Festival in Lorient

We woke in the morning and walked to our local Boulangerie, this is in fact only 100 metres away from Dark Tarn however as it is behind the old walls it takes a bit of a detour to walk to it. Well worth the effort though as the almost permanent queue of French housewives tells you it's the real deal. I bought a couple of Croissants and a baguette, some of the best bread so far.

I rang my sister for a chat then Lynne and I walked to the marina office where we could catch the bateau bus to Lorient. Turned out to be an excellent deal. 

We got to look at the Citadel from the other side as we took a trip across the harbour then your ticket gets you a bus ride into the city centre. On the way we passed the Eric Tabarly Marina for pro sailors only and the adjacent U-boat pens.

A reminder of the military history of Lorient. We had come into the city on a hunt for charts so it seemed logical to begin our search in the city marina. This turned out to be one of the festival centres for the Celtique Celebrations.

There were stalls and events everywhere.

We had a great time wandering around the city but having no luck whatsoever on the chart hunt.

We also popped into a church. Like many of the buildings in Lorient it was modern and concrete.

I wasn't quite sure about it, it was impressive but for me lacked a certain sense of spirituality, to be honest it reminded me of the U-boat pens!

It had a large dome atrium which again was impressive but a little flying saucer like.

A nice afternoon but I was relieved to get back to Port Louis, we had our usual coffee in a lovely little cafe in the church square.

Cheap too, at 3 euros for two cafe au laits. We looked in the church and puzzled over two statues in alcoves on the exterior which looked a bit worse for wear. It seems the church had been rebuilt recently and the statues were considerably older. The other church in town had a exhibition of lace work.

 

After tea, an experimental tinned Paella ( tastes better than it sounds ) we went to the harbour wall to watch a free show by the Cinema Cirque, a bunch of performers who were sailing about on three yachts which were berthed in the marina and effectively busking along the way. Very enjoyable even if some of the jokes were lost on us!

A beer in our new found local and we watched the fireworks over Lorient as we walked back to Dark Tarn. This having fun is really tiring!/