some of the last baguette sandwiches from a bakery and took our lunch to the sea. It was actually really cold in the wind but we didn’t mind, we had baguettes nom nom.
We then stopped at various beachy areas around the coast before driving back to Brest. It was an absolutely stunning day with clear blue skies and even clearer blue water. We kind of just wandered around in awe of the beauty around us. We also tried to find hidden places to pee on the side of mountains while rolling down steep cliffs in flip flops. We definitely have a sense of adventure for a bunch of roadies.
I’m like… WHAT IS THIS BEAUTY.
My favorite part of the day was when we found this totally random trail along a beautiful beach. So we started walking with no real agenda or direction in mind. We just wanted to see where it would take us. It took us past many beached French people and some beautiful trees. We eventually ended up at a marina and I found a field of cotton balls. It was glorious.
We drove back to Brest and enjoyed dinner with Tasha’s roommates before heading to an epic “Fest-nos” at the Tara Inn. Fest nos means “night party” in Breton and is code for traditional Breton dancing! I was scared shitless because I am truly awful at dancing. But Breton dancing is just the kind of white-people dancing that I am actually good at! Each dance basically has 2-5 steps that you just repeat in a kind of line dance for the entire song. It’s brilliant! I felt so skilled and laughed my head off when this French man spun Carina around for about 5 hours. Oh my god I was laughing so hard. Then Tasha’s roommate did this pretty complicated Breton dance with me outside and it was so much fun!! We were a sweaty, giggly mess by the end of the night. Probably my favorite night in France overall.
Another great day down in the books! Only one more day left in France, a little more dramatic but a whole lot of crepes to come!
