We made a brief stop in Brest.
I took these photos from our cabin. The area, as in all of France, is lovely. Looks like the day is going to be pleasant.
Brest is in Brittany and is the 19th most populous city in France. In 1944, following the Allied invasion of Normandy, Brest was almost totally destroyed during the Battle for Brest. You can see much new construction, as is evident in some of my photographs, in the center of town.
This is the view when we stopped and got off of the shuttle bus from the pier. The pier itself is not far away, but the walk is not easy as where we docked is a working, industrial pier.
We strolled around and here are some of the photos I took during that stroll.
The concrete barriers protect the entrance to a pleasant park and children’s playground.
I even managed to get a picture of JoAnn, resting as she waited for me to finish looking around and snapping photos.
As you can see, it was a bright sunny, warm day. We walked to the harbor overlook from the little park. It was a beautiful park promenade with a magnificent monument to the American Navy. The original monument honoring the United States Navy, which was dedicated following World War I, was destroyed by the Germans during their occupancy of Brest in World War II. The current monument was rebuilt after the war. Here is a photo of the monument and surrounding area.
Here are a couple of shots of the Harbor from the overlook. We were standing on a cliff (protected by a stone wall) and must have been more than 100 meters above the ground.
I even managed to capture this photo of one of the park’s inhabitants.
Continuing our stroll, we returned to what appears to be the center of the city. The next photo overlooks the harbor and the Pont de Recouvrance, a lifting bridge, which is 88 meters long, 15 meters wide and weighs 625 tons. You can also see to its left the Tanguy Tower, a medieval tower beside the Penfield River. It houses the Museum of old Brest.
Here is another photo of the harbor with some of the city’s old fortifications.
A shot, looking up the tram line toward our point of arrival. The tram crosses the Pont de Recouvrance, moving through the center of town.
As we were making our way back to our shuttle stop, we passed the Church of Saint Louis of Brest. We don’t know a lot about it except that it obviously was reconstructed after the war. The stain glass windows are most unusual and the exterior appears to be substantially concrete. That said, however, the altar is quite lovely even in its stark design. This is quite a contrast to most of the churches we visit.
Then we were back on the shuttle, returning to the ship and preparing for our next stop, which is to be St. Peter Port in Guernsey, the Channel Islands.
