Now this Ultima Thule in France´s Finistère may not be so remote and northernly as others I have reported here, but it is surely magic in its wilderness, situation and life style. Getting there is not a hard adventure, but living there is.
This piece of rock is certainly the strangest island off the coast of Brittany, one of the six Celtic nations.
Île-de-Sein is a french islet in the Atlantic Ocean, 10 km off the extreme northwest of Finistère, 2 km long for at most a few hundred metres wide. Nowhere does it rise more than six metres above the surrounding ocean.
Lying on the sea routes going south from the English Channel, Sein is well known for the dangers of its waters. The Chaussée de Sein, a vast zone of reefs, stretches for more than thirty miles from east to west, requiring numerous lighthouses, to prevent increasing the large numbers of shipwrecks in the past.
The Island of Sein has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and it was reputed to have been the very last refuge of the druids in Brittany . Some menhirs can be found there.
Three hundred islanders continue to make their living from the sea, gathering rainwater and seaweed and fishing for scallops, lobster and crayfish.
Quai des Paimpolais
The village
In order to be protected from the sea and storms, the village has very narrow streets, a real labyrinth. The streets twist and turn against the wind, and in most places are built only wide enough to roll a barrel. Only bicycles are allowed.
Details of sea life decorate most houses, in the dominating blue colour.
On the blackboard - "croissants available by command for Christmas and New Year's Eve". That shows how isolated the island is from mainland.
One of the most famous French lighthouses, this tower is built on a rock that half way from mainland to Île-de-Sein. In big sea storms, waves crash against the lighthouse and seem to swallow it - but La Vieille always keeps working.
3 comments:
Hey, it's not the phare de la vieille, but the four lighthouse, phare du four, it is also in brittany, but north from the la vieille!
regards
STéphane
Merci bien, Stéphane, j'ai déja fait la correction, cette nouvelle image est aussi impressionante que l'antérieure.
Mario
did you know this island was once the site of a very famous oracle -
Pomponius Mela - De situ orbis libri III translation F E Romer
In the Britannic sea, opposite the coast of the Ossimi, the isle of Sena [Sein] belongs to a Gallic divinity and is famous for its oracle, whose priestesses, sanctified by their perpetual virginity, are reportedly nine in number. They call the priestesses Gallizenae and think that because they have been endowed with unique powers, they stir up the seas and the winds by their magic charms, that they turn into whatever animals they want and they cure what is incurable among other peoples, that they know and predict the future, but that it is not revealed except to sea voyagers and then only to those traveling to consult them.
Post a Comment