Europe Trip - Sep 15-29, 2007
We’ve slowed down our touring pace these last couple of weeks, and spent more time reading, relaxing and solving Sudoku puzzles. We feel a bit saturated with sightseeing and are quite ready to return home.
We did take a three day trip northwest of Nantes in Brittany to see the “Savage coast” and some islands. We visited the very lovely town of Vannes, only an hour away, on a glorious sunny day, had lunch by the harbor and enjoyed the walk around the city wall surrounded by beautiful flowering gardens.
Nearby in the Carnac area we saw the remnants of the prehistoric megalithic culture, consisting of long (mile plus), alignments of large stones (4-12 ft tall), and various structures (“dolmens” and “tumuluses”) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnac_stones), established in pre-historic times (~4000 BC) by the same culture that built Stonehenge in the United Kingdom. It was a fascinating sight and the reasons for these structures is still a mystery. We actually crawled into one tumulus, which was apparently a grave constructed with very large flat stones for the walls and roof and an entrance tunnel. There are many of these scattered in this area of France, and have a very characteristic layout.
The next day we took a ferry from Quiberon to Belle-Ille where we spent half a day exploring the island in a rented old red Citron 2CV (What a piece of JUNK!!!—but a classic) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citroen_2CV) Belle Ille, as the name suggests is cute and laid back with tiny vacation villages, steep Atlantic Ocean cliffs and pretty, undeveloped scenery (it is referred to as the “Cote Sauvage” or wild coast). We took short walks around the cliffs and some of the beaches.
On the third day we took a cruise from Vannes through the Gulf of Morbihan, an inside sea, with dozens of very small islands, some inhabited and many privately owned. It was pretty but not a show stopper. We did pass by Orange II, a 100 foot catamaran sailboat that holds the round the world speed record of just over 50 days and was manufactured and is stored in Vannes.
The rest of the time we stayed near Nantes where took some walks, shopped, got desperately needed hair cuts and explored the art museum (disppointing!).
We enjoyed the nearby town of Clisson where we took a walk through a park and along a river with old water mills a 12th century bridges and an a picturesque ruined chateau overlooking the town. At the end we had a great lunch overlooking the river. Fun day!!
In the final couple of days we cleaned the house and packed before taking the TGV train to Paris on Saturday (29 Sep) where we plan to stay for two nights before catching our flights. Dahlia flies to Israel for two week and Lance to Baltimore for a week before heading home.
We did take a three day trip northwest of Nantes in Brittany to see the “Savage coast” and some islands. We visited the very lovely town of Vannes, only an hour away, on a glorious sunny day, had lunch by the harbor and enjoyed the walk around the city wall surrounded by beautiful flowering gardens.
Nearby in the Carnac area we saw the remnants of the prehistoric megalithic culture, consisting of long (mile plus), alignments of large stones (4-12 ft tall), and various structures (“dolmens” and “tumuluses”) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnac_stones), established in pre-historic times (~4000 BC) by the same culture that built Stonehenge in the United Kingdom. It was a fascinating sight and the reasons for these structures is still a mystery. We actually crawled into one tumulus, which was apparently a grave constructed with very large flat stones for the walls and roof and an entrance tunnel. There are many of these scattered in this area of France, and have a very characteristic layout.
The next day we took a ferry from Quiberon to Belle-Ille where we spent half a day exploring the island in a rented old red Citron 2CV (What a piece of JUNK!!!—but a classic) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citroen_2CV) Belle Ille, as the name suggests is cute and laid back with tiny vacation villages, steep Atlantic Ocean cliffs and pretty, undeveloped scenery (it is referred to as the “Cote Sauvage” or wild coast). We took short walks around the cliffs and some of the beaches.
On the third day we took a cruise from Vannes through the Gulf of Morbihan, an inside sea, with dozens of very small islands, some inhabited and many privately owned. It was pretty but not a show stopper. We did pass by Orange II, a 100 foot catamaran sailboat that holds the round the world speed record of just over 50 days and was manufactured and is stored in Vannes.
The rest of the time we stayed near Nantes where took some walks, shopped, got desperately needed hair cuts and explored the art museum (disppointing!).
We enjoyed the nearby town of Clisson where we took a walk through a park and along a river with old water mills a 12th century bridges and an a picturesque ruined chateau overlooking the town. At the end we had a great lunch overlooking the river. Fun day!!
In the final couple of days we cleaned the house and packed before taking the TGV train to Paris on Saturday (29 Sep) where we plan to stay for two nights before catching our flights. Dahlia flies to Israel for two week and Lance to Baltimore for a week before heading home.
posted by Dahlia and Lance Riley @ 12:58 PM
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