"Cameret-sur-mer" a Camaret-sur-Mer Travel Page by ranger49

In nearly all the places we have visited in Brittany (and other parts of France) in recent years we have noticed these attractive ceramic plaques with a sepia toned picture or drawing of the location and a snippet of local history.
This one comments on the very sheltered position of its westerly harbour and how it was capable of providing safe harbour for 200 -300 sailing boats.
From 1939 it was regarded as the best fishing port for sardines and langoustines in the whole of Europe - if not the world. This trade continued here until the 1960's.
Then a series of disasters combined to change the European fishing industry - oil spillages and other environmental pollution, marine diseases and over-fishing, the mandatory introduction of fishing quotas all contributed to the depletion of fishing stocks.
Cameraet is still however an important fishing port specialising in spiny lobsters.

It has other claims to fame.
In the early 20th century artists like Boudin, Riviere and Derain were frequent visitors captivated by its special summer light and atmospheric sunsets.
I sometimes get a picture of a group of those now famous French artists wending there way round the coast and mountain resorts of France in search of light and success..
The poet St-Pol-Roux built his home here just up the hill overlooking the Bay where he met his tragic end in 1941.

If you walk down the Sillon, the natural dyke, which forms a natural quay at the end of the harbour you will pass the rotted and spidery remains of the hulls of old wooden shipping boats, and rusting sides of later steel built boats.
It a rather sad sight and a constant reminder of the cataclysmic changes in the lives of the men who still go down to the sea in ships to put fish on our tables.
In the background across the bay in the marina are the leisure boats that now shelter in the harbour and out of sight beyond, the new fishing port head quarters.

The whole of the sea frontage is dotted with bars,cafes, restaurants and hotels and a few shops including a mini-supermarket .
A larger Super-U supermarket is just around the corner not far from the Tourist Office.

A number of the cafes and hotels here have a free wi-fi hotspot which we did not use.

In this view the red awning is at Hotel le Styvel and the blue at Hotel Vauban.