Rennes Embraces Its Flaws

Downtown Rennes feels as much like old Europe as anywhere we’ve been. It’s filled with half-timbered buildings that have settled and shifted over the many years since construction. The result is a number of structures that are leaning sideways, out into the street, or are out of plumb in some way. Instead of straightening or rebuilding, Rennes embraces these imperfections. Several of these structures even accentuate their flaws by highlighting the off-kilter sections with shingles or other materials. Closer inspection suggests that it’s (mostly) just the outer facades that are uneven and that the actual risk of the buildings falling over is minimal. But it sure looks like a stiff wind could knock an entire block over.

Rennes is the capital of the Brittany region. With a population of about 225,000, it’s the 11th largest city in France. The metro area has been inhabited in one form or another for over 2000 years and many parts of it project that age. There’s a small section of the very old border walls remaining and several churches in the downtown area were built many centuries ago as well. It’s a fine line between old and dilapidated and Rennes does a good job staying on the correct side of it most of the time. 

Aside from marveling that the downtown buildings haven’t fallen over yet, we spent time enjoying the large park, free art museum, several churches, and taking long walks along the waterways. There’s a prodigious farmers market each week on Saturday mornings that we made sure to attend. We also took advantage of its proximity to Mont Saint-Michel to make a day trip to the popular island town. 

Marché Des Lices

The weekly Saturday morning farmers market in Rennes is the best one we’ve found anywhere in France. First of all, it’s enormous. According to the Brittany tourism website, it’s the second largest in the country and has been in operation for over 400 years. I’m not sure how a city this size can support such a massive market, but it’s great that they do.

It has several blocks worth of vendors selling all types of fruits and vegetables. There’s a large flower section with both cut flowers and potted plants. Fresh fish and seafood is sold in another section. There are two large indoor spaces filled with bread, sausages, honey, cheese, and a large variety of ready-to-eat foods. In addition to the prepared food stands, there are multiple food trucks set up both within and surrounding the area. It’s a grand spectacle that fills the streets and satisfies the hungry masses both immediately and for the coming week.

Parc du Thabor

The largest park in town is Thabor Park and it has a wonderful medley of outdoor spaces. There are wide open areas for sunbathing or picnicking. Fancy fountains, manicured hedges, and planted flower arrangements are found in another. There’s a large playground for children. One section has a variety of chickens that are a hit with all ages. There are venues for music and we stumbled upon concerts there twice. The first was a band set up in a large metal gazebo and the second was a full orchestra playing in a natural amphitheater space. 

While all of these areas were great, the most impressive part of the park was definitely the rose garden. Spread out over a very large area, there were hundreds if not thousands of different varieties of roses. It’s such a beautiful setting. We spent a lot of time sniffing different rose bushes and enjoying all of the facets of this wonderful park.

Waterway Paths

We took advantage of cloudier days to walk along the Vilaine River and connected canals that bisect the city. There are multi-use paths that follow both the river and canal for many miles out of the downtown heading west, north, and east. These are good spots for birdwatching, and we happened upon a kingfisher more than once. The waterways are also popular with nutria, and they always elicit a smile when we could catch them munching on aquatic vegetation. 

Musée Beaux Arts

The Fine Arts Museum in Rennes has a really solid collection. Free to enter, it showcases a wide array of art styles from classical to modern. They even had a Mona Lisa that looks like an almost exact replica of the original but with a tiny fraction of the crowds. In addition to all of the paintings, there was a nice-sized section featuring archeological artifacts from ancient Egypt and other older civilizations. There was also a room with “curiosities” that had ornate furniture, carved statuettes, and a bunch of other oddities. 

Cathédrale Saint-Pierre 

The largest cathedral in town is the grand Saint Pierre, also simply referred to as the Rennes Cathedral. Adorned with massive dark red marble columns and a gold-trimmed ceiling, it has a very unique aesthetic. It reminded me of some of the churches we experienced in Italy during our first European vacation many moons ago. The building is very well-cared for and despite its age, it feels like every detail has been looked after. It’s quite impressive.

Day Trip To Mont Saint-Michel

We used Rennes’s proximity to Mont Saint-Michel to make a great day trip. The iconic town on a rock was definitely a once in a lifetime experience; both because of its uniqueness and because it’s too touristy to visit more than once. Our visit was originally booked for a Thursday, but the weather forecast was dreadful, calling for rain and storms all day. We decided to eat some of the cost and rebook for 4 days later and that turned out to be a great decision. Our rescheduled day was sunny and pleasant and that resulted in awesome views. 

The best views come from the Abbey, which is the main attraction. It’s much more than just a church and includes 20+ rooms filled with interesting history. We spent almost 3 hours leisurely working our way through them all and soaking in the ambiance.

Our time on the Mont coincided with low tide, so the ocean edge was over a mile away. The tides make a massive difference in this part of the world. At high tide, the water laps up against the stone walls. But since it was low tide, we were able to witness large crowds of people trudge off into the mud surrounding the island. This traditional pilgrimage method seemed a little messy to me, but it sure was popular. 

To get there we took the Keolis bus which leaves from the Rennes train station and takes an hour and fifteen minutes each way. Our visit was 6 hours, which left us plenty of time for a leisurely tour of the Abbey and to take our time on the 45 minute walk to and from the bus stop. It was very convenient, and at €25 each for the roundtrip, seemed like a good deal to me.

Paris Saint-Germain Championship Game

Our stay in Rennes coincided with a championship soccer match. Paris Saint-Germain was in the UEFA Champions League final against perennial powerhouse Inter Milan. Our apartment was located directly on one of the main squares and all of the cafes and bars were packed with fans. While we weren’t watching the game, we could easily hear when PSG scored as massive cheers erupted outside. This happened five times as they went on to win a landslide 5-0 victory. PSG joined the league in 1970 and this was their very first championship. Everyone was beyond stoked and the celebration continued well after the game ended with crowds yelling, chanting, and dancing deep into the night. At some point we looked out and noticed that a giant bonfire had been set in the middle of the square, just some 50 yards (meters) from our front door.

We watched with part fascination and part trepidation from our front window as people caroused around the fire. Several young men decided to make it their project to make this fire as big as possible. We watched them run off into the city to return several minutes later carrying anything that would possibly burn (and some things that would not). After tossing traffic cones, plastic trash bins, cardboard boxes, metal grates, cafe chairs, and any other items not tied down into the fire, they ran off to repeat the process. It was kind of a wild scene and definitely felt like the kind of thing that could easily spiral out of control. But eventually the revelry died down and sometime around 3am the fire department came and put out what remained of the burning pile of trash.

The next day we noticed that the remnants of this bonfire in the middle of the square left burnt plastic residue and other scars on some of the stone tiles in the area. It was at this point when it clicked that the couple of other spots around the square with similar scars were from previous fires. Apparently we witnessed a long-standing tradition!

Where We Stayed

As noted above, our first floor apartment (2nd floor in US terms) was very centrally located. It faced the popular Saint-Anne square, which meant that we could hear all of the activity from the cafes right outside our window. It was also right above an area where people liked to hang out and drink while playing music from their personal speakers. Our windows did have excellent insulation, but when they were open, it was exceedingly loud at some points. Luckily the weather was mild for most of our time in Rennes so having the windows shut wasn’t too much of an imposition. Still, it was annoying. Aside from the noise, it was a nice apartment with a well-stocked kitchen, comfortable bed, and large rooms with a lot of space. 

What We Spent

Our costs in Rennes were pretty reasonable as most of the things we found to do were cheap or free. The parks, museum, and long walks along the waterways were great. We did host some guests for part of this stay, so our spending on public transit and travel to Mont Saint-Michel are a bit inflated because of that. (Our Mont Saint-Michel costs cover 5 people.) Our centrally-located apartment cost us $1607 for the month and our entire outlay in Rennes came to $2918. Adding in our monthly bills for things like Spotify and insurance brings the grand total to $3162, or $113/day.

We both thought Rennes was a good, but not great stop. I think our stay there would’ve been greatly improved if our apartment had been located even just one block away from where it was. The sheer business and volume of the central square right outside of our living room window didn’t really work for us. As I talked about in my Five Years of Retirement summary post, our apartment choice now has an outsized effect on our enjoyment of any given place. In this case, it affected us negatively. In our previous stop, the opposite.

But Rennes has a lot of things going for it. The farmers market was excellent and so was the Thabor Park. We liked the walking paths along the river and canals. The downtown area with its cobblestone streets and imperfect structures had a lot of charm. Overall we were happy we chose Rennes as a destination, and even happier that none of the buildings collapsed during our stay.