Although 2,000 km apart, northern Brittany and Iceland are nevertheless strongly connected.
by… the ocean.
The first hospital built in Iceland was built by the French on the east coast of the country, in Faskruosfjorour. It welcomed sailors who had survived the frequent
shipwrecks and adjoins the cemetery which has around fifty French graves, for the less fortunate; more than 2,000 Breton sailors died in Iceland, particularly at the very beginning of the 20th century.
This small town also has a museum opened in 2014 and decorates its streets in the tricolor on the occasion of " French days " every year at the end of July.
Another French hospital was built in the 19th century in Reykjavik, one of the busiest streets of which is "French Street," and a third off the south coast, on the Westman Islands.
Paimpol, from where the majority of these boats departed, is twinned with Grundarfjordur. Along with Gravelines (in the north), twinned with Faskruosfjorour, these are the only two French towns linked to Icelandic counterparts.