Yesterday as I was cooking lunch, Campagnes TV was on and I was just vaguely paying attention to it. Then I glanced at the screen and saw video of an impressive château-fort that I didn't recognize. To make a long story short, that led me to go back into my photo archives and blog to see if it was this big fortified château that we saw in June 2006.
I was surprised that I didn't find pictures of the Château de Fougères on my blog. The point of our trip had been to go see the Mont Saint-Michel again, and I guess I was focused on that amazing site. Fougères is amazing too, however. It's said to be about the most impressive medieval fortress in France. For us, unfortunately, it was just a Kodak moment. My photo above is a stitched-together panorama showing the whole place. Click on it to see it at full size.
Fougères is a big town (pop. 20,000) located about 35 miles south of the Mont Saint-Michel, on the eastern edge of Brittany. It's built of the local granite and slate. The château-fort dates back to the 12th century, and was expanded in the 15th. In the 16th, at the time of the French Renaissance, king Henri II gave the château de Fougères to Diane de Poitiers of Chenonceau fame. And in the 19th century the novelist Honoré de Balzac, another notable figure of our Touraine province, spent time at Fougères doing research for his novel Les Chouans.
Fougeres is very impressive and is being sensitively restored. I'm always surprised at how little known it is - this part of Brittany is relatively quiet and unspoiled. Most of the visitors are French nationals with a good sprinkling of Irish like myself. We're drawn to Brittany and the Bretons.
ReplyDeleteHoly cow! What a place!
ReplyDeleteIt is a small world : the first time I heard of Fougères in Brittany was when my sister went there for a summer job in the early 80's. She was studying in England and managed , as a foreign student, to get a job at the Syndicat d'initiative as a bilingual agent. I believe that she did two summers there.
ReplyDeleteWhat a magical place it seems to be .. wonderful photos !
ReplyDeleteI've been to Saint Michel three times, but missed Fougères. At least I get to see it today- it is beautiful.
ReplyDelete