Wandering round Josselin and hunting for megaliths on the Morbihan coast

The day before, we had explored the south of Rennes by foot and found it pretty dreary, so we decided to rent a car and explore Brittany.  Sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?

The car hire firm suggested by the hotel had left a sign on the door that they were away for 15 minutes and they never came back, so we went further afield and found two car hire firms - both closed.  We went to the car hire firms near the station and after listening politely, two declared they had no cars left.  That's when it clicked that it was holiday time in France.  Everyone wanted a car.  I made Bob stand in line and wait and wait until we finally got a young man at one of the remaining car firms who spoke the fastest French I have ever come across.  We managed to communicate after I made him repeat everything two or three times, and we indicated that we would be happy to rent any small car.  In the middle of this painfully slow communication, an older man became free and between our weak French and his weak English, we got a car - a tiny Fiat 500 which had the sound and the speed of a lawn mower with a severe lung infection.  By now, the morning was nearly over.

Bob bravely offered to do all the driving and we set off - me yelling "keep to the right" every two seconds - only to find that the GPS was outdated and went silent from time to time to consider its navel, I presume.  In spite of this, we managed to make it out of town with no major problems and get on to the freeway, where we chugged along in the slow lane, while everyone else shot past.  The country side is really beautiful: rolling hills, farms with young corn and harvested hay, broken with remnants of forest.  Did you know that the French consider that King Arthur received the sword Excalibur, in the Foret de Paimpont (otherwise known as Broceliande), south west of Rennes?  I also think Sleeping Beauty was probably in the same forest because it is really impenetrable when it gets thick.

We arrived at Josselin in time for lunch, then explored by foot this beautiful village, which is just festooned with flowers.

First stop was the Basilique Notre Dame de Roncier

which has beautiful carving outside,

stunning stained glass windows on the inside

and if you are brave and healthy enough to climb the 138 steps in the tower, incredible views of the village and countryside.

One of the views is of the Chateau de Josselin, still the home of  the fourteenth Duke of Rohan, but open for public tours.

We didn't take a tour, but instead, viewed it from the river below:

 

Then, we sauntered around taking in the sheer prettiness of the village:

We spent far too long in the village and took off next for the Morbihan coast, which has one of the best collections of megaliths in the world.  We saw the first sign and hopped out of the car and into the forest, following what we thought was the trail to it.  I was neurotically watching for nettles because I had sandals on, but managed to avoid being stung.  We went on and on and on

- and ended up in some-one's back yard, surprising a little girl watering the garden.  Back through the forest and into the car, we saw another sign, and this time we found the megalith.  It was the stunning and very atmospheric, Menhir de  Kermarquer.  Made my day!

Looking for more, we realised that a) we needed a better guide book and b) we needed a map, so we headed to the nearest tourist bureau in Plouharnel, where a nice lady told us that we were too late for a tour of the 1099 stones of the Alignements de Kermalo, but showed us where to find some other megaliths.

I got my first view of dolmens at the Dolmens de Rondossec which contains three parallel  graves.  I really wish I could go back in time and understand the rituals associated with the building of these incredible chambers.

Then, we visited the avenue of menhirs just outside of the little holiday village of St. Barbe, where everyone was out of their bicycles, testing Bob's driving ability.

Again one wonders, why the avenue of stones and what is the meaning of the 4 stones at the end?  Why do some stones appear to be ridged at the top?

The next stop was the Dolmen de Crucuno - very different again.  Those Neolithic peoples were absolutely incredible.

We decided to walk up the country lane that ran beside this structure and find Le Quadrilatere.  It took longer than we thought, but gave us the chance to examine the hedgerows - finches and one tiny little lizard, but very little else moving.  The wildflowers were lovely.  We found the  circle of standing stones in a field and wandered around them, once again, seeking answers to their existence.  I think I could spend another week just looking for megaliths.  They really intrigue me.

Rennes, Day 2: afternoon. Musee de Bretagne

In the evening, we went round the corner to the local museum, the Musee de Bretagne, which handily, stays open until 7 pm.

We limited ourselves to the historical section from pre-history to modern times.  It is not a large museum, and in some ways, is not very sophisticated, but it was a good summary of the origins of modern Brittany and its links to England and other parts of Europe.

My favourite pieces included these 3 1st Century BC bronzes

some of the reconstructed pottery

this head of a sea god

these stained glass windows from the 15th century

these 17th century polychrome wood figures

and this cheerful little plate.

I also found the videos on the Breton and the Gallo language interesting, and the displays of clothing informative.

This museum is worth popping in for a look.

Rennes, Day 2. Morning: the Parc du Thabor

Sunday morning and last night's buzzing atmosphere transformed into deserted streets, tolling church bells and a scarcity of open eateries.  We settled  for nice patisseries and pretty dire coffee and hot chocolate for breakfast fromone of the few cafes that were open,  after which we headed a bit further north into back streets for more exploration of the suburbs.  We found some more quaint houses and shops

and some nice little details,

and then found ourselves entering the Parc Thabor.

Up to now, I have been a bit disappointed by the public plantings in France, which have universally needed a good weed and some judicious pruning.  This park is truly beautiful.  The buildings surrounding it, generally complement the plantings:

 The plants are varied and so are the the way they are landscaped:

There are caged birds and homing pigeons for the children to admire

 playgrounds

and even a little farmyard of chickens and ducks

The Parc du Thabor is truly lovely and worth visiting.

Day 1. Rennes

We arrived early to navigate the Gare Montparnasse, bought baguettes and tartlettes for lunch at the station, and headed for our platform for the train to Rennes.  We had a moment of panic when we couldn't find our carriage number, but asking a guard, discovered that there were TWO very very long trains, and ours was the second one.  We settled into our second class, but very comfortable, seats, and the train quietly and smoothly set off before we realised it was moving.  French train travellers are very quiet and restrained.  If they have to use a phone, they whisper into it, any discussions are pretty muted, and in the bar/cafe area, even though alcohol is served, nobody got raucous or pissed.  Most quietly read, unobtrusively ate, listened to music or chatted quietly.   We decided that Americans, Spaniards and Chinese are the noisiest travellers in Paris, but here, all was calm.

The train sped  at 278 kph but it was a quite comfortable trip, which gave us a great view of the countryside.  The landscape started out as very flat farms with hay being reaped and corn being grown, dotted  with wind turbines.  The farmland is frequently broken by woods and the occasional cream farm hoses with red tiled roofs.  Later, the land becomes prettier and more rolling, and farm houses are made of stone.  The villages generally seem quite attractive, as do the towns, but Le Mans seemed fairly ugly from the train.  We had  a hold up for some reason, so the 2 hour trip took closer to 3 hours.

The hotel is to the north of the town, and fairly close to the station, thank goodness, and turned out to be very modern and swish.  We had a restorative cup of tea and caught up with news from home, then set off to explore the town.

We crossed the Vilaine, which is more like a canal than a river,

and discovered that this is a real tourist town.  Lots of shops and cafes, lots of book shops (I am impressed how in love with books the French are), lots of squares, and the most amazing collection of

medieval buildings.

Some of them are obviously beyond repair

and some seem to be still standing due to some miracle, listing dramatically and having patches that seem to be made of some sort of super glue, but they are so attractive with their mismatched colours and their individuality.

The town of Rennes, however, also has more than its fair share of very solid, prosperous looking edifices, which attest to a prosperous past as capital of Brittany.  For instance, there is the Palais Saint-Georges, which used to be an abbey,

The town isn't all about buildings, though.  There are numerous squares for people to relax in,

and lots of broad streets to explore.

Similarly, there seems to be a broader cross- section of classes here than we noticed in Paris.  There even seems to be a very big hippy population.  Dreadlocks and Mohican haircuts abounded in the north-west of the old town.  This town really has a buzz about it.

I think it is going to be fun exploring Rennes and surrounding Brittany over the next few days.