France 2022 – Hello to Bretagne, and wonderful Dinan

April 22, 2022

I said goodbye to Montmartre, found my way to the Gare Montparnasse via the metro, and took a TGV to Lamballe, Brittany. We travelled mainly through relatively flat, agricultural land with expansive fields of new green growth as well as bright yellow fields of canola in bloom. There were fields with small herds of black and white cattle, and occasionally we passed a farm with a few sheep or horses. There were glimpses of towns and villages, each with a tall church steeple visible from a distance, and sometimes the train paralleled a main freeway for a distance and easily out sped its cars and trucks.

At Lamballe, I transferred to a small, and seemingly very slow train (after the TGV) to Dinan. I loved the journey to Dinan as we travelled a very good distance through a deciduous forest, fresh with new leaves, and the agricultural fields we passed before and after the forest were smaller and wilder-looking with many hedges, large copses of trees, and old farm houses. I was very happy to see three raptors on this journey, a small swift and two beautiful hawks. Also, it was like I was having a second spring as the trees and plants that were in bloom a month ago in Provence are in full bloom here like cherry and apple trees, lilacs, camellias, and wisteria. Very fun!

I was immediately charmed by Dinan as I walked through its medieval streets headed towards my apartment. This walled town, full of half-timbered houses from the 14th to the 17th centuries, sits atop a hill high above the valley of the Rance River and my apartment is located on a quiet street just a few minutes’ walk from the centre and all of the town’s historic sights. I am so pleased with my apartment and feel very lucky to be here for four days. Here it is!

And, even better, here is the amazing view out of my living room window (left photo) and then my bedroom window! Wow! I invite you to click on each photo for a larger view. How exciting to stay here!

After taking a few moments to settle my things, I eagerly headed back out to explore the nearby streets. Here are some of the beautiful half-timbered houses in Dinan, many of which expand outward as they go up. Property taxes were based on the amount of square footage of a building, so clever merchants built smaller ground floors with overhanging second and third stories. This had the added bonus of providing covered space on the ground floor for setting up tables and selling their goods.

I loved the small panes of old glass in some of the windows.

Some of the buildings were quite colourful, and there was a wide variety of patterns in the placement of the wooden beams as well as a surprising amount of asymmetry!

Some of the buildings had carved wooden figures tucked under the overhangs or in little alcoves.

This building, built in 1559, was moved to Dinan from the small town of Lanvollon when it was threatened with demolition. It features 14 carved figures sporting weapons and clothing typical of the 16th century.

Here is the last half-timbered house that I will show from my afternoon walk though there were many more! The dark slate roof tiles on all of the buildings here, and the preponderance of granite as a building stone, are typical of Brittany and an obvious change from the building styles that I saw in Provence.

I also took photos of the exteriors of the two massive churches in medieval Dinan (they are located only blocks from each other!), but I will save presenting those until after I have viewed the interiors. It is predicted to rain on Sunday so I will save my visits to the churches until then. Walking away from the town centre I found this quiet street lined with stone houses and followed it to the gate at the end.

This is the Saint Malo gate which was built in the 13th century to guard access to the northern part of the city. Extra defences and a drawbridge were added during turbulent times at the beginning of the 15th century.

To the left of the Porte Saint Malo was the Tour de Gouveneur. A walkway for pedestrians atop the tower and adjacent walls was recently closed after stones fell from the wall during a storm. Turning to the right of the Porte Saint Malo, a walk of about 100 metres brought me to the largest of Dinan’s towers, the Tour Beaumanoir. There are almost three kilometres of ramparts surrounding Dinan, with ten of the original fourteen towers still standing, as well as the four gates that provided entrance to the city. The ramparts are the largest in France north of the Loire to have survived to the present day.

I continued my walk around and beyond the Tour Beaumanoir and there was this view back that shows the remains of a second wall that was added at the end of the 16th century in front of the curtain wall to give extra protection against cannon fire.

From here, I wandered back into the city to the main square and then on to my apartment, taking pictures all along the way. I will leave you with only two more photos though, again from my apartment windows but now with the sun lowering in the sky. The view from my front window is zoomed in on the steeple of the Basilique Saint-Saveur. Goodnight from Dinan, Brittany.