Quimper is the capital of a department (state) called Finistiere – Latin for “land’s end.” It’s been occupied since before the Romans arrived. Today it’s an active city, filled with shops, restaurants and all the other services a busy, modern city requires. Join me for a short walk through this old but modern city.

When I arrived on Sunday a decathlon for both men and women was going on, and the streets in the oldest part of town were closed to make way for the runners. Hundreds of people gathered to cheer on their friends. These women have just crossed the finish line.

The town is filled with old buildings and young people.

Shops fill the ground floor spaces of ancient half-timbered buildings.

There are many boutiques offering fashionable clothing. Clearly this is the place for shopping for everyone in southwestern Brittany. Although there are chain stores such as Monoprix and H&M, most of the businesses are small and appear to be locally owned.

I’ve never seen so many shoe stores! There must be one for every 100 people. I think this shoe’s cute.

The city is still centered where it has been for ages – around the gothic cathedral …

but it has a number of modern building that indicate how busy and progressive it is, such as the library shown here, If you ever studied French you learned that a library is called a “biblioteque.” Not anymore! Today a library in France is called a “mediateque.”

I have a lovely apartment this week. It’s located on “market street” (Rue de la Halle), just a few feet from the modern indoor daily market (entrance shown here). I love being right in the center of the city. (You can see the AirBnB ad for my apartment here.)

Libbie