Carnac Treasure Hunt!

Today we knew we had seen the main alignments, and felt free to wander wherever the wind blew us.  The sun shone for much of the day, the scenery was fantastic, we found lovely tombs and historic churches -- or was it the other way around -- and we thoroughly enjoyed our day.

Ian in an underground tomb.

We started our day by driving down the scenic coast to the small town of Lacmariaquer where we saw the Table de Marchand and the Grand Menhir.  This amazing site was well-explained, and set us up for the rest of our day:  finding stuff on the side of the road.

The entrance to the Table du Marchand.  This had amazing carvings on the upright posts inside.  You can just make out Margaret's legs -- a nice big entrance.

This is the largest monolith in Europe, the Grande Menhir.  It only stood for a few centuries before being toppled, probably in an earthquake.  To put it in perspective, this fell down BEFORE the Pyramids went up.  It s too heavy for rolling on logs, so it must have been brought here, 10 miles over land and sea, by digging a channel to slide it along, and by boat.

We went to several dolmen, which are really the stone structures and burial chambers of a tumulus, when the dirt is stripped off.  The first of these was the Pierre Plats, right on a sandy beach with spectacular views.

Duck waddling into a omb is hard when it is flooded.  We couldn't go all the way back because it was too dark -- and we knew there was a puddle.

This is what the carving generally looked like -- it's anyone's guess what they represent.

Next, we saw the Table Main-Lud.  Of course, the people of 4000 BC picked out strategic spots for their monumental tombs, and the houses and villages are built right up to them.

Our next stop was St. Michel, which has stunning views from the church.  Once again, the church has an excellent vantage point, built atop the largest tumulus in the area.  One can't go inside, but we enjoyed walking along the trails to the medieval fountain of St. Michel.

From there, we wandered off to our new favourite boulangerie for quiche and coffee, then off to the relatively obscure Dolman de Rondossec.  Whenever we found a tomb, I forced Ian to climb inside, which may be why he is a bit tired of prehistory this evening.


We loved the small village of St. Barbe, with its stone buildings and church.  It has history as a Bretagne stronghold during the War of Bretagne independence.

We gave up on finding the Alignements St. Barbe, and suddenly there they were.  There was nowhere to park on the one lane road, but Ian found a way.  Ian was more impressed by the field of leeks over the hedgerow.

I finally got the delayed flash to work and the camera to stay upright.

We drove down tiny country lanes, dodging construction detours, and found three more dolmans -- each unique in its own way.  I particularly liked the last one, as it was in a small wood, and seemed a bit more removed from time.  Everywhere we went, we were nearly the only ones visiting the sites -- although sometimes someone drove up as we left or drove away as we arrived.

The only thing we couldn't find that I wanted to see was the Alignements du Petit-Menec, and we were worried about catching the last of the light, so we went to the petit village of St. Columbans, where we admired the ancient church and the stone buildings.

Back to our hotel to download pictures, then off to Chez Marie Creperie on foot, so that we could partake of the local favourite, Cider.  I liked it more than Ian.  We loved the crepes, both savoury buckwheat and the simple dessert crepes, mine with beurre, sucre, et lemon presse, and Ian's with comfiture.  We also enjoyed our walk back to our hotel along the dark streets, with stars overhead and bats circling the streetlights.  Off to St. Malo tomorrow, with fond memories of Carnac.