St. Malo and Dinan, France

One of the positive things about our changed itinerary is that we added Brittany, St. Malo and the ancient town of Dinan, (10,000 population).

We anchored in the bay this morning because of the extreme tidal complications here. The tide differential can be much as 40 feet!

We tendered into Saint Malo and immediately set out for Dinan whose hefty ramparts bundle its half-timbered houses dating back to the 15th century, and cobbled quaintness into Brittany's best medieval town center. Residents take pride in their distinct Breton culture - music stores, for instance, sell more Celtic music than anything else.

The heart of Dinan's historic center is Place des Merciers, still lined with picturesque half-timbered buildings. We visited the Saint-Sauveur Basilica built in the 12th century. We viewed a beautiful statue of Bertrand du Guesclin, a military hero during the 100 years war (freeing Brittany and Normandy). There were many nice creperies in town but most did not open until noon and we had to depart at 12:15 pm.

After our tour of Dinan, we returned to the ship and then walked around the city of St. Malo. Very charming. The place was pretty much destroyed by bombing during WWII and rebuilt in the same style that it had been before the war (rebuilt between 1948-1960). We visited St. Vincent Cathedral and the Fort du Petit Be which was built in late 16th century to protect the Bay. Had (enormous) crepes for lunch at a nice French bistro.
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PS: You can take a ferry from St. Malo to Paris in about three hours, and to Guernsey or Jersey in less than 2 hrs.Read more