Page 188 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Brittany

186  BRIT T AN Y REGION B Y REGION

 Megaliths (Grand Menhir
Brisé, Table des Marchands &
Er-Grah Tumulus)
At the entrance to the town, near
the cemetery. Tel (02) 97 57 37 59.
Open daily. Closed 1 Jan, 1 May,
25 Dec. &8
Environs
The Pointe de Kerpenhir, op posite
Port-Navalo ( see p188), southeast
of Locmariaquer, offers a
panoramic view of the Golfe du
Morbihan. The granite statue of
The Grand Menhir Brisé (Great Broken Menhir) at Locmariaquer, 5 m (16 ft) wide and Notre-Dame de Kerdro protects
originally 20–30 m (65–98 ft) high sailors and yachtsmen. Behind
Plage de Kerpenhir is the Allé
9 La Trinité-sur-Mer sailing boats and catamarans Couverte des Pierres-Plates, a
and boat rides on the Crac’h corridor grave with two burial
Road map C4. * 1,530. £ Auray.
@ g Navix; (02) 97 46 60 00. Sailings are available in summer. chambers engraved with motifs,
to Ile d’Arz & Ile Aux Moines & cruises and connected by a long passage.
in the Golfe du Morbihan. n 30 0 Locmariaquer
Cours des Quais; (02 97 55 72 21).
( Tue & Fri. _ Spi Ouest France Road map D4. 10 km (6 miles) east of q Auray
(regattas; Easter); Ar-Men Race La Trinité-sur-Mer via the D 781. Road map D3. * 10,590. £ 2 km
(Ascension). ∑ ot-trinite-sur-mer.fr * 1,400. £ Auray. 4 Navix; (02) 97 (1 mile) from the town centre.
46 60 00. Trips to Belle-Île & cruises in n Chapelle de la Congrégation, 20
Nestling in a sheltered ria, La the Golfe de Morbihan (Jul–Aug). Rue du Lait; (02) 97 24 09 75. 8 Jul–
Trinité-sur-Mer is the time- n Rue de la Victoire; (02) 97 57 33 05. Aug: Thu. ( Mon & Fri on Place
honoured meeting place of ( Tue & Sat (Jul-Aug). _ Pardon Notre-Dame; Thu–Sat (Jul-Aug) at
sailing enthusiasts. The town’s (Jul); Troc et Puces (Jul); Fête de St-Goustan farm. _ St-Goustan Book
sailing club, founded in 1879, is l’Huître (Aug). ∑ morbihan-way.fr & Postcard Fair (Fri, May–Sep).
one of the oldest in France, and ∑ auray-tourisme.com
it was here that Éric Tabarly, This charming coastal resort
Peyron and other yachtsmen also has some of the most Tucked away at the end of a ria,
began their careers. From April impressive megalithic monu- Auray (An alre in Breton) stands
to September, regattas take ments in Brittany. Just outside on a promontory overlooking
place in the harbour, which is the town is the Table des the Loch river. With its old
large enough to accommodate Marchands, a Neolithic galleried houses and attractive harbour,
1,250 yachts. La Trinité also has a grave dating from 3700 BC. this is a delightful town. It also
fishing industry, which supplies Its stones are engraved with has its place in the history of
the town’s lively fish market. scrolls, an axe shape and Brittany. It was the Battle of
A coast path leads from the depictions of cattle. Behind the
harbour to the beaches, taking Table des Marchands, a path
in Pointe de Kerbihan. The Pont leads to the Mané-Lud tumulus,
de Kérisper, in the direction of con sisting of 22 engraved
Carnac and spanning the Crac’h stones forming a corridor. The
river, offers a breathtaking view Er-Grah Tumulus, 140 m (460 ft)
of the river, which incorporates long, is a burial mound.
oyster farms further upstream These monuments date
and the marina further down- from a time when people
stream. Trips out to sea in were using polished stone
axes, had learned to make
pottery, and had begun to
keep animals and plant crops.
Having adopted a settled way
of life, they turned to raising
impressive monuments.
The Grand Menhir Brisé,
dating from 4500 BC, is 20 m
(65 ft) long and weighs 350
tonnes. It lies broken into four
The Table des Marchands, a Neolithic pieces, but is the largest known Detail of the 17th-century altarpiece in the
galleried grave near Locmariaquer menhir in the western world. Église St-Gildas in Auray
For hotels and restaurants see pp228–9 and pp241–3

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