Dinan

Probably one of our favourite places in Brittany was the picturesque town of Dinan. Every corner was charming, filled with street side cafes, half timbered houses, lots of quaint little shops, and it didn’t hurt that the weather was so FAB the day we visited.

Originally, Dinan was a feudal town located at the intersection of a land route and water route on the Rance. Merchants brought their wares through Dinan, so the town became inevitably linked with wealth, prosperity, and much protection by its ramparts and fortified city.

On this day, we just strolled about taking it all in….

















The old church tower.





One of the rampart towers…Hachie Gal outside, and Budman inside.

Ay...matey!

Another interesting little town in Brittany that we visited was the coastal town of St. Malo. Formerly known as the “pirate’s city”, this town has a rather dubious history. St. Malo built its reputation as a fishing and port city in addition to be the home for famous sea dogs, pirates, and paid merchant navies of the French goverbment to harass the ships of other countries.

Today, it’s a bustling town, known for its beaches (by day only), as the tide will come in each evening at a very rapid pace to cover this up. The views are stupendous, especially at high tide.



500 yards offshore is the Ile de Grand Be, a small island housing the military tomb of the great Romantic writer Viscount Rene de Chateaubriand, who was born in St. Malo. The islet can be reached by a causeway (on foot) at a low tide only.









Sunset in St. Malo, as we walked the ramparts of the old fortified port city.





At the edge of the ramparts is the old town, reconstructed after a WWI fire, and the 15th century chateau that was used as the lookout tower for the fort.

Vitre

In no particular order, we started exploring the “historic towns of character” as the Brittany tourism office described each of the petit villes de Bretagne. Next up: the little town of Vitre, where apparently, there is “nothing” to see except the castles ruins, which are not as interesting to explore as Fougeres. Sure, a few remains of the fortress wall and castle remain today, but after the textiles industry moved out, the town turned back into a sleepy like village around 1900. Yep, I see that....

















We happened into Vitre on a Sunday afternoon. Talk about the sidewalks rolling up….We did find one café open where we were able to splurge on a diet coke and lazily watched the townspeople strolling by.









Maybe we just caught it on a slow day?

Heading into Brittany

As we “officially” crossed over into Bretagne from Normandy, I can say we left behind Gothic churches (not to say there were not fabulous churches to see in Brittany), but rather week 2 became the week of “the castle”. Everywhere we turned, ruins of some Brittany castle or fortress awaited us for the touring….

One of our first stops dans Bretagne was in the charming town of Fougeres. Originally, the town was home to clothing manufacturers, dyers, and tanners who used the water mills in their crafts, later, it became the “shoe-making” capital of Brittany. This fine day, an impressive fortress, quaint streets, and a beautiful day of sunshine greeted us, with lunch in an outdoor café to top it off along the Nancon where scads of amateur painters gathered to perfect their works of art.























Views of the fortress and castle from the highest point in the Fougeres…the local church.









A hike into the hills of Fougeres, with the fortress in one view and the church in another.

It was one of the highlights….

Driving through Cherbourg, St.-Lo, Coutances, and Granville, we headed to THE sight we had been waiting all week to see. (I’ll spare you any more photos of Gothic churches but as you can imagine, we saw , and photographed, several more in these towns).Yes, visiting Mont-St-Michel was definitely top of the list for the France trip.

The abbey, perched on a 264 foot high rock just a few hundreds yards off the coast; is surrounded by water during the highest tides and by desolate sand flats the rest of the time (and in some spots, quick sand). While tides are extremely unpredictable, the sea can rise up to 45 feet at high tide and rushes in at incredible speed. To watch it is simply amazing.

Mont-St-Michel from a distance.




No worries, sidewalks and roadways led the Budman and I up to the entrance to Mont-St-Michel, and then began our climb to the top of the montain to visit the abbey.



Legend has it that Archangel Michael appeared in 709 to Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, inspiring him to build this magnificent monument. The rock and shrine were soon pilgrimages that resulted in a church being built on this site in 1144. In the 14th century, monks arrived and built the abbey, with its construction taking over 500 years, resulting in its present day construction. Further architectural changes in the 15th and 16th centuries resulted in a number of architectural styles being evident. In the 17th century, monastic independence resulted in those monks began to veer away from strict religious teachings and became…shall we say…a bit decadent. The abbey then became a French prison, followed by a historic shrine maintained by the French government. Today, as in medieval times, monks live and work here.

Here, tourists begin the trek to the top of the abbey; sadly, many tourists never make it past the souvenir shops…what a shame! It is not for the faint hearted, though a slow and steady walk is all it takes if you’re worried.



The Grand Degre, a steep, narrow staircase leading to the abbey’s entrance that leads to the Saut Gautier Terrace (named after the prisoner who jumped to his death outside it).







Interior of the church.



The monks’ reading and eating room.



Other views of Mont-St-Michel.









The Budman and Hachie Gal departing Mont-St-Michel…the afternoon sun is hitting the abbey and church.



Mont-St-Michel by twilight,





and then finally illuminated at night.