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Temps fête Douarnenez
Traditional sailing ships in their natural environmentThe small fishing town of Douarnenez on the Breton coast hosts a maritime summer festival every two years since 1986. Mainly regional traditional sailing ships from France, the Channel Islands and the south of Cornwall and of England take part. The event quickly got so big that the organizers had to move to the much larger port in Brest. That is how the well-known Fêtes maritimes internationales de Brest came into being, which are organized every four years. The smaller event in Douarnenez, however, remained and is extremely popular with every friend of sailing ships and music who loves the French way of life and culture.
Habour of Rosmeur
Temps fête Douarnenez
The habour of Rosmeur offers a wonderful scenery for the festival. A lot of entertainment is offered on the quayside during the day and in the evening. Restaurants in the port and stands with regional and maritime offers attract the visitors. There are stages and lots of music on the harbor streets and paths.
Summer festival in Douarnenez
Arrival in Douarnenez
On and on the water there are shows, demonstrations of traditional seamanship on the sailing ships and small regattas. It won't only sailed, but also rowed or paddled. Touring rowing on the sea, stand-up paddlers, sea kayaking, launching of restored or new-built boats and rescue dogs in action are small attractions that can be experienced here. The sailing ships in the Bay of Douarnenez are verbosely commented. You can observe them from land. The landscape by the bay gives the photos that are shot here a fantastic background.
Launch at the Temps fête Douarnenez
Sailing ships are attractions!
France has a very diverse fleet of former or replicated workboats and classic yachts, which on such occasions are very nicely presented. Traditional sailing ships in their natural environment. The ships appear very authentic and are actively sailed. From the port short sailing trips for guests are offered. This business is firmly in French hands here.
Traditional sailing ships off Douarnenez
Classic yachts in Douarnenez
Sailing ship in the evening light
Sailing on the Douarnenez coast
Lugger in the fishing port of Douarnenez
Summer festival in Douarnenez
Sailing ships on the coast
Sailing off Douarnenez
Le Port-musée de Douarnenez
Museum and museum habour with many sailing shipsA visit to this museum is an absolute highlight, because here I mainly saw ships. The Port-musée of the fishing site Douarnenez shows Barges, merchant ships, fishing boats and steam tugs. The exhibition rooms are located in former storage and production halls of a canning factory. Douarnenez found prosperity in the 19th century with the invention of the tin can. This conservation allows the sale of fish in distant regions. The sardine played the most important role. By the middle of the century there were said to have been 40 fish factories here. There are several information boards in the city that describe this history.
Langoustier Skellig
The centerpiece of the exhibitions is the museum harbor in the historic habour of Douarnenez, the Port-Rhu right in the estuary. Some of those here preserved ships are accessible all the time. These include the "Anna-Rosa", a Norwegian coastal trading ship from 1893. It was used to trade in stockfish. In 2016 I saw the Arab dhow "Nizwa" there for the first time. She was built in 1992 according to the original historical plans and has been shown in Douarnenez since 2014. During the summer festival, the two ships were presented in the habour of Rosmeur.
Coastal trading ship Anna-Rosa
Arab dhow Nizwa