Rough hewn stone, soft sand, soothing waters lapping the shore. Dinghies being rigged on a sheltered beach. Port Louis seems the archetypal Breton harbour village.
Houses straggle down to the waterside, set along winding streets. Their front doors opening direct onto the, sparsely trafficked, roadways.
Alleys, deep in cool shadow, provide respite from the midday sun, for a walk up the hillside, to the cobbled high street.
Yet this rustic retreat is set in the beneath the commanding walls of a military Citadel.
Built of Breton stone, to Spanish design, during the sixteenth century War of the Catholic League.
In which Catholic Spain came to the aid of the governor of Brittany. Who was in revolt against the Protestant King Henry IV of Navarre.
The fortress guards the narrow gap, in the granite reefs, which grants access to Lorient's upstream labyrinth of harbours, yards and quaysides.
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