We finished up our Brittany visit with a stop in nearby Locmariaquer to see some of the area's megaliths. The main sights were the Broken Menhir of Er Grah, the Table de Marchand dolmen and the Er-Grah tumulus.
It's believed that the menhir was erected around 4700 BC and collapsed around 4000 BC (likely due to an earthquake). Given the menhir's original size (nearly 21 meters high and weighing 280 tons), there is no consensus on how the menhir was tranported to / erected on the site. What is known, however, is that the massive block was transported from an area a couple of kilometers away and is the largest known block of stone erected by Neolithic man.
The Table de Marchand dolmen / tumulus was constructed subsequent to the erection of the menhir. This is known due to the fact that the massive capstone is actually a fragment of the broken menhir. Interestingly, the same is true for the capstone of the dolmen from Gavrinis (the nearby island that we visited on Monday).
The Er-Grah tumulus is a vast stone construction (140 meters long) that was erected over a couple millenia from around 5000 BC to 3300 BC.
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On our way back to the airport we stopped in the city center of Nantes for lunch. The restaurant that we ate at -- La Cigalle -- was very nice and is known for its decor and fresh seafood.
While walking back to the car we walked through a plaza that offered a view of (part of) the city's cathedral. Unfortunately, we didn't have any time to further explore the city as we had to head to the airport to catch our flight back to Geneva.
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