Saint-Congard is less than an hour from Josselin but as the French say, “Vivre la difference.” Our AirBnB is in a four-hundred year old farmhouse, 20 minutes from the nearest grocery store. Michel and Blandine met us at the door, speaking in rapid French but I could hardly understand a word they said. As with most AirBnBs, everything is pretty much as advertised. Living room and kitchen downstairs; two bedrooms, a bath with both shower and giant tub upstairs.
This will be our last stop in Brittany. We decided to revisit the megaliths and dolmens of Carnac which we rushed through in 2015. Along the way we stopped at the pilgrimage site of Sainte-Anne-d’Auray. Being a heathen I never understood what Jesus’ grandmother had to do with anything. But in 1624 Mary’s mother is said to have made her only earthly appearance back in 1624. Well, several actually, to the same Breton farmer whom she asked to build the church. Miracles ensued and Sainte-Anne d’Auray has become a major pilgrimage site for Catholics who can decide how much their prayers are worth by the price of their votive candle.
The Standing Stones at Carnac predate Stonehenge by 2000 years. When we first visited there were around 3000 megaliths — menhirs, dolmens, tumuli and cairns in an area about four miles long. They were set in more-or-less straight lines and their purpose wasn’t fully understood.
The stones were still standing yesterday, all 3000 or so, just as they had been for millennia. But now the area is fenced in, tickets are required between April and September and a tiny train circles the site. Somehow much of the mystery is gone.
We made a final stop in Quiberon, Brittany’s version of Surf City, not that riding two-foot waves in 50° water qualifies as surfing.
