Karen by stone house in Point-Aven
Lorient is located south of Brittany on the Atlantic Ocean. It is a major fishing port that was established by the French East India Company in 1664, chartered by King Louie XIV. Lorient was a former base of the French Navy but then was taken over by the Germans in World War II and became a German U-boat base (Keroman Submarine Base). The base was capable of sheltering 30 submarines undercover. Although allied bombing raids heavily damaged Lorient, the naval base survived through to the end of the war. The Germans held the city until May 1945, refusing to surrender to the American army that surrounded them. Since the allies could not destroy the base and its submarine pens, they decided to flatten the city and the Port of Lorient, in order to cut the supply lines of the U-boat bases. Over 60,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on Lorient. The city was almost completely destroyed.
Where Paul Gauguin painted in Point-Aven
During a walking tour of the town of Point-Aven, we learned about the famous colony of painters, L’ecole De Point-Aven, led by Paul Gauguin, who made the region famous (at the end of the 19th century), by painting his magnificent scenes of the lush, green river banks of the River Aven and of the quaint stone houses that still exist… One hundred years later, I watched the baker from the local chocolate store feed overweight geese in that very river.
Baker from the chocolate store feeding a goose.
As our ship, the Regent Seven Seas Voyager, left the port, we were jubilantly serenaded by a group of bagpipe playing men in knee socks and kilts, and female villagers, in their rustic costumes, dancing a traditional farewell to us as we sailed away towards Bordeaux, France.
Bagpipe players and villagers dancing their traditional farewell.
Photographs by Ryan Oksenberg
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