One of the main reasons for coming to the Vannes area was to
visit Gavrinis, one of the most important archaeological sites in France.
Gavrinis is on an island and the only way to visit it is by boat and it is
necessary to book. We phoned at 09:30 when the office opened and booked for the
14:00 sailing and the obligatory guided tour to follow. This gave us the
morning free so I spent some more time on the wooden teapot lid handle, using a
hand-held electric tool to drill out and hollow it.
We drove the 30 minutes to the port of Larmor-Baden and parked up to have lunch before collecting and paying for our tickets at the office. The weather was excellent – clear blue skies and no wind, giving us excellent views of the Gulf of Morbihan on the 15 minute crossing. This area of the Gulf has the second strongest currents in Europe and we saw this as, from our very calm area, we watched boats shooting past in great speed towards the sea whilst fast boats were going very slowly, struggling against the current in the other direction. We felt the tow as we moved into the current before joining calm waters again on the other side of the island.
We assumed that the guided tour would only be in French but we were delighted when our guide gave us a slightly shorter explanation in English at each stage. She was also very happy to answer our questions and was very knowledgeable. We were especially pleased as we were the only English-speaking people and the only other non-French visitors were German but spoke good French.
The tour started outside the cairn and set the scene in prehistoric times, 6,000 years ago. The main surprise was that the sea was then a long way from Gavrinis and the site overlooked a river and fertile land. Just a few metres away, on what is now another very small island (Er Lannic), there are two stone circles (actually typical Breton horseshoe-shaped) that are partly submerged under the gulf. Likewise, it is believed that the prehistoric settlements lie on the sea bed.
The tour then moved inside the cairn where we were not allowed to take photographs. It is a very tight space and we were glad that there were only 12 of us rather than the tour maximum of 20. As soon as we stepped in it took our breath away. Every upright stone in the corridor and the slightly wider burial chamber were covered in fantastic carvings. Whorls predominated but there were also plenty of stone axes and some snakes. Our guide pointed out many of the carvings using a torch shone across the stone to highlight the incisions, augmenting the excellent permanent lighting. She also told us about the 23 tonne stone used to cap the chamber. During the excavations archaeologists had discovered older carvings on the back of many of the stones and this one had carvings of an animal and an axe. He thought that they match up with ones on the ‘Table des Marchands’ at Locmariaquer a few miles away. He was able to prove this and it is clear that the builders of these monuments reused decorated stones from a previous culture. The carvings a fantastic and I thoroughly recommend a visit. Now I need to track down copies of the carvings on the Internet.
As we left the cairn a German man in the group came and talked to us. Not only did he speak French but he also spoke good English. He had spent his working life in the aerospace industry and therefore spoke French and English frequently. He told us that he had sailed around the Golf of Morbihan 40 years ago. Landing on Gavrinis, the cairn was open and totally unguarded and he was able to go in on his own – a very lucky man! Fortunately, due to the relatively late discovery of the interior and the difficult access to the site, no damage has been done to the carvings.
On the way back I finally found a tidal mill. Now converted to an antiques shop, it was set on a stream with a large mill pond. It was low tide when we were there and it was obvious that the large tidal range would provide a large and reliable source of power.
The remainder of the day was spent planning the rest of the holiday.
Photos: The cairn of Gavrinis on its island; The entrance to the tomb; A view over the Gulf of Morbihan from the cairn with the island of Er Lannic with its two stone circles in the foreground – a menhir is just visible on the top; The tidal mill.
We drove the 30 minutes to the port of Larmor-Baden and parked up to have lunch before collecting and paying for our tickets at the office. The weather was excellent – clear blue skies and no wind, giving us excellent views of the Gulf of Morbihan on the 15 minute crossing. This area of the Gulf has the second strongest currents in Europe and we saw this as, from our very calm area, we watched boats shooting past in great speed towards the sea whilst fast boats were going very slowly, struggling against the current in the other direction. We felt the tow as we moved into the current before joining calm waters again on the other side of the island.
We assumed that the guided tour would only be in French but we were delighted when our guide gave us a slightly shorter explanation in English at each stage. She was also very happy to answer our questions and was very knowledgeable. We were especially pleased as we were the only English-speaking people and the only other non-French visitors were German but spoke good French.
The tour started outside the cairn and set the scene in prehistoric times, 6,000 years ago. The main surprise was that the sea was then a long way from Gavrinis and the site overlooked a river and fertile land. Just a few metres away, on what is now another very small island (Er Lannic), there are two stone circles (actually typical Breton horseshoe-shaped) that are partly submerged under the gulf. Likewise, it is believed that the prehistoric settlements lie on the sea bed.
The tour then moved inside the cairn where we were not allowed to take photographs. It is a very tight space and we were glad that there were only 12 of us rather than the tour maximum of 20. As soon as we stepped in it took our breath away. Every upright stone in the corridor and the slightly wider burial chamber were covered in fantastic carvings. Whorls predominated but there were also plenty of stone axes and some snakes. Our guide pointed out many of the carvings using a torch shone across the stone to highlight the incisions, augmenting the excellent permanent lighting. She also told us about the 23 tonne stone used to cap the chamber. During the excavations archaeologists had discovered older carvings on the back of many of the stones and this one had carvings of an animal and an axe. He thought that they match up with ones on the ‘Table des Marchands’ at Locmariaquer a few miles away. He was able to prove this and it is clear that the builders of these monuments reused decorated stones from a previous culture. The carvings a fantastic and I thoroughly recommend a visit. Now I need to track down copies of the carvings on the Internet.
As we left the cairn a German man in the group came and talked to us. Not only did he speak French but he also spoke good English. He had spent his working life in the aerospace industry and therefore spoke French and English frequently. He told us that he had sailed around the Golf of Morbihan 40 years ago. Landing on Gavrinis, the cairn was open and totally unguarded and he was able to go in on his own – a very lucky man! Fortunately, due to the relatively late discovery of the interior and the difficult access to the site, no damage has been done to the carvings.
On the way back I finally found a tidal mill. Now converted to an antiques shop, it was set on a stream with a large mill pond. It was low tide when we were there and it was obvious that the large tidal range would provide a large and reliable source of power.
The remainder of the day was spent planning the rest of the holiday.
Photos: The cairn of Gavrinis on its island; The entrance to the tomb; A view over the Gulf of Morbihan from the cairn with the island of Er Lannic with its two stone circles in the foreground – a menhir is just visible on the top; The tidal mill.
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