48 hours in Vannes

To enter the city of the Vénètes through the Porte Saint-Vincent on a Saturday or Wednesday morning is to lose your bearings in time. Between the spectacular 15th-century timber-framed houses, elbow-to-elbow with the elegant stone of the townhouses, there's a buzz and a cackle. From the Place du Poids-Public to the Place des Lices, where jousts and tournaments organized by the Duke of Brittany were held, the market winds its way between two halles, one devoted to the chic food trade, the other to fish, impeccably fresh. In between, a parade of stores that are all about the belly. A Meilleur ouvrier de France chocolatier here, a maître artisan confiturier there, a cheesemaker-refiner with a long queue, an inventive cider maker... In Vannes, the table is no laughing matter. From the terrace of the "Café de la Poiss'", a must between two razzias, you could almost hear Bonemine arguing with Ordralfabétix - "Isn't my fish fresh?" Nestling between two peninsulas, Quiberon and Rhuys, tucked away at the bottom of the Gulf of Morbihan, which belongs to the official club of the world's most beautiful bays, Vannes has always lived from trade and the open sea. Not even the late Jean-Pierre Le Roch, founder of the Intermarché chain in 1966, would have said otherwise. Nor Yann Petit, grandson of the creator of La Trinitaine, a Breton shortbread behemoth for the past seventy years. Alongside them in the list of Vannes success stories are those that draw their inspiration from the water: the Multiplast shipyard, a champion in composite materials and the construction of Formula 1 ocean racing boats, and Tahe, formerly known as Bic Sport, a specialist in water sports. The only exception to the rule is the down-to-earth Michelin, the city's largest private employer. The perfect ingredients for a bourgeois, Catholic and conservative town that has long been a sleepy chic belle. But that was without the TGV, which put the town 2h30 from Paris, and without an epidemic likely to eject city dwellers to gentler provinces... When the post-confinement flood sought out glamorous, human-sized towns close to the sea, Vannes was among the frontrunners. Returning retirees and climatic migrants disgusted with asphalt put pressure on the real estate market, and the Morbihan prefecture reshuffled its cards. Since then, the ecosystem has been enriched by dynamic SMEs, researchers from the University of Southern Brittany, coworking spaces and start-up villages that have sprouted like caulerpa (an invasive algae). Some innovative and unique companies have found their breeding ground here. See Splash-In-Aviation, challenged to produce the Petrel-X ultralight seaplane, or Tiwal, initiator of the first inflatable dinghy. The sea, again, and travel, always. Awarded France's most dynamic city several times over, Vannes has seen its streets gentrify, becoming the kingdom of concept stores and small galleries and an epicenter of the Breton culinary scene - from market gardening to fish, wine, tea and buckwheat, you can find it all in Morbihan. Not to mention a staggering number of bookshops. To discover the capital of Morbihan today is to stroll between four gates linked by intact ramparts, themselves hemmed in by a garden, the shimmering waters of the Marle and washhouses; it's to walk along the port on the left bank to have a drink at the B.R.E.F., an industrial wasteland and artistic hive; it's discovering 1930s villas whose prices have recently catapulted into the stratosphere of the real estate market, but also astonishing 1960s architecture, a reminder of Michelin's workers' housing estates. Last but not least, it's a chance to take advantage of the city's cultural policy: free admission. Start at the Kiosque, a stunning exhibition space dedicated to photography on the right bank, cross the passage to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, which regularly hosts singular monumental installations, then visit the sumptuous Hôtel de Limur, home to the city's Centre d'Architecture et du Patrimoine. Don't forget to attend the Jazz en ville festival, scheduled for late July, which opens its stages free of charge. It would be unfair to forget Vannes' latest must-see: the Rabine stadium! Since the RCV moved up to Pro D2, the stadium has become the star of Breton rugby. So, snob or popu? Not so simple, after all. G.B.