Neither Photos Nor Words Do It Justice – Carnac– A Must Visit Place

 

Tonight, after returning to our gite on the canal, we were talking about the WOW! moments we had today. In the end we decided to say it like Carl Sagan would have – There were Billions and Billions of WOW! moments today. Just a bunch of rocks? Then so are the Pyramids. I love how Linda summed it up: “There’s so much to see and experience it’s almost overwhelming.”

We laughed when we found our first menhair even before leaving Josselin. It seemed that our GPS and navigator were on page second turn while our driver was on page first turn. Turning around to take the second turn we saw this menhair. It served as a good omen for the day. Many menhair and a little lost. What can we say, it made for a great day. And we weren’t really lost, it was just that we had temporarily misplaced the way to our destination.

It was not something you see everyday. A car coming up behind us with a tree growing out of it.

Well, in the rearview mirror is sure looked like a tree was growing out of the car.

It was another beautiful sun filled day in the French countryside. We didn’t keep count but we may have actually encountered more cyclists than cars for the better part of the drive.

It was comical when we first arrived in Carnac. Linda was watching the Tab and suddenly she said, “It shows there are menhair coming up.” By the time she looked up the fields around us were filled with row upon row of standing stones. From then on it one WOW! moment after another until we were heading back home.

Standing stones, hundreds and hundreds of standing stones that photos simply can not show the extent of. (And after reading that sentence, hundreds and hundreds of standing stones that I can’t properly describe either.) Overwhelmed Bob.

Linda’s first moments of heading out to explore and touch. The rows of stones disappear over the top the hill in the distance. From one end to the other, the stones cover some 4 kilometers.

There are a few paths through the stones, Linda tried to walk most of them.

What story is here? Why is this stone not standing? See Linda, eyes shining bright with a far away look. As she said, most people come here and see stones. We come to historical sites like this and see the past. And oftentimes we are in the past. That makes all the difference in the world.

This nasty plant grows everywhere among the stones and it is nothing but needle sharp spikes.  Because of it there is generally no problem with people wandering off the paths. Linda tried a couple times to see a stone close-up and was sharply reminded as to why it is better to stay on a path.

View from an observation platform. Unfortunately this photo simply doesn’t do justice to what the eye was seeing.

Sheep with tails. If you see Linda ask her about the male sheep that skipped a key class when he was in sheep school. Giggling Linda.

Enjoying a picnic lunch. Life is so awesome.

Country roads, take us home to where we belong. To the place of menhair, dolmen and tumuli. And they did!!

Inside the burial chamber of a 6500 year old tumulus.

Talk about one very excited girl. To use her words, “Now everything we have seen up to now makes sense. The dolmen we have seen are like the skeletons of these tumuli.”

Looking out to the entrance from the burial chamber. Linda couldn’t get over how they used the large stones in the construction of both the walls and the ceiling, filling the gaps with smaller stones.

From the outside it looks like a pile of dirt and rocks with a small menhair on it. Linda said she was never again going to look a pile of dirt and rocks the same way. I teased her that maybe her ancient ancestors had help to build this one. Then noticing the far away look in her eyes, I realized that just maybe they had.

Impressive sites are scattered everywhere around Carnac. A small pull off along the road, a long hike back into the woods and we saw this large stone rectangle. Nearby was a massive menhair. We ran across only two other couples the entire time we were back here. To go where most don’t go, it’s what we like to do.

Stones lined up almost touching one another. This was as close as we could get. See the big needle plants everywhere.

Another hike back into the woods, this time to site was a long ago excavated tumulus. Linda had to check it out in case there were any “dead guys” still around.

Another area of standing stones. Maybe this was the one we were looking for? There was supposed to be one that had snakes carved in it. Never did find it though, either that or we didn’t know what it was when we saw it. The best part is that it just gives us a reason to return to the area on our next trip to Brittany.

This was known as the area of the petite alignments. We never saw another person the entire time we were there, but we were not alone. Again, it was one of those times that can not be planned, they just happen.

Back home after a totally beyond awesome day.

We ate at the same creperie tonight that we ate at last night. Why? Because all the other nearby places except for a bar on the square were closed and we didn’t want to walk any further looking for a place. It was Sunday night after all. Linda pronounced her crepe the best she has ever had.

Dessert. She has just tasted my lemon crepe. I was afraid I was going to have to hire someone to guard it so she didn’t steal it. How can there be a place so good nearly right around the corner from where we are staying? Two nights in a row with every seat filled. The lady who owns it recognized us when we arrived. Most of the other people eating seemed to know each other meaning it filled with locals. Does that make us a local? It doesn’t matter because we felt like locals. How could we have come to France those other times and never discovered Brittany? Thank goodness we have! Bob and Linda, almost overwhelmed by Brittany, but not quite.