Concarneau
The hotels of the place are in no sense resort hotels, though they are fitted with a marvellous convenience and comfort, and feed one most bountifully and excellently on sea food, wherein fresh sardines and lobsters predominate,—those two great delicacies of the Paris restaurant which here are the common food of the people, for Concarneau is one of the few fishing centres of the world which keeps some of its products for the supply of its own table.
To-day the town is composed of two quarters, the new town, otherwise the faubourg Ste. Croix, modern, prosperous, and animated, and the walled town, the island fort of the middle ages.
In 1373, Concarneau was occupied by an English garrison, who fled before Duguesclin. In 1488, the Viscount of Rohan reduced it by order of Charles VIII., but the Marshal de Rieux retook it from the French the following year, and repaired and strengthened the old fortifications.
The religious wars played their part here most vividly, until finally it fell to the hands of Henry IV.
The walled town to-day is a remarkable example of an isolated fort or citadel, the islet upon which it is situated being of a confined area and wholly surrounded by a thick granite rampart, which, however invulnerable it may have been in a former day, would stand no chance against modern guns.