The accurately named Belle-Ile (“Beautiful Island”) is one of the most scenic places in France. This is why it has often attracted artists, including Claude Monet, who loved to paint its wild, wave-lashed western coastline. His works caused a sensation
in Paris when first exhibited in 1887. The most notable are “Storm, Coast at Belle-Ile” and “The Rocks at Belle-Ile, The Wild Coast,” both now in the Musée d’Orsay. Belle-Ile is also famous for the immense fortress at Le Palais, designed by the most famous French military architect, Vauban, Marshal of France in the reign of Louis XIV.
The megalithic monuments of Carnac, including the huge aligned stone menhirs, have an eerie beauty similar to that of Stonehenge in England. About 3,000 standing stones were hewn from local rock by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany. The stones were erected at some stage during the Neolithic period, probably around 3300 B.C., but some may date to 4500 B.C.
This article appeared in the October 2014 print edition of Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report under the headline “Nearby Attractions."
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