Novel Travels: King Arthur

King Arthur has fascinated and intrigued people for generations. Great Britain has the largest claim on King Arthur travel sites, but the region of Brittany, France, has a few claims of its own. Today's list is more of links of resources for places to visit, books, and movies about King Arthur.

First on my list, is Glastonbury Tor, in Somerset. Sigh. Someday I will visit the sacred hill, walk up, and take in the view. I'll think about it's connections to Avalon and contemplate if it is really connected to Arthur and Guinevere. King Arthur's Knights lists several British tourist sites related to the legend, including Glastonbury Tor and Bamburgh Castle, Carleon in Wales, the Chalice Well, Glastonbury Abbey, St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, the Round Table in Winchester, Stonehenge, Tintagel Castle believed to be Arthur's birthplace also in Cornwall, and the Tristan Stone. Here's more on the Round Table hanging in the Great Hall in Winchester.

Britannia has a very long and very well-organized list of locations related to King Arthur, Merlin, Camelot, and even the Lady of the Lake.

As for France, the crux of the legend is in the forest of Broceliande, near Rennes. The Forest, or former forest, is more related to Merlin than King Arthur. The Barenton Spring is the places where he met Vivian--who used later used her powers to imprison him in a tree in the forest. Trehorenteuc's church is thought to be a significant location in the search for the Holy Grail. Broceliande has an Arthur center and the website looks interesting, but alas, my French is not that great.

As one would expect, Wikipedia has the best list of Arthur books and films, though it leaves out the books by Persia Woolley that I recall reading in high school.