Maritime Culture: Festivals in Brest and Douarnenez, Brittany, France, July 12-23, 2012

Participate in the two largest traditional boat festivals in Europe with John Calogero of the Northwest Maritime Center as your guide! For 12 days we will immerse ourselves in the many cultures and maritime traditions represented, first in the festival in Brest followed by the festival in Douarnenez, both on the Atlantic coast of Brittany. The trip includes hotel with breakfast, admission to the festivals, fees for sailing aboard traditional vessels, and transportation between Brest and Douarnenez.

You will join a small group of up to 10 participants in Brest on the afternoon of the 12th of July. The festival, titled this year as The Thunders of Brest, begins on the morning of the 13th. We will start with a tour through the kilometers of horborfront of the festival to get oriented to the various berths for the thousands of vessels, from the smallest of boats to class A tall ships. And, we will check out the shore exhibits, stages, and villages where we will enjoy the many cultures through art, boatbuilding, music, dancing, and food throughout the week.

Five countries have been invited to set up villages: Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, and Russia. The local Bretons will have a village, also. The Krys Ocean Race, a trans-Atlantic trimaran race from New York to Brest, is scheduled to finish during the festival. Fireworks are scheduled for the nights of the 14th, the National Day of France, and the 18th, the night before the vessels depart Brest. The 19th is the day for the Grand Parade of Sail when the boats leave Brest and most of them sail south to Douarnenez.

We will shift to Douarnenez for its intimate festival where the maritime heritage movement in France began in the 1980s. Douarnenez is a picturesque fishing port that in recent years has hosted many competitive sailing events. The regions invited to exhibit at the festival are Catalonia and Galicia in Spain, and the Basque country. Also, Cornwall, north coast communities of France, and the Netherlands have been invited to display. As in Brest, many of the boats will leave port to sail each day. After breakfast on the 23rd the tour ends.

$2895 + air; very small group: up to 10 participants

For more detailed information contact John Calogero at calogero@rockisland.com