Remains of Ancient Times

Brittany is home to the largest collection of prehistoric stone structures in the world. There are so many dolmens, tumulus and menhirs, most of them from the Neolithic period (around 5000 - 3000 BCE), that you can hardly see them all in just two weeks. I'll start with our first visit to a megalith structure, Allée couverte de Ty Lia or Île Grande (covered alley of Île Grande). I personally would describe this as a tumulus which refers to an artificial elevation often covering a burial site.

This site was located just off the narrow country road with just a short gravel strip for parking. While these sites are all marked in maps and have signs, they are not particularly established as an attraction site - probably there are so many of them. There is one spectacular exception, but I will get to that in a later post.

It is called covered alley because it actually has an "alley" that is covered by a megalith and you can crawl in there.

It is interesting to look at the inside of it. These are huge stones and you really wonder how the people managed to move them. Often these stones come from places further away. There is still a lot of mystery surrounding these stone structures, and I wonder whether we will ever know everything about them and the people who lived at that time. I only know that our modern buildings will not stand the ravages of time like these megaliths have done.

Seeing Kaefer here points out the size of the tumulus.

Of course the most famous megalith is Stonehenge in England. This one was way way smaller, but still very impressive.

The lichen on the rock tells its own fascinating story.

I particularly liked this seasnail on top of it; I think it might be a limpet.

This was just a first taste of these fascinating megaliths. There will be more to come in future posts.

Now I need a drink for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday. Yesterday we went wine tasting (with food pairing) with our good friends Bim and Patti - we love to spend time with them, they are our dearest friends and very close to our heart. We always have interesting conversations, but we also laugh a lot together. It's exactly the right mix. No surprise that yesterday's afternoon turned into the most pleasant hours we had that weekend.