We are off to see stones today. Lots and lots of neatly organized stones. Our destination is Carnac and it’s Carnac Alignments that predate Stonehenge in Britain. Upon arrival we signed up for a ride on the Petit Train.
This tour took us first through the Carnac salt flats. The production of salt used to be a big industry here.
The train also took us through the coastal town of Les Trinité sur Mer. We first hit the long promenade with lots of interesting buildings…
that took us along the beach and waterfront,
and harbor.
Driving through the town of Carnac itself. We didn't hit the center of town but did see some of the neighborhoods.
We also passed the St. Michel Tumulus from a distance. The artificial hill, a tumulus, was built from nearly 35,000 cubic meters of materials and was built from over 7000 years ago. A tumulus is an artificial mound erected over a tomb…and this is a gigantic, ancient megalithic tomb. The chapel was built on the top in 1664 and has been rebuilt a couple times since.
The train ended the tour by going through the various Alignments. The stones at Carnac are the largest megalithic complex of its kind in the world. There are five alignments with a total of nearly 3000 standing stones or menhirs. It is believed that there were originally many more stones but over the millennia they stones were quarried to use in other buildings. It is now a protected UNESCO site. And they were amazing. After the train ride we took a tour on a tall bus to give us a slightly higher perspective. And then we walked the paths along some of them.
Near the road was the Dolmen de Kermario. A dolmen is a group of blocks forming a burial chamber.
We had lunch at a creperie that was situated between two of the alignments. We then hit a nearby tower, the only remains of an old farm in the area, where we could get views of the alignments from above.
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More Carnac
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After deciding we had seen enough of the stones we headed off for a drive down the Quiberon peninsula.
A pretty drive. We stopped at the very end to wander the Quiberon Grand Beach.
And have ice cream for an early dinner.
We then headed over to nearby Locmariaquer for more stones. This location dates from 6000 years ago and was much smaller and very different from Carnac. There was the Tumulus Er Grah, a Neolithic burial mound. It was originally a small cairn (a dolmen covered with soil) the structure was stretched along a long length. It is about 450 feet long with two long stretches of stacked stones along the two sides.
There was also a gigantic menhir, the Grand Mehir Brise of Er Grah. This gigantic stone had fallen over and is in four huge pieces. According to an internet search it is the stele ever erected by mankind (stele – a monolithic monument bearing an inscription and sculpted ornaments).
The last structure here was the Tables des Marchand, a large dolmen containing many decorations carved into the stones.
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| Carving on the roof stone of the Dolmen |
There were some nearby art pieces. Nearest we can translate the art is by contemporary artists reinterpreting neolithic cave art.
We had some views of the nearby town of Locmariaquer.
A very interesting day absorbing history from six and seven thousand years ago.
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