The Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne, in English the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany, is located in Nantes, France and listed as a historic monument by the French Ministry of Culture since 1862. Duke Francis II and his daughter, Anne of Brittany built it during the Middles Ages to protect the independence of the Duchy of Brittany against attacks from the Kingdom of France.
Today it consists of the original castle with its seven towers, a 1,600-foot curtain wall and an inner courtyard. The castle is also home to the Nantes History Museum which offers a collection of more than 850 historic artifacts spread throughout 32 rooms with several multimedia presentations. Self-guided tours are available with audio guides available in French, English, German, Spanish, Italian and Breton.
Informative guides take tours, (called Discovery or Family visits) and offer visitors interactive and historically-themed workshops. The property also provides an on-site gift shop and a café-style restaurant that overlooks the courtyard. As of November 2010, the property is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., with extended hours of 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. during July and August.
The town of Carnac, on the southern coast of Brittany, has a collection of more than 3,000 standing stones from the Neolithic period. Dating back as far as 4,500 B.C., the stones are one of the largest collections in the world and were created from local rock by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany.
The main concentration of stones is in a protected area called the House of Megaliths which offers guided tours for individuals as well as groups as large as 30. It also provides prehistoric-workshops for school groups and a Pass of Megaliths, which includes entrance to four local megalithic sites (Cairn of Gavrinis, Megalithic site in Locmariaquer, the alignments of Carnac, Petit Mont in Arzon) and the Prehistoric Museum in Carnac. As of November 2010, the House of Megaliths is open daily at 9 a.m. with closing times as late as 8 p.m. during July and August.
Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial, located 1 1/2 miles southeast of St. James on the eastern edge of Brittany, contains the remains of 4,410 soldiers who died in the Normandy and Brittany campaigns of 1944. Located on the site of the temporary American St. James Cemetery established by the U.S. Third Army, the 28-acre memorial consists of a large granite structure that contains a chapel, two operations maps with narratives and a lookout tower that provides visitors with views of the cemetery and Mont St. Michel.
The retaining wall on the terrace includes the names of 498 soldiers missing in action with rosettes placed over the names for those who have since been recovered. As of November 2010, the cemetery is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Christmas and New Year's Day. A staff member is also on duty during opening hours in the visitor center to answer questions and escort relatives to the grave sites.
