TRUE OU FALSE

The island of Batz was connected to the mainland during the Iron Age (8th to 6th BC)
A village is buried in the east of the island
The island has never sent a soldier to the Army
The lighthouse of Batz has 500 steps
Enez Vaz means Dragon Island
Algae have replaced the trees on the island
British people settled fortifications on Batz
The island is a paradise for early vegetables and organic farmers

By bike or on foot, go and get the answers ...



The island of Batz was connected to the mainland during the Iron Age (8th to 6th BC) ?
Yes, you could walk there at low tide. Last century, thirty neolithic graves (4000 years old) were discovered by Georges Delaselle, the founder of the colonial garden. He dug a hole, protected by a hedge of cypress and pine trees, on the east end of the island (where the garden is now) to house his exotic plants.

A village is buried in the east of the island.
Yes, the present village (where the ferry arrives) is recent.
Until the 17th century, the village was located on the east side of the island, where are the prehistoric tombs. This place may have been continuously inhabited since the Iron Age, as other traces of human presence were found. In any case, the village is covered by 6 feet of dunes.

You’ll understand better if you go to the chapel of St. Anne. This Romanesque church is half hidden in the dunes.



Its square pillars replaced the monastery built by Pol Aurelian, a Welsh arrived in the 5th century to convert Britain. Towards 530, he created a monastery then destroyed by the Vikings in 878.
At the end of the 11th century, when calm has returned the monks rebuilt a church.
When the sands were threatening, it has been gradually abandoned for the Kernoc’h bay. The ruins of the church have been used as an artillery warehouse shortly before and after the French Revolution. Today a mass in the open air is celebrated for Sainte Anne (Holy Ann) end of July The chapel and the cemetery are listed since 1980.

The island has never sent a soldier to the Army.
That is how the tourist guide Joanne (1884) presents the island. On this island, all men are sailors. The soil is grown exclusively by women. And some of them let their name in the history of Batz.
A native Yves Trémintin began to serve the State as a pilot. Soon, he fought with courage against pirates and lost a leg. He finished his life on his island limping ...
There is also a Portuguese privateer ... Balidar, who hated the English and therefore helped the French during the Revolution ... With his vessel, he was hidden in the channel and awaited the enemy ... The Batziens (inhabitants of Batz) prevented him when ships were in sign and he attacked.



The lighthouse of Batz has 500 steps.
It was built between 1836 and 1852. But you have to deserve it… 210 steps to climb…



Enez Vaz means Dragon Island
No, Bazh means in Breton language stick. And it has no link with the legend of the island…
There once was a dragon ... who was terrible.
In the early centuries of the Christian era, Pol Aurelian arrived in Batz to convert the island. The governor of the island begged the saint to set the island free from the monster ...
With the help of another gentleman, he went dressed in his priestly vestments, to the lair of the beast. There, without being intimidated by the wrath of the animal, he surrounded the neck of the dragon with a stole*. And led him to the sea where it disappeared.

On the north of the island, the place known as "Toul ar sarpent", the Trou du Serpent, still has the claw of the dragon printed in the stone.



The two heroes were rewarded. The gentleman was given the privilege to go to church with the sword to the side. As for Pol, he received many presents : a palace that he turned into a monastery. He also made some more miracles : a spring gushed out and healed 3 blind men, two mutes and a paralyzed.
Around the year 600, he was buried in Saint-Pol-de-Léon.
*The stole is retained in the new church of Batz.

Sometimes in Brittany, in legends, snakes replace dragons (because dragons were frequently linked with fairies and fairies are not working all over). The serpent is also more familiar and therefore more credible. These legendary figures are in any case often a symbol of the pagan religions that have to disappear...

Algae have replaced the trees on the island ...
There were very few trees on the island ... Islanders used algae and cow pats dried in the sun as combustible to cook or heat the houses (Tourist guide Joanne, 1884).
The more difficult was to harvest them… at low tide or in water up to the knee, women pulled wrack out of the sea ... Not always easy ... being a woman in Batz!

Today the harvest is done by tractors



or with scoubidous these strange boats, with long arms that gather laminars on the seabed.

British people settled fortifications on Batz
Yes, there are many vestiges of fortification against the English…
4 batteries (18th C) used to defend the Bay of Morlaix : the Penn Ar C'hleguer one is after the exotic garden, the battery Bilvidic, on the opposite edge and the other two on the remaining points.
There are also remnants of the Atlantic Wall (German defensive system of the Second World War) with bunkers .... But the vegetation today hides them well ....

The island is a paradise for early vegetables and organic farmers
The parcels are sheltered by small walls or hedges and fertilized by seaweed. Potatoes, fennel, rhubarb grow ... with a few weeks ahead… early agriculture. 3 harvests a year, sometimes the collection is done by hand.
Half of the island is grown in organic agriculture.
The island deserves its label…

Read it in french : Les histoires de l'ile de Batz : prétexte à une balade

Brittany and specially the North coast is known for its high concentration in algae. They are famous abroad, above all in Japan, big algae consumers.




Roscoff, a small city on the littoral is pretty well endowed : 800 species out of 1500 compiled in Brittany in 2000. Probably others must have been discovered.

The location of Roscoff explains why it has such a wide variety of algaes : the Gulf Stream allows a water temperature that doesn’t change a lot. The Stream gives a good waterquality.

Now, look at the shore and at the algae lying on the sand. You’ll see 3 colors : green, red and brown.



Each color is on a specific place on the shore. The brown ones are under the sea, then you have the red ones and the green algae are the closest to the earth.

Here in Brittany we have had lots of problems with the green ones. Thanks or because of fertilizers and nitrates from our pigs breeding, they were too many. It used to be a real annoyance. It's getting better but before on some beaches you could not walk or swim because they were doing a really too thick cover on the littoral.

For a really long time, seaweeds were used as fertilizers by farmers.



If Japanese eat them for a long, long time, we are just starting to be interested in them.
We do use it as gelling agents : when you buy an applepie in a shop and you are amazed by the nice shaped apple segments, well don’t think too much : the compote has been mixed with algae to make those nice perfect pieces of fruits.

Algae are also used as dietary supplements. They are full of vitamins, minerals, calcium, proteins… Sprinkle them on your salad.

In thalassotherapy centers they are used to help your body to recover… Your wrinkles will dicrease, your orange peel disappear, your hair will be beautiful … Used in cosmetics, we make lots of products with algae extracts : from anti-aging creams to oil to fight cellulite, skin care products or algae shampoo… They are everywhere. And to use them, you need to mix them as algae can’t be dissolved in water !!!

Read it in French : Algues en Bretagne : de l'engrais de nos grands pères aux complémetns alimentaires et produits cosmétiques

If you want an easy and quick recipe… here you are… with algae mustard…

Ingredients :

Fish fillets

The sauce :
- algae mustard (french strong mustard (moutarde de Dijon) is also ok, but don’t use sweet one !!!)
- double cream
- salt, pepper

an oven

Preparation time : 5 minutes
Cooking time : 20 minutes , oven to 7

Mix the same quantity of mustard and double cream. Brush the fillet generously with the sauce. Add salt and pepper. And bake for ... 20 minutes. It’s done.
Bon appétit.

Read it in French : Recette de poisson au four sauce moutarde aux algues

You stay in Roscoff and you want to have fun answering questions. The main one is : Why does Roscoff, a small city, have such a highway ???

Some more …

5 - The fishermen wanted a highway to transport their fish to Paris
6 – The wolrdwide reputation of Roscoff is due to algae and scoubidoooos…
7 – No, Notre Dame de Kroas Baz is the origin of the roscovite fame
8 – No, the exotic garden is the reason of this motorway
9 – Sainte Barbe, the little chapel on the coast gave his main road to Roscoff
10 – Non sense. It is just because it is the way to reach the island of Batz



5 - The fishermen wanted a highway to transport their fish to Paris



The fishtanks for lobsters existed already during the 19th century. Today it goes on thanks to the same phenomenon : the tides that go up and down and renew the water of the ponds every 6 hours.
The fishing boats lay traps under the sea and come back full of lobsters and crayfish.

6 – The wolrdwide reputation of Roscoff is due to algae and scoubidoooos…

Algae is one of the other lives of Roscoff. As I already explained this coast has a special climate due to Gulf Stream (it is probably going to change with global warming… it may move or disappear…) and is the home of hundreds of unique algae. Even the Japanese, the big consumers of algae, are intested in our marine plants.
Since a very long time, the region is aware of its algae wealth and they have been used as fertilizer for local agriculture for centuries…
Dr Bagot organized the first center of thalassotherapy Rock roum institute in France at the end of the 19th century. This place uses algae to treat rheumatism, bone disease… and it still does.
Today, scoobidoo is also a major character of the place. It is the name of a boat that has a long arm to pick algae in the deep sea.

7 – No, Notre Dame de Kroas Baz is the origin of the roscovite fame

Roscoff already existed in Roman times. In the Middle Ages, it depended on Saint Pol de Léon. As the hamlet was rich, it wanted to be free. Shipowners and merchants of the city wanted to baptize, get married or die without refering to the big Saint Pol. They managed in the 16th century to build the church Notre Dame de Kroas Baz.



These architectural constructions (16 and 17th century) with its gothic church, 2 chapel-ossuaries…is in granite. The church is carved with merchants ex-voto. …



Inside the wodd vault and the beams are colorful.



In the parish close, one chapel is dedicated to Sainte Brigitte where the engagement used to be celebrated. The other with no door but windows was used to store bones.



A commemorative plaque to Mrs Silburne, an english woman who helped the refractory priests during the French Revolution. (Those priests had to renounce to their beliefs or they would die).

8 – No, the exotic garden is the reason of this motorway

The exotic garden has subtropical spieces (the climate…). Built around the rock Hievec, this small height up to 18 m offers a beautiful view over the bay of Morlaix.
From the garden, you can make a beautiful walk on the coastal footpath till Saint Pol (you’ll see the island Sainte Anne and the castle Kernevez), it’s really nice.

9 – Sainte Barbe, the little chapel on the coast gave his main road to Roscoff




This chapel was built during the 17th century to protect the Christians from the enemies of the Church and the invasions of hackers, it is rarely open.
Located on a rocky hill, it supervises the bay and its white wall is used by seamen as a daymark.



10 – Non sense. It is just because it is the way to reach the island of Batz

The deepwater harbour is the departure to Irland or Great Britain. Downtown, you have the old port, depending on tides. It is here that you can catch the ferry to Batz. And they are many everyday to cross the small sea between the island and Roscoff.


Read it in French : Algues, thalasso, homards et exotisme à Roscoff

The area around Guérande (gwen = white in Breton and rann = countries) has been known since the dawn of time, for the salt activity. For centuries even milleniums, salt has been THE mean of food preservation.

- Since when?
- Where?
- How does it work?
- Natural Process?
- Why do we see colourful marshes?
- Harvesting
- Fleur de sel and cooking salt
- Visit the saltmarshes

Since when?
Long before the construction of those salt marshes, we go back to the Iron Age..., another technique was used for the production of sea salt…
Sand or clay salt was collected during the summer and « washed » to extract a highly concentrated brine. It was then poured into pots and heated in clay oven until crystallization of salt. This technique was widespread throughout the Armorican coast, it even led to a deforestation.

The current saltmarshes began before the 9th century and lasted for several centuries. Around the year 1500, the marshes reached 80% of the current surface. The latest were built around 1800. In the middle of 19th century, a gradual decline started for different reasons : competition from the salt mine, lower consumption of salt as a product of conservation and improvement of transport by land.
The salt of Guérande used to be trade throughout Brittany, tax free until Napoleon. The Emperor decided to tax it and it was the beginning of the decline of salt activity. And the last attack came with the refrigerator in the 70’s.

But never say never… as we say in French. The amateurs of Guérande little by little, with energy and enthusiasm will help the activity to recover. They created a training course and a cooperative to promote quality with a label (the french Label rouge). Today around 250 workers live on the salt marshes.

Where ?
Until recently, the whole region was a large salt marsh. But the coastal villages Le Pouliguen and La Baule soon preferred buildings and tourism as the salt activity. There are still 2,000 hectares for the production.

How it works?
The principle is simple. Channels that feeds the water reservoirs with sea water using the tides. Salty water will evaporate in different dams till there are only a few centimeters of seawater left. That is the last step, where the salt crystallizes and produces the fleur de sel and coarse salt.



Natural process?
Yes, sea, sun and wind !!! And the know-how of the workers.
It is a 100% natural product from a listed site! explains Ronan Loison, director of Terre de Sel. Unlike refined salts, the one from Guérande undergoes no washing, no chemical treatment or additives. After harvest, it is just sifted, milled and packaged.

Why do we see colourful marshes?
Red micro-organisms and algae live in seawater.



Harvesting?
The harvest (12,000 tons of salt per year) takes place from June to September. Here are salt granaries from yesterday



and today ...



The rest of the time, you must maintain the marshes.

Fleur de sel and cooking salt
The cooking salt is most of the harvest. If it is gray, it still contains a hint of earthy substance. The best for chefs is the flower of salt.. These few kilo are harvested and collected separately. For 12,000 kg of gray salt, you’ll get 80 kg of fleur de sel!

Visit the salt marshes?
First of all because it is an exceptional heritage (listed since 1996). Then because it is beautiful, yes it is ! Also because you’ll discover nice animals and flora. And finally, to understand better how salt is produced.

In the village of Saillé, former village of salt, the maison des paludiers is a museum. There is also one at Batz sur Mer. At Guérande Terre de Sel, the cooperative, offers guided tours of the marsh. And in La Turballe visits are made in carriage. (00 33 //(0)6.26.45.25.58 )



Read it in French : Les marais salants (salines) de Guérande

I have some friends who tested the thalassotherapy establishment at Billiers in Morbihan. It is in the Domaine de la Rochevilaine (20 km south of Vannes). And they say it’s so nice…



Brittany has a long tradition of thalassotherapies : the first one was created in Roscoff at the end of the XIXth century. Roscoff was and is known for his incredibly huge variety of algae and thalassotherapies use algae for their cures, their massages, their cosmetics. Since then Brittany has a lot of thalassotherapies on its coasts and each one has its speciality : dietetics, relaxation, dermatology, and its famous cosmetics …

Rochevilaine (Spa Vannes - Domaine de Rochevilaine,Pointe de Pen Lan, 56190 – Billiers tel: 02 97 41 61 61) is in a small peninsula – just for the thalasso- and offers a wide range of cures with a tasty gastronomic program.

The Domaine de Rochevilaine is a Relais & Château (the label Relais &Chateau means it has to be a really nice, charming, silent place with character and really nice food). To enter the Domaine, you have to go through a XIIIth century porch and you are in a beautiful garden and you soon discover the manor house.



The center is also known for its medieval sculptures and the exhibitions of modern artists.

You want to make a thalasso , well, you re in the ideal spot. You have all the facilities of a spa center : spa, sauna, hammam, fitness room. The whole establishment is surrounded by the sea. There are two sea water swimming pools , one of them is an out door one on the cliffs and you have the feeling you’re bathing in the sea (that’s what I’ve been told).

And the food ? You know how are the Frogs with their bellies… Well the restaurant is also really nice : large bay windows makes you feel like eating on the water. The courses are done with sea products (lobsters, oyster, bass…) and other local goods. And it is SO good (I quote my friends).



Once you’ve eaten well, relaxed a bit, you can walk along the coastal paths and discover the curiosities of the village Billiers. On your walk on the coast you’ll find the dolmen du crapaud, the port and the lighthouse of Pen Lan,



Saint Maixent church which is a seamark (seamarks are white painted markers such as walls, stones… that are done to be seen from the open sea). The abbey of Billiers (abbaye de Prières) with its sole’s stone (pierre à soles) that was used as a build for the soles fished by the fishermen…

If you want to mix health and pleasure, that’s the right place to go to…



Read it in French : Thalasso et gastronomie en bretagne : domaine de la Roche Vilaine à Billiers (Morbihan)

Buckwheat is not what it’s name suggests : it’s not wheat neither a cereal or a grain. It is a Polygonaceae, a sister of rheum, docks or sorrels.

In French and even in Breton, its name is blé noir (black wheat, the flour is dark) and it is used to make the famous galettes de blé noir (sarrasin).

Archeologists found it in Brittany in prehistorical pollen. But it is a common plant in Britain since the 15 th C, probably because it was reintroduced at that time in the region. And soon it became the basis of the food of the breton farmers.

Because it was so easy to grow it in Brittany : first of all, buckwheat is a crop that loves acidic or low fertility soils, it needs lots of water too. And Brittany was the place… we have “bad” soils and lots of rain.



As it grows quickly, farmers used to cultivate it beetween the winter crop and the summer one. It was also used to cover the fields and then as fertilizer.
Farmers could use hand mills to obtain flour, they did not have to use the mill which one must pay for!!!
During the 19th C, Brittany was producing 50% of the French buckwheat.

At the end of the 19th C, buckwheat was abandoned for new cereals and potatoes. And its cultivation began to decrease. During the 80's, 90's, crêperies had to import the flour from Russia or China as it was no more cultivated in France. And with the green movement, hardy plants have a new life : farmers in Center Brittany began to produce it again. Now you find organic buckwheat produced here, in the region.

Today buckwheat has other nice advantages : gluten free, it is also a good provider of vitamins, proteins, minerals such as iron… it is nice for food allergy.

Beer is also done with buckwheat in Brittany.



And all over the world, buckwheat has its specialities. Specially in its original region South East Asia : in Japan, people eat it as pasta. Or the grains are used to make special pillows to relax…

Read it in French : Blé noir ou sarrasin en bretagne : une farine miracle

You want to know if the notions of sustainable development, organic food or ecological houses mean something in France. You should go to this fair.

It gathers biological farmers and organic wine producers, representatives of natural health products or cosmetics and bio fibres exhibitors …



Ecological houses, solar energy or water filters are also represented during this week end.

It takes place in the Parc expo (Parc des Expositions de Rennes Saint Jacques) from Februar 27th to March 1st. Open from 10 am to 7 pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday, it is open till 10 pm on Friday night. 4 euros (for those who are more than 12 years old).

Winter is the season for soups and stews, good simmered dishes and rich meals... Apple pies and roasted chestnuts are also part of the winter menu... and the excess of Christmas time...

It is also the season of cold, where diseases are more predictable ... Therefore vitamins of fresh produces and food are even more recommended ... to fight your bad cough... Fresh fruits or vegetables are the best natural source of vitamins... and the best way to loose weight after the plenty of New Year... Some days of a diet of fruits and veggies, that the best way to recover...

So let's see what we can eat... to enjoy the winter production without worrying ...

Some vegetables are edible all year long if they are well kept : Beets, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes and Onions.
Same thing for nuts...
Exotic fruits, even if they are produced in warm lands, are also connected to seasons.

Better than eating food supplements in winter, try the natural vitamins and the right minerals...

Links are connected to recipes or specific vegetables and fruits produced here ...

Vegetables
Beet, Horseradish, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Carrot, Celery, Chicory, Cress, Crosne, Fennel, Jerusalem artichoke, Leeks, Onions, Potatoes, Pumpkin, Salad, Salsify, Turnips
Fruits
Apples, Clementines, Kiwis, Mandarins, Oranges, Pears
Dates Nuts
Exotics Banana, Grapefruit, Lychee, Papaya, Pineapple



Vegetables
Avocados, Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Chicory, Leeks, Onions, Potatoes, Salads, Salsify, Turnips, Watercress

Fruits
Apples, Blood oranges, Clementines, Kiwi, Lemons, Mandarins, Pears
Nuts
Exotics Bananas, Grapefruit, Mangoes, Passion Fruit, Pineapples



Vegetables
Avocados, Beets, Carrots, Cabbage, Celery, Leaves, Leeks, Mushrooms, Onions, Potatoes, Radish, Salsify Spinach,Turnips
Fruits
Apples, Clementines, Kiwi, Mandarins, Oranges
Exotics Bananas, Mangoes, Pineapples

If you want to eat the right products at the right time, the easiest way to do it is to go to the market next and buy the vegies and fruits produced in your area.
You'll discover vegies that we do not eat often anymore and you need just a bit of imagination to accommodate some vegetables! Bon appétit

Read this post in French : Fruits et légumes de saison : calendrier d'hiver

Prunus spinosa (also called sloe or Black thorn) is a small tree you can find in lots of Breton hedges. And it has its specific uses here in Brittany…

The tree is quite an old one : during the New Stone Age, stones were found in the houses of our ancestors…
It has other specifities : birds and insects like to rest or even more... in the bushes as it is full of spines.



Its bark was used to dye wool or flax in red. Its flowers are helpful when one suffer from digestive disorders or constipation.



In Brittany, its more common use is to make an alcoholic beverage…with its fruits.

Read it in French : Le prunellier : un arbuste aux qualités multiples

What arrogance! And such bad taste! In a Breton news blog, daring to mention the flu!

Yes, I certainly will, but without any guarantee of success! And I wanted so badly... to tell my anecdote.

I have a friend, several and one of them is a physician acupuncturist and Chinese. Which caracteristic of him should I put first : physician … or Chinese ? Anyway, we were speaking about the influenza A H1 N1.

He told me :

In China, you know, the virus has mutated. And one have realized that people who worked in vinegar factories were not sick.

And he added :

You should inhale vinegar (1 tablespoon to a glass of water) that you have boiled, once a day for 2 minutes.

What kind of vinegar?

I asked incredulously.

The one you have at home. They all have the same properties.

It obviously interested me : I am in the at risk group: 30 / 45 years. And as I have young children, I put the magic potion on a burning smell once a day since then.
I know it's a fake scoop, vinegar has been used for ever… already against the great fever ... Yes, and then. What do I risk ? I do not know whether it will work or not but it costs almost nothing to try.

But you can keep on the precautions against the spread of the virus:

Wash hands and avoid sharing your handkerchiefs with everyone!
Do not splutter on your colleagues and avoid sneezing on your neighbour !

Some last minute informations :

In the newspaper Le Monde (a really serious one in France) this weekend, the paper explains the differences between influenza A, B and C.
The first one is very dangerous, the other two benign.
To these letters, one must add another 2: H and N.
The first comes in 16 variations, the second in 9. 144 different possibilities. A lifetime would not last to try them all, these viruses!