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| Proof of Occupancy |
Even better than the bright bedrooms, comfortable sitting room and well equipped eat-in kitchen with a river view (really, look at the link above, it's very nice!) was the basket of fresh-baked pastries and bread our hostess delivered to our courtyard every morning. Note to selves: stay longer next time.
Bohal and Malestroit
Gite Riverview is located along the River Claie near the tiny commune of Bohal and a short drive from the market town of Malestroit (in Breton: Malastred).
Driving Tip: Road signs in Brittany are in both French and Breton, but some places have only Breton names (e.g., Bohal is only Bohal). This can be confusing until one sorts out the one-name places from the two-name places.
Bohal
Bohal is a blink-or-you'll-miss-it sized hamlet with a fabulous bakery (see above) and a church named for St. Gildas.
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| Eglise Saint-Gildas |
The church may not be open to visitors, and go early early to the bakery or you will find it closed!
Malestroit / Malastred
Malestroit is where Bohalais (people from Bohal) got to purchase anything other than bakery items. In Malestroit there are restaurants and bars, a grocery store and a weekly outdoor market.
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| The Fabric Section Of The Malestroit Market |
We provisioned our first dinner at the just-fine grocery store in Malestroit but were lucky enough (timing is everything) to be able to visit the outdoor market to purchase the makings for our next three dinners. Brenda even found a birthday gift for Molly at the market - a pretty scarf; otherwise Molly would have been the only woman in France without one!
Molly's other birthday gift was a day of low-key tourism, wandering medieval Malestroit (one of Brittany's twenty "Small Towns of Character") and along the Nantes-to-Brest Canal, which flows through town. This would have been her idea of a perfect day if only the sausage in the salad she took a gamble on for lunch had been less . . . rustic. [Lesson: Not all andouille sausage is the same.]
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| Place de Bouffay, Malestroit |
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| Residential Malestroit |
The history of Malestroit's Saint Gilles Church reflects the history of the town. It was begun at the end of the 11th century; rebuilt after a fire set in 1592 during one of France's (numerous) medieval religious wars; and showcases a pulpit dating from the 17th century and stain glass windows from the 10th, 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
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| Saint Gilles Church |
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| Recently Discovered Ceiling Paintings Thought To Date To The Crusades (Roughly 1096 - 1271) |
The Nantes-to-Brest Canal (opened 1841) is also Malestroit's history -- as well as its touristic present.
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| The Canal |
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| And Canal Boats |
Our "scavenger hunt" for the day was finding a stone lintel in the rue Huberdiere which intrigued Molly. It has three maxims carved into it which, according to the commune's English-language tourist guide are:
- "I believed (sic?) in your Mercy Jehovah" in Hebrew;
- "Know you (sic?) yourself" in Greek; and
- "Earth is just a brief stay, Heaven is the homeland God reserved for us" in Latin.
We found the doorway we were looking for after much pleasant wandering - but did not get a very good picture.
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| The Elusive Lintel |
Neolithic Brittany
Brittany was much larger than we had anticipated and because its roads are small, local travel is slow. So we decided to avoid as much random driving as possible and focus our touring on a couple of intriguing Neolithic sites.
[Background Info:
- Neolithic Period = 5th - 3rd millennia BCE.
- Menhir = standing stones, sometimes referred to as "long stones". The word "menhir" comes from two Breton words: "maen" - stone and "hir" - long. Menhirs appear throughout Western Europe. We first saw menhirs during a walking holiday we took in Portugal in 2017.
- Dolmen = stone burial chambers, usually covered by earth.
- Tumuli = earth mounds usually covering one or two dolmen.]
Menhirs de Monteneuf
The Menhirs de Monteneuf is a fairly recently re-discovered site -- the primary archeological excavations of this site didn't take place until 1989 - 1995. It is well signed for school groups so we were able to wander on our own.
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| Standing Stone / Brenda Standing |
There are also several "how it worked" displays at the site, which we enjoyed and we think would be really interesting to children.
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| A "How Neolithic Humans Moved Stones" Theory Students Get To Try And Make This Move! |
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| Other Theories: A Neolithic Dwelling And Two Drag Sleds (Used For Things Lighter Than Stone) |
Carnac
The Carnac Alignments is the largest collection of Neolithic stone constructions in the world. Anyone interested in the Neolithic period -- this is your place. There are more than 3,000 standing stones here, many arranged in expansive "alignments"; nine dolmens and two tumuli.
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| Our Attempt To Show The Size Of The Carnac Site |
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| One Of The Four Alignments (From The Internet - We Weren't Able To Do A Good Job Of Capturing The Precision Of The Alignments) |
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| A Dolman In The Foreground |
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| A Tumulus (With A 20th Century Church On Top) |
The site is surrounded by low barrier fences and between April and September (the tourist season) the only way to walk within the barrier is with a guided tour arranged through the Maison de Megalithes or a private tour which has arranged a group visit through the Maison. Public English language walking tours are available only in July and August. Clearly we had not planned this visit well enough in advance!
Fortunately we had walked among menhirs only two days earlier at Monteneuf and our primary interest in Carnac was to experience the size of the site -- which was easy to grasp from the open-top bus tour (with audio guide) we took. This vast site is evidence of the complex social structure existing during the Neolithic period -- some 7,000 years ago. One standing stone or a small dolman might be evidence of a small tribe with enthusiasm. A site that includes four large alignments (just one of which runs for almost a kilometer and contains over 1,000 stones) reflects a large population, mass scale planning, organizing and effort and a common belief in . . . something (future generations, ancestors, the stars, the sun - ?). A question of fascination for us (retired government workers that we are) is whether these large projects were accomplished via a strong-man / hierarchical government, a priest-class or community organizing. Our answers to that question probably say more about our beliefs than about our Neolithic predecessors.
The Maison de Megaliths includes a small museum which gives a good overview of the site. A short drive away, in the town of Carnac there is the Museum of Pre-History which is fascinating for - well, okay, for people who like pre-historic stuff.
For those whose interests do not include large stones set in patterns or tiny chipped rocks that were once heads of spears there are other activities to enjoy in the area.
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| Sailboats! A Drive-By Photo. |
On To Paris!
Our main take-aways from Brittany are how much there is to see and enjoy and how much we look forward to another visit there. But on this trip we had an apartment with a view waiting for us in Paris, so - off we went.
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