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By Root 1008 0

squabbles with the national capital, many taking place in the Rennes’s Palais de Justice, long the political center of Brittany and the one building that survived a terrible fire in 1720 that lasted a week and destroyed half the city. The remaining cobbled streets and 15th-century half-timber houses form an interesting contrast to the classical feel of the cathedral and Jacques Gabriel’s disciplined granite buildings, broad avenues, and spacious squares. Many of the 15th- and 16th-century houses in the streets surrounding the cathedral have been converted into shops, boutiques, restaurants, and crêperies. The cavalier manner in which the French go about running a bar out of a 500-year-old building can be disarming to New Worlders.

Getting Here and Around

The TGV Atlantique travels faster than a speeding bullet from Paris’s Gare Montparnasse to Rennes (2¼ hrs, €55), leaving every two hours or so, and through to Brest, while a branch line heads to St-Malo. Rennes’s Gare SNCF (Place de la Gare) is about a 20-minute walk from the heart of the city. Trains leave for Paris (2¼ hrs), Nantes (2 hrs), St-Malo (55 mins), and Bordeaux (6 hrs). The Gare Routière is next to the train station, but it’s not the safest place to hang out. Buses go to Nantes (2 hrs), St-Malo (2 hrs), Dinan (1 hr), and Mont-St-Michel (85 mins). Rennes’s city bus system, STAR, will deliver you to almost any destination in town. There are also Ryanair flights to Rennes from England (London Stansted).

Visitor Information

Rennes Tourist Office.

| 11 rue St-Yves | 35000 | 02–99–67–11–11 | en.tourisme-rennes.com.

EXPLORING RENNES

The capital of Brittany, Rennes is one of the liveliest cities in the region. During the school year, the town rhythm is set by some 40,000 students. Although summer seems to happen elsewhere for most Rennais, it is still a pleasant time to wander the city’s cafés and bookstores.

The Parlement de Bretagne (Rue Nationale | 35000 | www.parlement-bretagne.com), the palatial original home of the Breton Parliament and now of the Rennes law courts, was designed in 1618 by Salomon de Brosse, architect of the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. It was the most important building in Rennes to escape the 1720 flames, but in 1994, following a massive demonstration by Breton fishermen demanding state subsidies, a disastrous fire broke out at the building, leaving it a charred shell. Fortunately, much of the artwork—though damaged—was saved by firefighters, who arrived at the scene after the building was already engulfed in flames. It was a case of the alarm that cried “fire” once too often; a faulty bell, which rang regularly for no reason, had led the man on duty to ignore the signal. Restoration has now been completed. Call the tourist office (02–99–67–11–66 to book a 90-minute guided tour [€6.80]).

The Musée de Bretagne (Museum of Brittany) reopened in 2006 in brand-new headquarters designed by superstar architect Christian de Portzamparc and now occupies a vast three-part space that it shares with the Rennes municipal library and Espaces des Sciences. Portzamparc’s layout harmonizes nicely with the organization of the museum’s extensive ethnographic and archaeological collection, which, chronologically ordered, depicts the everyday life of Bretons from prehistoric times up to the present. There’s also a space devoted to the famous Dreyfus Affair; Alfred Dreyfus, an army captain who was wrongly accused of espionage and whose case was championed by Émile Zola, was tried a second time in Rennes in 1899. | 10 cours des Allies | 35000 | 02–23–40–66–70 | www.musee-bretagne.fr | €4 museum, €7 including exhibitions | Tues. noon–9, Wed.–Fri. noon–7, weekends 2–7.

The Musée des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts Museum) contains works by Georges de La Tour, Jean-Baptiste Chardin, Camille Corot, Paul Gauguin, and Maurice Utrillo, to name a few. The museum is particularly strong in French 17th-century paintings and drawings, and has an interesting collection of modern French artists. Please note that the second floor was closed for renovation of unspecified duration