Le Tour 2006 - A Virtual Cultural Trip

Please ask her what else I could do for her.

DHL waterzoi

Next time ...
Mrs. W., btw, isn't interested in this thread: training on suduko, wants to be fit(ter) until October ... :wink:

On Sunday, the Tour is around the "Morbihan", in less than eight weeks time, I'll surely post a couple of fresh photos from there on a new thread



Belle Île is exactly that - an Beautiful Island. The largest of the Breton islands, it was a favourite haunt for Saxon pirates and Norman invaders until given to the abbey of Redon in 1006.



Belle Ile, by Henri Moret





Rocher à Belle Ile, Claude Monet

Storm off the Belle Ile Coast, Claude Monet

Superb Ile, superb paintings...

"Qui voit Groix, voit sa joie" - the one who sees Groix, sees his good luck.

Groix
To reach the Île de Groix you have to start from Lorient - leaving the car behind. A 45-minute crossing brings you to an eight kilometre by four kilometre realm of sheer, dramatic cliffs and sheltered, sandy beaches.

In the XVIIc and XVIIIc, Groix's prosperity was intricately linked to that of Lorient and its pursuit of East India trade. Lorient languished as India fell increasingly into British hands, and Groix found a new source of sustenance in tuna fishing.

By 1880 it was France's premier tuna port, and a 1900 census counted 198 tuna-fishing craft on Groix out of a total of 268 for Brittany.

Today's recipe is something simple: Huîtres au cidre



For 4 persons

12 greater oysters
400 ml Cidre
2 tomotoes
1 carrot
1 celery
a bit garlic
a bit chervil
3 shallots
150 ml cream
80 g butter
sugar
salt
pepper

Open the oysters and put them out. Keep the oyster-water.
Roast the shallots, the carrot, the garlic ... in 30 g butter and than add the cidre.
Reduce the liquid to the half.
Add the oyster-water and the cream.
Reduce again to ta half.
Take the pot from the oven, poach the oysters for about 2 minutes.

Take the oysters out of the liquid, add salt, pepper, sugar ... how you like it.

Add the cold butter (in small pieces) and stir until frothy.

Put the oysters either in the (warmed up) shells or on a dish, arrange small pieces of tomotoe around it, pour the sauce over it and finally decorate it with the chevril.

As said, I'll be in that region in some weeks time ...

staying here

... and will post than more, different pics from that departemant (and Nantes). :wink:

12 oysters for 4 people? Is it enough?

I don't think it to be a main course - you certainly can add as many as you want :wink:

Well, I just don't have any concept of how large an oyster can be... :wink:

Tomorrow will be a day of rest, flying from Britanny down to the South-West





So, I'd like to show some pics from one of the most astonishing and artful statues ..



The Parish Enclosures

Opening through a triumphal gate, the Enclosure is the link between the world of the living and that of the dead. Generally located around a cemetery, the Enclosure incorporated the church, the charnel-house and the Calvary. Since the area of the Enclosure and of the cemetery was restricted, the remains of the dead were regularly removed from the tombs in order to save room. The bones were placed in a special building called a charnel-house or ossuary. A Calvary is a granite monument with Christ on the Cross and various personages from the Passion. Specifically Breton, it recounts episodes from the Holy Story and in former times was used by Curates for religious instruction. The Calvary is in some ways the development of the wayside crosses encountered in their thousands throughout the Breton countryside. The main Parish Enclosures are found in Finistère at Guimiliau, Lampaul- Guimiliau, Saint-Thégonnec, La Martyre, Commana, Sizun and Pleyben.

Small



A bit larger

Most common seize




Large

Walter...huitre au cidre...

One of these days I'm going to learn how to cook.

It will be after I learn to open an oyster without swearing.

9 mins to go now...Allez les Huitres

In Plougastel, for instance, there are 28 crosses.



With this woodcut by Gaugain - Calvaire Breton -



I'll rest now, too :wink:

Silly question: Which peninsula is "Britanny" Smaller on near Normandy?

Here you have all French regions, in their borders as of today:

Thanks Mr. Hinteler

(Never thought that Alsace and Lorraine are that north.)

Just an interjection...the larger island to the north of Brittany became Grand Bretagne or Great Britain.