Allez, Allez!
Well, after a fab time in Corsica with our mad bunch of choristers, our adventure there ended. It had to, because another one was about to start. A short hop with Air Corsica landed us in Nice, and a short taxi ride plonked us in Antibes. Lovely old town, without all the razzle dazzl(ers) of Cannes. The Princess lucked an amazing flat in the centre of the old town for less than the price of a first-born.
This is it: first floor on the corner...
A restful couple of days, and then it was back to Nice to pick up our campervan and hit the road. First stop in the mountains of the Central Massif on the way to Chauvet Cave. Narrow winding roads with semis and trucks coming at us with inches to spare, while driving on the wrong side of the road. This campervan is as big as a truck and I had to learn where the wheels (and the side mirrors!) were real quick. Here's a snap of the town we spent the first night. The bridge is the main road!
Chauvet Cave has cave paintings from the Upper Paleolithic and is seen as the first manifestation of real art technique in Western Europe by our ancestors
From Chauvet, we have headed across France to Brittany on the West coast. Wonderful and spectacular countryside the whole way. We ended up at Mont Saint Michel right at the end of the tourist season. Quite a few tourists, but no pressing crowds, as all the schools and the workers have finished their holidays. Just the retirees and international tourists about. We took the audio tour and ascended the heights. Straight away, only young people made it up the first steps (and a few oldies like us) and the crowd thinned to nothing. Just about had the place to ourselves. I wasn't expecting that. Anyway, I know you're just reading this for the pictures, so here's a few...
From Mt St Michel, it was a hop, skip and a jump to Carnac. Carnac is where the megalithic culture of the Atlantic Neolithic started over 7,000 years ago, and where the earliest examples of passage graves, standing stones, menhirs etc can be found. We stayed here a few days and rode bicycles around to many of the places of interest.
I was looking forward to seeing the archaeological museum, but it was quite disappointing. It's old, outdated and poorly documented. Everything in French and even this all years old. Cardboard curling and paper yellowing. This has obviously been recognised, as they're building a new museum nearby. This won't be finished until 2028 however.
Added to this was the fact that I hadn't been able to book a tour to the Gavrinis tomb from Australia (which is what I was really there for). We then found out that all tours finished for the season the next day and it was all booked out. Quelle disappointment again! I couldn't believe it. My disappointment must have been obvious, as the gentleman in the booking office told me to go to the dock anyway (you have to go by official boat as it's on a protected island) and give them a sob story. I was a bit cynical that this would work given my experiences with French bureaucracy, but we did anyway. It turns out that the booking guy was a next-door neighbour of the Gavrinis manager and he had told him about us and asked if he could get us on. Which he did. Last tour on the last day of the season. Tears welled in my eyes.
Cairn Gavrinis is an intact passage grave from the Neolithic period, a thousand years older than Stonehenge. It is closely connected to the Breton megaliths of Carnac and Locmariaquer, and related to the monuments at Brú na Boínne (Ireland) and Maes Howe (Orkney). At the time of its construction, c. 3500 BC, the island was still connected with the mainland. The rich internal decorations make Gavrinis one of the major treasuries of European megalithic art.
What a day! Anyway, time marches on and we next headed for a more modern building masterpiece, that being the city of La Rochelle. We were continuing to have good weather and the two days in La Rochelle were probably the best two of the season. What a lovely old place it is. Had a lovely day shopping and found a boulongerie which made the best almond croissants I've tasted in some time. Our last night was blessed with one of the best sunsets I've seen.
Stay with us. We're going to be heading to Bordeaux and along the Garrone to find the start of the canal which becomes the 'Canal du Midi', the oldest canal in Europe, which connects the Atlantic to the Mediterranean along a trading route used since the neolithic and which transported most of the tin (for making bronze) from Cornwall to the mediterranean empires of the Hittites, Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Minoans and Canaanites for a thousand years.
This is it: first floor on the corner...
A restful couple of days, and then it was back to Nice to pick up our campervan and hit the road. First stop in the mountains of the Central Massif on the way to Chauvet Cave. Narrow winding roads with semis and trucks coming at us with inches to spare, while driving on the wrong side of the road. This campervan is as big as a truck and I had to learn where the wheels (and the side mirrors!) were real quick. Here's a snap of the town we spent the first night. The bridge is the main road!
Chauvet Cave has cave paintings from the Upper Paleolithic and is seen as the first manifestation of real art technique in Western Europe by our ancestors
From Chauvet, we have headed across France to Brittany on the West coast. Wonderful and spectacular countryside the whole way. We ended up at Mont Saint Michel right at the end of the tourist season. Quite a few tourists, but no pressing crowds, as all the schools and the workers have finished their holidays. Just the retirees and international tourists about. We took the audio tour and ascended the heights. Straight away, only young people made it up the first steps (and a few oldies like us) and the crowd thinned to nothing. Just about had the place to ourselves. I wasn't expecting that. Anyway, I know you're just reading this for the pictures, so here's a few...
From Mt St Michel, it was a hop, skip and a jump to Carnac. Carnac is where the megalithic culture of the Atlantic Neolithic started over 7,000 years ago, and where the earliest examples of passage graves, standing stones, menhirs etc can be found. We stayed here a few days and rode bicycles around to many of the places of interest.
I was looking forward to seeing the archaeological museum, but it was quite disappointing. It's old, outdated and poorly documented. Everything in French and even this all years old. Cardboard curling and paper yellowing. This has obviously been recognised, as they're building a new museum nearby. This won't be finished until 2028 however.
Added to this was the fact that I hadn't been able to book a tour to the Gavrinis tomb from Australia (which is what I was really there for). We then found out that all tours finished for the season the next day and it was all booked out. Quelle disappointment again! I couldn't believe it. My disappointment must have been obvious, as the gentleman in the booking office told me to go to the dock anyway (you have to go by official boat as it's on a protected island) and give them a sob story. I was a bit cynical that this would work given my experiences with French bureaucracy, but we did anyway. It turns out that the booking guy was a next-door neighbour of the Gavrinis manager and he had told him about us and asked if he could get us on. Which he did. Last tour on the last day of the season. Tears welled in my eyes.
Cairn Gavrinis is an intact passage grave from the Neolithic period, a thousand years older than Stonehenge. It is closely connected to the Breton megaliths of Carnac and Locmariaquer, and related to the monuments at Brú na Boínne (Ireland) and Maes Howe (Orkney). At the time of its construction, c. 3500 BC, the island was still connected with the mainland. The rich internal decorations make Gavrinis one of the major treasuries of European megalithic art.
What a day! Anyway, time marches on and we next headed for a more modern building masterpiece, that being the city of La Rochelle. We were continuing to have good weather and the two days in La Rochelle were probably the best two of the season. What a lovely old place it is. Had a lovely day shopping and found a boulongerie which made the best almond croissants I've tasted in some time. Our last night was blessed with one of the best sunsets I've seen.
Stay with us. We're going to be heading to Bordeaux and along the Garrone to find the start of the canal which becomes the 'Canal du Midi', the oldest canal in Europe, which connects the Atlantic to the Mediterranean along a trading route used since the neolithic and which transported most of the tin (for making bronze) from Cornwall to the mediterranean empires of the Hittites, Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Minoans and Canaanites for a thousand years.
What incredible artwork! Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteExcellent description of your travels guys and great photos. Don’t forget that the woes are as much of the experience as the fun times are 🤗
ReplyDeleteLove the stories & love your photos of La Rochelle. Two weeks later, by the time we got there, the weather had collapsed, so no such sunsets for us. MJ & Picasso
ReplyDelete