Recommended in Brittany

Following a wonderful Norway coastal cruise in May ’06, my wife, Dorothy, and I flew to Brittany, France, to visit our daughter. While there, we had an opportunity to visit Port-Aven, an artists’ colony, one especially popular in the early 1900s. Paul Gauguin worked there before moving to Arles.

Today there are seemingly hundreds of art galleries, ranging from traditional to far out. The local art museum (€4) has an excellent permanent collection of early 20th-century Port Aven artists. The special exhibit in May was on all types of prints, from woodblock to zinc to copper, many in several colors.

For lunch that day (more like dinner, for Americans), we stopped at Le Moulin du Grand Pouguin (2 Quai Théodore Botrel, Port-Aven). We had the noon special of cod, rice and potato (strange combination) with carrots and cauliflower in a cream sauce for €8.80 (about $11) — a meal both filling and very delicious.

On our last evening in Brittany we had dinner at Le St. Pierre Hotel & Restaurant (5 Rte des Roches Blanches), overlooking the beach in the Treboul section of Douarnenez. There were three menus, with meals at €18, €23 and €31, as well as a large selection of à la carte plates. We opted for the €23 ($30).

I had about two dozen steamed mussels in a cream sauce for a first course, followed by veal in a rich brown sauce with scalloped potatoes plus fresh green beans and, for dessert, a poire belle Hélène. My wife had a first course of salad (large enough for a meal in itself), then a local fish in a lemon sauce with the same vegetables, followed by a huge brownie with chocolate and vanilla sauce.

Dinner for four with wine was €105 ($130) — an outstanding meal.

WALTER HUSE, Fort Myers, FL