Manuel,
We were in Brittany in May, stayed in Locmariaquer (a few miles SE of you &
Chris) & had a great time visiting the many archaeological sites (&
restaurants) around the Golfe du Morbihan. The only disappointment of the
trip was Carnac - the stones may be regimented but there is no need for the
visitors to be. There may be good reasons to protect specific parts of the
monument or even to restrict access at particularly busy periods but the
current blanket ban can't be justified on conservation grounds (English
Heritage have even accepted this point in the case of Stonehenge). I think
you must be right that the cause is essentially political - wasn't really
aware of the scale of the local controversy.
If I get time I'll post some pictures of the visit.
Regards,
Martyn Smoothy
-----Original Message-----
From: olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx]On
Behalf Of Manuel Viet
Sent: 01 October 2006 13:21
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OM] Re: Some pictures...
Le dimanche 01 Octobre 2006 13:57, Chris Barker a écrit :
> ... the stones at Carnac (a little too regimented for my liking, although
I
> understand why).
Huuummm... Things may be vastly different under the surface than what they
appear to be at first sight. Carnac stones are at the center of a raging
controversy. Basically, the Sate has conficated the stones under the
pretense
of protecting them from the touristic crowd. But it's not that clear cut,
and
locals suspect the State wanted to get the lion share of the money generated
by the tourists, by forcing them into a paying tour. The answer of the State
is there existed other stones gathering bigger than Carnac in Britanny, but
locals dynamited them at the beginning of the XXth century to expand their
fields, hence, the protection.
All in all, a very twisted maze of crossed interests.
But do the tourists represent a threat to the stones in the first place ?
Many
think that the stones were not in danger, and greed only deprived visitors
from the free access to what was for centuries a marvel of pre-historical
times.
> We did not think of going to Quimper as it seemed so large, but we
> realised that we were only touching the surface of the place. I will
> remind you of your offer, perhaps next year :-)
You're welcome. In general, I'm there in august, but I can't be sure at this
time of the year.
--
Manuel Viet
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