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Some people find AURAY , with its over-restored ancient quarter, slightly dull - but it is a lot less crowded than Vannes, a lot cheaper than Quiberon town and usefully placed for exploring Carnac, the Quiberon peninsula and the Gulf of Morbihan. The centre of the town today is the place de la Republique , with its eighteenth-century Hotel de Ville. In a neighbouring square, linked to the place de la Republique by rue du Lait, is the seventeenth-century church of St Gildas , with its fine Renaissance porch. A covered market adjoins the Hotel de Ville, but on Mondays an open-air market fills the surrounding streets with colour - and stops all traffic for a considerable radius. However, Auray's showpiece is undoubtedly the ancient quarter of St-Goustan , with its delightful fifteenth- and sixteenth-century houses. The bend in the River Loch, an early defended site, was a natural setting for a town - and, with its easy access to the gulf, it soon became one of the busiest ports of Brittany. Today, as you look at it from the Promenade du Loch on the opposite bank, with the small seventeenth-century stone bridge still spanning the river, it is not difficult to imagine it in its heyday. In 1776, Benjamin Franklin landed here on his way to seek the help of Louis XVI in the American War of Independence. The gare SNCF is twenty minutes' walk from the centre; buses run from the station through the centre of Auray and on to La Trinite, Carnac and Quiberon. Auray's tourist office is up in town at 20 rue du Lait, very near the Hotel de Ville on place de la Republique (Mon-Sat 9.30am-noon & 2-6pm; tel 02.97.24.09.75). A small annexe is maintained in July and August at the train station. The most appealing place to stay would be by the port in the St-Goustan quarter, but in the absence of waterfront hotels the best option is the Hotel Le Branhoc , about 300m from the waterfront at 5 route du Bono (tel 02.97.56.41.55; 300-400F/?46-61; closed mid-Dec to Jan), which offers clean, well-equipped rooms and a reasonable restaurant. Up in town, Hotel Le Cadoudal , 9 place Notre-Dame (tel 02.97.50.78.51; 160-220F/?24-34), is a cheaper, more basic alternative, while the Olympic Bar , 19 rue Clemenceau (tel 02.97.24.06.69), is a friendly restaurant-cum-bar with menus at 49F/?7.47 and 78F/?11.89.
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