The town of Pontrieux on the river Trieux is another well deserved 4 Star Ville Fleure as well as “A City of Charm and Character”. So, now we have discovered 1) The 100 Plus Beaux Villages in France 2) The 100 Plus Beaux Detours 3) 22 “Cities of Charm and Character” of Bretagne and 4) Unknown number of “Cities of Character” (without the “Charm”). Perhaps, I have to come up with my own ranking system and streamline them all. But, I digress and Pontrieux really does deserve its ranking for its flowers and for the loveliness of the town!
The city has 50 “lavoirs” located on the river that runs through the town. Prior to the Middle Ages they were constructed for people to wash their bodies. By the 17th century they were used for people to wash their clothing or actually to have servants wash them. (That's a long time in between that clothing wasn't getting washed!!!!!)
These lavoirs were actually used by the public until 1950. Now, you can take a pleasant little boat ride down the river and view several of the remaining lavoirs. Remember, it is also a 4 star Ville Fleure so the flower plantings are quite numerous and spectacularly colorful.
Pontrieux also has quite a few artisans and we enjoyed exploring the shops. One local artist opened his shop early for us and I had an interesting conversation with him about selling art in a tourist town. He invited us to visit his studio and we saw more of his work in oil which both Ed and I liked very much. (This is a rare occurrence.) One thing stuck us both and that was how reasonable his paintings were. They ranged from $400 - $1200 and they were of local scenes. Since the town is so picturesque, it lends itself to being painted. Sorry I couldn't take some photos of my favorite pieces.
