The small pink cliffs are the oldest rocks in France. It is gneiss, a granite "metamorphosed" under the effect of extreme temperatures and pressures in the earth's crust. There are many colors of granite. In Brittany, gray predominates. It is the feldspar, one of the three minerals composing this rock, which gives its color. The other two minerals are quartz, which looks like coarse salt, and mica, visible as small, shiny, rounded flakes.