Out of the ordinary
Sortir des sentiers battus
34 BRITTANY FERRIES
CULTURE | CULTURE
Discoveries are part of the journey and France offers so many possibilities.
In 2021, Normandy commemorates
the 77th anniversary of D-Day and the
Battle of Normandy. Since the end of
May, events and festivities have been
organised to pay tribute to these
heroes from all over the world: open-air
storytelling booths around Juno
Beach in Calvados - “In Their
Footsteps” exhibition tour - the “La
délicate” sound walk starting from
Ouistreham, or a Jeep ride along
small country roads in the footsteps
of the 101st Airborne in the Manche.
This year’s event is the opening in
June of the British Normandy
Memorial in Vue-sur-Mer. Built on the
heights of Gold Beach, one of the
three beaches where the British forces
landed on 6 June 1944, this place of
remembrance recalls the names of
more than 22,000 men and women
who lost their lives at that time and
the D-Day Sculpture, a huge bronze
statue that stands on its forecourt,
will leave no one indifferent.
In Brittany, there are many well-known
music festivals that take place each
summer, but there are also a lot of
events worth seeking out. For
example, the La Gacilly Photo Festival
(1st July-31th October) displays
hundreds of large-scale photos, taken
by professionals and amateurs, in
around 30 open-air galleries in the
small village of Morbihan.
In the Loire Valley, the Domaine de
Chaumont-sur-Loire forms the venue
for the annual celebration of
contemporary garden and landscape
design that is the International
Garden Festival (until 7th November).
The 2021 theme is “Biomimicry in the
Garden”, and highlights why a better
understanding and imitation of living
systems is essential to understand our
future.
Finally, if you are passing through
Nantes, don’t forget to stop and
discover the city around the Voyage à
Nantes. This urban route, reflecting
the world of travel and poetry, will
surprise you at the turn of every corner
of the historic streets, in the squares
or in unexpected places.
Nantes