3 Best Sights in Brittany, France

The village of Beuzec-Conq, just outside Concarneau, is home to the Château de Keriolet—a fairy-tale, neo-Gothic extravaganza dating to the 19th century that Walt Disney would have adored. Replete with gargoyles, storybook towers, and Flamboyant Gothic–style windows, this showpiece was constructed by the Comtesse de Chauveau, born Zenaide Narishkine Youssoupov, an imperial Russian princess who was niece to Czar Nicholas II (and related to Prince Youssoupov, famed assassin of Rasputin). Take one of the four daily guided tours through the Arms Room, folkloric kitchen, and grand salons.

Had Jules Verne (a son of Nantes) and Leonardo da Vinci somehow got together when they were both in a particularly whimsical frame of mind, they may well have established this unique and engaging workshop-gallery. Their spirit certainly lives on in the imaginative, artistic, and mechanically brilliant creations that are built and displayed here. The Grand Eléphant gets most attention—hardly surprising, since the 50-ton giant, just short of 40 feet high, regularly "ambles" along the quay carrying 49 passengers. Inside the gallery are works in many shapes and sizes—some of them interactive—and you can watch more being made in the workshop on weekdays. The eye-popping Carrousel des Mondes Marins (Marine Worlds Carousel) is located just outside the gallery on the banks of the Loire.

Sitting in the middle of Concarneau's harbor, topped by a cupola–clock tower, and entered by way of a quaint drawbridge, the fortress-islet of the Ville Close is a particularly photogenic relic of medieval days. Its fortifications were further strengthened by the English under John de Montfort during the Breton War of Succession (1341–64). Three hundred years later Sébastien de Vauban remodeled the ramparts into what you see today: a kilometer-long (half-mile) expanse, with splendid views across the two harbors on either side. The Fête des Filets Bleus (Blue Net Festival), a weeklong folk celebration in which costumed Bretons whirl and dance to the wail of bagpipes, is held here in the middle of August. It is also home to the Musée de la Pêche (Maritime Museum).