To the grave of the wizard Merlin, to the fountain of youth,
to the lake of the reflecting fairies, to the underwater palace,
to the golden tree, to the valley from which no one returns,
to the châteaux and to the Middle Ages in general!!!
Good morning, Francophiles,
I celebrated Shavuot with a scouting trip that Karen and I took to the Forest of Paimpont (Forêt de Paimpont).
On the advice of Zvi, the chief Francophile, we headed for the forest, just 40 km from our castle. The goal: to check whether the place is interesting enough to bring travelers to. We’re thinking in particular of those of you who will join the themed trips that Zvi and I plan to offer soon, starting from the castle, where we’ll also recommend you stay.
Of course, this article is just as useful if you’re exploring on your own and want to fit the forest into your travels around Brittany. The forest sits, roughly speaking, in the center of Brittany, so it’s easy to reach from any direction.
First, here’s a map placing the forest within Brittany, relative to the main cities:
And now, the route from our castle to the forest:
A Bit of History
This forest has been known for centuries as an enchanted place, full of mystical sites. You don’t need much imagination to feel the atmosphere. The forest is dark and brooding, and at the same time strikingly beautiful. Its sites are tied to the legends of King Arthur and the figures who star in them. The king himself (whose historical existence, by the way, is debated) is, in his hazy, legendary form, quite similar to our own King David, which is a good place to start.
Arthur, king of the Britons, lives… lives… and liiiiives on!!!!
King Arthur’s reign is remembered as England’s golden age. The king and his companions, the Knights of the Round Table, kept law and order, justice and fairness, across the realm. The Round Table itself was a symbol of equality. Winston Churchill (1874-1965), in his book A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, put it something like this: whether or not the stories are literally true, they have held an unbreakable grip on people’s imaginations for centuries. If we could somehow know exactly what happened, we would likely find a tale every bit as rich as the Odyssey or the Bible, one that has inspired generations and become part of our shared human heritage.
This is a paraphrase of Churchill’s sentiment rather than his exact words: true or not, the Arthurian legends have earned a permanent hold on the human imagination, standing alongside the greatest stories ever told.
Sir Thomas Malory (c. 1415-1471), who in the 15th century gathered the many legends about King Arthur, his companions and his enemies into a single, unified account of the era, also records an inscription said to have been found carved on a tombstone in the abbey courtyard at Glastonbury:
Hic Iacet Arthurus, rex quondam rexque futurus
[Here lies Arthur, the king who was, the king who will be]
This inscription is a clear expression of hope that Arthur would one day return to rule England, much like some hope that King David will one day return to rule over us. But let’s not step onto that slippery political slope.
Between King David and King Arthur
There is a lot of overlap between the stories of King David and King Arthur. Both were born out of sin. David himself says, in the Book of Psalms: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” According to the midrash (Yalkut HaMakhiri on Psalms 118:22), this refers to the fact that David’s father, Jesse, separated from his wife for three years, at the end of which he sought to sleep with his wife’s handmaid. The handmaid told her mistress, and the two of them tricked Jesse into thinking he was sleeping with the handmaid, when in fact she had already left his bed and his wife had taken her place. And underneath him, of course.
With King Arthur, there was also a deception, but a reversed one. His father, Uther Pendragon, fell in love with Ygraine, the wife of his rival Gorlois. With the help of Merlin’s magic, whom we’ll meet shortly, Uther Pendragon entered his rival’s castle disguised as her husband, slept with Ygraine, and fathered Arthur.
Both David and Arthur were very young when they were revealed to their people, and both greatly expanded the borders of their kingdoms. After each of them, their kingdoms eventually declined (after David came Solomon, but the kingdom fell apart soon after him). Of course, it’s worth considering the possibility that the events surrounding Arthur were deliberately shaped by Christian writers to echo the events surrounding King David.
Christian-Celtic genealogy wasn’t satisfied with mere resemblance and claimed an actual family connection. Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus, supposedly left the Holy Land after his crucifixion, passed through Brittany, and reached Glastonbury in England, from where it was just a short step to the birth of Arthur, a descendant of David.
Enough chatter, let’s hit the road!!!
Touring the Forest of Paimpont
I’m not sure I have any readers left after that last section, so let me drown my sorrows in the memory of the excellent beer Karen and I drank at the bar right across from the Office de tourisme de Paimpont:
And here’s the tourist office itself, also worth noting:
The office is located in the center of the village of Paimpont.
It’s well worth stopping there to pick up a map of the forest’s sites. Here’s a smaller version of it:
What you get at the tourist office is a large map, 40 x 60 cm, that clearly shows the sites. Most of them show up on Waze and Google Maps. I won’t cover every site in this article, just the ones I found most interesting. I’ll reference them by the numbers on the map.
The Village of Paimpont
Before heading out, you can take a loop around the village of Paimpont itself in a large horse-drawn carriage. The departure point is right next to the tourist office:
Site number 3 is where we are now: the center of Paimpont. I wouldn’t linger at the abbey, but it’s worth stopping before or after the bridge to see the lake:
Merlin’s Grave
Fontaine de Jouvence, the fountain of youth, is 9 km to the northeast. There’s a marked parking area close to the site.
Here lies, resting in peace beneath the stone where he was imprisoned, the great sorcerer, the terrifying enchanter: Merlin.
A quick clarification: Sir Thomas Malory did unify the many legends about King Arthur and his circle into a single book back in the 15th century, but the Forest of Paimpont and its enchanted sites were already well known long before that. Because of this, many of the sites here are tied to characters different from those in Malory’s version, or the same characters play different roles.
Merlin was involved in everything that happened around King Arthur: he made Arthur’s birth possible, gave him the sword Excalibur, and helped him defeat his enemies. There are different versions of how Merlin died and where he was buried. The version tied to this spot claims that he fell in love with the fairy Viviane, who asked him to teach her the secrets of his magic.
After he did, she trapped him inside the stone now considered his tombstone. That same Viviane appears again at the Lake of the Reflecting Fairies, where this time it’s Merlin who traps her, inside an underwater glass palace.
It seems that even in the Middle Ages, the story depended on who was telling it.
For the romantics among us, I’ll offer another explanation I came across: the gravestone appears to be split in two (I personally count three pieces, but as I mentioned, I was coming off a beer), because the two lovers turned into two touching stones, united forever.
And indeed, some unseen hand leaves a red flower on the shared gravestone every single day. I saw it with my own eyes.
The Fountain of Youth: An Old Man Once Told Me…
When we reached the fountain of youth in the forest, I was reminded of an old, beloved song about a magical spring hidden in the mountains that keeps anyone who drinks from it forever young, and about how true love turned out to be the real fountain of youth all along.
(Performed by Ofer Levi. Lyrics by Yosh Granot. Traditional melody.)
From the grave of the petrified lovers, it’s just 160 meters to the fountain of youth. There’s a marked trail, but it’s simpler just to follow the other visitors, or head in the direction they’re coming from. Along the way, by the way, you’ll notice several spots where visitors have stacked flat stones into little towers:
Karen, proof that the fountain works:
And me, proof that it depends on who it’s supposed to work on:
As I limped away from the fountain, I noticed that some visitors who were about to dip in suddenly took off running.
Château de Comper
It’s not our tradition, of course, but every tradition deserves respect. Here, it’s the Arthurian legends that are carefully kept alive. We have Judaica, they have Arthuriana.
The château itself is lovely. It was built in the 13th century and was once considered one of the strongest fortresses in Brittany. It sits on the shore of “Viviane’s Lake”, the same Viviane who imprisoned Merlin. According to another version, the lake is named after her, but she actually lived in the glass palace where Merlin trapped her, beneath the waters of the Lake of the Reflecting Fairies, which we haven’t reached yet.
What’s there? A permanent exhibit of figures and objects related to the legends. But what really matters are the actors and singers in medieval costume who wander among the visitors.
There’s also a fortune-telling sorceress:
And there’s a band of musicians accompanying singers:
A word of caution: I visited on a Sunday. It’s possible there are no performances on other days of the week. Still, if you’re in the area, it’s worth a stop. For the more organized among you, I suggest calling ahead: +33 (0)2 97 22 79 96.
Admission: €7.
The Lake of the Reflecting Fairies (Étang du Miroir aux Fées)
According to legend, fairies come here to look at themselves in the clear water, perhaps to fix their makeup or adjust their caps. Beneath the surface stands the glass palace where Merlin imprisoned the fairy Viviane. A little to the left of the viewpoint over the lake, after a short descent, you’ll reach the golden tree.
The Golden Tree (Arbre d’Or)
In 1990, a fire destroyed part of the forest’s trees. The artist François Davin covered one of the remaining tree skeletons in gold leaf, leaving several burned trees standing beside it. The idea: to express renewal rising out of destruction. Not exactly ancient, but striking all the same.
Château de Trécesson
Before we close out our journey in the valley from which no one returns, I want to show you the Château de Trécesson. We couldn’t go inside, but it’s stunning, with the clear waters of the lake and moat surrounding it:
The Valley from Which No One Returns
She who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.
For her house leads down to death, and her paths to the shades.
None who go to her return, nor do they reach the paths of life.
(Proverbs 2:17-19)
Hmm… well, in our tradition the unfaithful one is a woman. In the Arthurian legends, the betrayers are men only.
Morgan le Fay (interestingly, the Italian translation of her name gave us the term “fata morgana”) was Arthur’s half sister, said to possess magical powers she learned from Merlin. She suffered romantic disappointments, though other versions say she was the one who caused them. Either way, she cast a spell on the valley we were standing in, after catching her lover there, according to one version, betraying her with another woman. First, she turned them into stones:
That wasn’t enough for her, so she placed a curse on the valley: any man who passed through here, who had ever betrayed his partner, could never leave.
According to legend, Sir Lancelot, the strongest and most loyal of the Knights of the Round Table, known above all for his loyalty to his king, King Arthur, entered the valley and broke the curse.
A small but puzzling detail: Sir Lancelot was indeed extremely loyal to King Arthur, but his loyalty had its limits in the romance department: he carried on a passionate affair with Arthur’s own wife, Queen Guinevere…
So how does that add up? According to one legend, Morgan le Fay herself seduced Sir Lancelot and pulled him away from Guinevere’s arms. What’s the connection? I have no idea. I’d love to hear interpretations from any Francophiles Anonymous readers who understand women’s preferences better than I do.
As for me, I walked out of the valley that betrayers can’t leave, and on the easy stroll back to the car, I glanced over at Karen, hoping for some appreciation. “That doesn’t prove anything,” she said. “After all, Sir Lancelot lifted the curse.”
Thanks to everyone who made it this far with me. I’d love to know whether you think this place is worth a visit.
Want to Meet Danny and Stay in the Castle Where He Lives?
The castle is called Manoir de la Chausée, and it’s located exactly between Nantes and the town of Rennes. You’ll find beautifully designed rooms, a huge garden, and even ten adorable little dogs. You can read more about it in the article Manoir de la Chausée: Staying at a Castle in Brittany.
Not sure how to start planning your trip to France? For the complete, in-depth guide, click here.
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