Pointe Du Raz

I thought, from looking at maps, that the Pointe du Raz was the western most point in mainland France. But I was looking at the wrong maps. When I got out my atlas, the maps with actual lines of longitude on them, I saw that the western most point might really be back up closer to Brest. At least, it looks that way. It's close. I also read on one web site that Raz is it, so now I'm completely confused. Anyone know ? **UPDATE : according to Wikipedia, the western point is the Pointe de Saint-Mathieu, up by Brest.

This is actually the Pointe du Van as seen from the Pointe du Raz to its south.

We drove out to the point and saw more of the dramatic western coast along the Atlantic, and the weather was definitely better than it had been in Normandy. The ocean is so huge, the land so massive, that you don't really get an impression of the scale until there is a building or two in the view.

A cove and a beach and a building.

Out toward the point was this tiny building, sitting nearly by itself (in 1992), that was called the Hôtel de l'Iroise. It was a strange sight, this perfect little white building, isolated, no cars, no sign of people, hardly any indication that it was a hotel aside from the words painted on the front of the building. I see from looking on the web that it's still there and was the subject of a German (I think) film in 1997.

The Hôtel de l'Iroise. We didn't stay there.

We drove and looked, drove and looked, stopping now and again for photos, constantly looking at the map for where to head next. There weren't many people around - it was January - and we truly felt we were at the end of the earth. Land's End. Finistère.

Typical Breton buildings on a marsh.