Welcome to Rennes. Pronounced "Ren" by the locals; like the bird Wren.
Our hostel, overlooking Canal St Martin, is only a few hundred metres from the centre of the old city.
Rennes is a very old city. The old city has a medieval cobweb of narrow streets and lanes opening onto irregular squares. The streets, lanes and squares are mostly cobbled. In spite of their narrowness of the streets pedestrians must share with cars and motorbikes.
In Rennes anything built since the mid 1700s is considered modern. That is because in 1720 a carpenter accidently caused a fire that burned a lot of the city down.
These buildings in the photo below are typical of the buildings pre the fire.
The "modern" buildings built after the fire where built in the original style.
The buildings seem to have been built higgledy-piggledy. Often leaning at alarming angles. But have stood the test of time.
Rennes was from the middle ages, and I guess you could say still is, the capital of the Brittany. Brittany was it's own kingdom until the Duchess Anne married the King of France. During some of it's time Brittany has been part of Britain and sometimes France. Brittany was the centre of the 100 year war between the British and the French. The Parliament of Brittany building has been recently restored to its former glory after a fire in 2002.
Rennes is a very big University town. A bit like Cambridge or Oxford it has the colleges of the university integrated into the city centre. Needless to say the place is full of students living the student lifestyle even though the Uni is on holidays. There is a real vibe to the city centre influenced by the student and artist heartbeat of the place. There is some interesting sculptures around the city streets.
Each era in Rennes has bought with it new architectural styles to match it power and influence.
The local swimming pool built in 1925 is a masterpiece of ceramic and mosaic decoration.
We spent several days wandering the streets of Rennes until we were too worn out to go any further.
Further relaxing was conducted wandering around the Rennes City Gardens.
Rennes other claim to fame is that it has the second largest market in France held each Saturday.
It covers an area of about 10 acres, some indoor and some outside. Needless to say we had a great time looking, tasting and buying. Here are some photos to of what is on offer.
The Cheese Stall
The Butcher
The Baker...
Outdoor Stalls:
The Artichoke Grower
One corner of the market is devoted to flowers.
