Back to towns in France
Set in a magnificent natural harbour, known as the Rade de Brest, the city of Brest is doubly sheltered from the ocean storms by the bulk of Léon to the north and by the Crozon peninsula to the south. It has always played an important role in war, and in trade whenever peace allowed. Today it is the base of the French Atlantic Fleet with a dry dock that can accommodate ships of up to 500,000 tonnes; the town, as a ship repair centre, ranks sixth in the world.
During World War II, Brest was continually bombed to prevent the Germans from using it as a submarine base. When the Americans liberated it on September 18, 1944, after a six-week siege, they found the town devastated beyond recognition. The architecture of the postwar town is raw and bleak. There have been attempts, as in Caen, to green the city, but despite the heaviest rainfall in France the site has proved too windswept to respond
As a tourist centre, Brest has little to offer, and few relics of the past remain. The fifteenth-century castle looks impressive on its headland and offers a superb panorama of the city, but once inside it is not especially interesting. Three of its towers house part of the collection of the Musée National de la Marine (April-Sept Mon & Wed-Sun 10am-6.30pm, Tues 2-6.30pm; rest of year Mon & Wed-Sun 10am-noon & 2-6pm, Tues 2-6pm; 30F/?4.57). The fourteenth-century Tour Tanguy on the opposite bank of the River Penfeld, with its conical slate roof, serves as the Musée de Vieux Brest (June-Sept daily 10am-noon & 2-7pm; rest of year Wed & Thurs 2-5pm, Sat & Sun 2-6pm; free). Dioramas convey a vivid impression of just how attractive the city used to be.
Brest's most up-to-the-minute attraction is Océanopolis , a couple of kilometres east of the city centre beside the Port de Plaisance du Moulin-Blanc (daily: June-Sept 9am-7pm; rest of year 9am-6pm; 90F/?13.72). This futuristic complex currently consists of three distinct aquariums and a 3-D cinema. The aquarium in the main white dome, known as the Temperate Pavilion, focuses on the Breton littoral and Finistère's fishing industry, holding all kinds of fish, seals, molluscs, seaweed and sea anemones. The emphasis is very much on the edible, with the displays on the life-cycle of a scallop, for example, culminating in a detailed recipe. To that has recently been added a Tropical Pavilion, with a tankful of ferocious-looking sharks plus a myriad of rainbow-hued smaller fish that populate a highly convincing coral reef, and a Polar Pavilion, complete with polar bears and penguins. Everything's very high-tech, and perhaps a little too earnest for some visitors' tastes, but it's quite possible to spend an entertaining day on site - especially if you take the assorted restaurants, snack bars and gift stores into consideration.
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