Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Dinan

So from Barnanez we turned about and drove the 96 miles to Dinan, certainly our longest day of driving apart from the run to Amsterdam for refrigerator repair. At Dinan we parked at the aire at the Port--actually just the river now--and then did the uphill hike to see the beautiful Medieval city. Lots of half-timbered, as you might expect. It was a very good day, however, exploring the upper city and then dining at a restaurant on the river.
The port and the Gothic bridge
















OK, the next 20 or so pix will be of the half-timbered buildings
all over Dinan...with a street scene or two









































































































































































































































Dress-up




















View from the ramparts: our camper is on the right, shaded; a
tour boat glides by













































































In the square, a band and a 2-year-old
















Vicki has just given her a coin to put in the hat (Mama helped)
and she is clapping...



















Amazingly, by 7PM all the tour buses leave, and it's a seeming
ghost town

















Except down on the port, where everyone seems to eat and
promenade

















And admire more interesting houses


Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Great Cairn of Barnanez

The largest of Brittany's ancient sites, and the oldest of human buildings, is the great cairn at Barnanez, on the Bay of Morlaix in Finisterre. We thought it would be a fitting place to end our westward journey and to begin heading back to Amsterdam. Barnanez is a giant stepped tumulus, dry stone construction, more than 200 feet long, 70 feet wide and 25 feet high. About 14,000 tons of mostly local stone.  It contains 11 passage-way tombs. Some of its megaliths exhibit neolithic art. The first phase of construction was about 4800BC, with a second major phase a millennium later. It was thought to be a neolithic tumulus as early at 1850--so many of the hills one sees in Brittany turn out to be man-made--but not really "explored" until it became a quarry, for paving stones, in the 1950s. A deep gash occurred, revealing two or three of the chambers. In any event, it became public property and was thoroughly explored and researched. Andre Malraux, the Minister of Culture then, called it the Parthenon of the neolithic world. It's actually in much better shape than the Parthenon of the classical world.
There is a small museum at the entry, with good displays; here is an over-view
of the structure

















You can't really go inside something like this, so nearly all the chambers are sealed
off now; thus the photographs in the museum

















Some of the art work; all of it in the sealed chambers (makes you realize what a
privilege it is to go inside a place like Gavrinis)

















Anyhow, there it is, sloping down the hill, the stepped nature in view

















Overlooking the Bay of Morlaix--which would not have been a bay back in the
day, but rather a fertile plain--the seas have risen, and there are megaliths now
under the waves


















But the oyster farms are good















One of the sealed entrances
















Another
















One sealed only with bars




















You can see through to the other side




















Looking back up hill
















Rounding the corner; note megaliths
















Now on the excavated side...the gash 
















The one chamber you can make your way through
















The gash revealed not merely the chambers but the false domes
over them, nearly corbelled





















Thus
















Us, there
















Foundation work
















More up close
















Last look at a pretty singular place














"It's A Doozie"

The French version is St. Uzek, but we'll go with the Anglicized version, St. Duzek. St. Duzek is one of the larger menhirs in Brittany, or used to be, before it was "Christianized" in the 17th century. The symbols carved on to it are all of the Passion. At a little over 8 meters high, it's a doozie. Or must have been.
Thus




















Interesting; the shepherd's crook is a major neolithic symbol
too

















The back side of St. Duzek: something you won't
see on other travel blogs

Ile Grande Allee Couverte With a View

A kilometer or so away was Ile Grande, a little island connected by a little bridge, and another allee couverte, with a great view.
Another medium-sized allee couverte
















We think the people who built the leaning half-timbered
buildings all across Normandy, Brittany, and the Isles, may
have been descendants


















Thus
















Possible cup mark on big roof slab




















Nice one; the outer row of orthostats was part of the tumulus
foundation, now gone













A hundred meters or so down the hill is the coast, with the usual
breathtaking views of the sea

















Thus
















Thus
















Thus
















And thus; our ancestors really understood the importance of
location, location, location; and view; and water features