Normandy and Brittany

Arromanches

The scale of the Mulberry harbour built here following D-Day can’t be appreciated from pictures of the remains; the museum on the seafront contains a scale model of the completed structure, while showing film of its construction and operation.

Being close to Bayeux, it’s possible to visit both in a day.

(Not sure whether he's a lookout or just thumbing his nose at the queue for the Tapestry)

Dinan

Well-preserved city walls and colourful streets of medieval houses.

Death in Brittany

Ankou (Death) features strongly in Breton culture, and the church at Ploumilliau contains a wooden statue, said to date from at least the 17th century, which used to be carried in local processions.

He also features in the frescoes rediscovered in 1856 in the chapel at Kermaria-an-Isquit, alternating with representatives of all social classes in the Dance of Death.

Megalithic sites

Apart from Carnac, Brittany has a number of these, such as Gavrinis (which is only reachable by boat; booking is advised) and the massive cairn at Barnenez, uncovered in the 1950s.

The site had apparently been sold for quarrying and the cairn was partly demolished – although this now provides an insight into its construction.

Rather more up-to-date is the Museum of Telecommunications at Pleumeur-Bodou, where a dome houses the huge horn antenna used to capture signals from Telstar in 1962; there are regular son et lumière shows. The site also has a planetarium and, rather incongruously, a reconstructed Gaulish village.