European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 11, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Above a Street in Loc Ronan. Cre Peries Are a Standard feature in Brittany. Far right dolmens in carnac. Right Wall display at a shop in Quimper. Story and photos by Charlie Bowden staff writer rocks. If there is a single element that comes to mind after a visit to the Western area of the French coastal province of Brittany it is the rocks. Rocks seem to dominate the landscape and to some extent the culture of the Region. Big rocks and not so big rocks. Scattered rocks and neatly arranged rocks. Rocks used to build ancient looking structures ranging from outbuildings to fences to cathedrals. And rocks that hourly withstand the rhythmic pounding of a crashing surf or simply rest sedately in the heart of a Lush Green Forest. In and around carnac for example one finds the More Well known and puzzling of the Rock formations. In the Middle of an open Field standing resolutely against the Sun wind and rain is a platoon of nearly 1,100 rocks arranged As if by some giant hand playing with dominoes into 11 neat lines nearly a mile Long. Some of the stones Are about 12 feet tall others no More than foot High. The formation is the largest in the area which boasts More than 3,000 of the so called great scientists have dated the arrangements to sometime Between 5000 and 2000 . And believe they were somehow used in conjunction with the Sun Moon and stars. Other stones arranged to resemble to a giant picnic table and called dolmens Are believed to have been burial Chambers. Whatever their previous purpose their presence has made carnac a major tourist attraction in lower Brittany a sort of Small scale stonehenge. While interest in the stationary stones of carnac wears quickly particularly with children Only about an hour s drive away is the Quiberon Peninsula and the crashing Waves of the Cote Sauvage. The wild 11 mile coastline of this Peninsula offers the visitor a contrast of jagged Cliffs piled High with giant water eroded boulders and hidden coves of Sandy beaches with gently rolling swells. But the Waters of the Cote Sauvage Are milk Toast when compared to Raz Point in the Cornu aisle and Menhir Point on the Crozon Peninsula the real showplace of Rocky Pinnacles along Brittany s 700-mile coastline. Both offer spectacular Birds Eye views of the sea in All its fury. The ragged and rugged coastline is not the Only drawing card Worth a visitor s time and travel. A turn Inland and one finds hundreds of tiny hamlets Many of them with interesting stories. Pont Aven for example today has a population of fewer than 3,500. But a Century ago it attracted the attention of Painter Paul Gauguin who frequently visited the town and formed a school of painters there in 1 888. A wooden figure of Christ in the 16th-Century tremolo Chapel served As tin1 Model for Gauguin s yellow Christ. Today the Village thrives on its artists Colony background with numerous galleries scattered throughout its streets and alleyways. Loc Ronan a Village about 10 Miles from the cont Iiah d on Lim 6 August 11,1988 stripes Magazine 5
