I like to tell you again about a wonderful town of my lovely Bretagne and the dept 22 of the Côtes d’Armor. I am updating this older post and you can see my several others on Dinan.A general overview should do justice to the city. Hope you enjoy it as I.
And in our road warrior rides in our lovely Bretagne, we visited again Dinan, this time a bit more. We went by car of course. Dinan is indeed at the road crossing of Saint Malo, Rennes, Lorient,Quimper, Vannes you name it. We set out and took off on the road D768 direction Pontivy. We went all the way past Pontivy to hook up at Loudéac with the N164 direction Rennes. Continue until we hit Saint Meen le Grand and got on shortly on the D125 already direction Dinan/St Malo. This road same direction change to the D166 passing Caulnes and then we smoothly fell on the road D766 passing the nice Saint Jouan de l’Isles town with nice story on St John the Baptist. At a traffic circle just still direction only Dinan now we hook up with the D795 straight into Rue de Marchix in Dinan and the underground parking at my favorite hotel de ville ,near the castle. In all , we had 141 kms and did it in 1h36 and still free. It has train service to Paris and bus terminal right by the train station, but never taken them.
We got out of the parking and immediately you see the Hôtel de Ville to your right ;built from 17-19C, and located at 21, rue du Marchix. Before 1822, when the City/Town Hall settled there definitively, after having successively occupied the salle de l’Horloge,the buildings of de la Victoire, des Jacobins, and hôtel dit du Gouvernement,at the rue de l’Horloge , it was the old Hôtel-Dieu.
Instead of following the ramparts from there we took off for the tourist office which is right next to the entrance to the Castle (see post) but came down on the ramparts and saw there was the Fête Foraine du Liége by the Promenade des petits fossés with lots of rides for old and young and food, and music.
The Basilica Minor of Saint Sauveur ,and the Church of Saint Malo (see posts) ; jardin Anglais, traced in 1852 on the old parish cemetery, it also allows you to discover a superb panorama of the Rance valley.
With more walk on the ramparts along the Tour Saint Catherine with a nice view of the viaduc de Rennes over the Rance river, this grandiose granite monument is 250 meters long including the abutments; its height is 40 meters above the towpath and 50 meters including the foundations. It is made up of 10 arches 16 meters wide, separated by straight feet 4 meters thick; the width of the cart track is 5 meters; it is bordered by sidewalks 1 meter wide.
The port of Dinan from the castle. Here, you walk along the small harbor, take the time to sit on the benches and contemplate the boaters who moor. In the shade of the palm trees, relaxation is guaranteed!
We did our shopping at Les Terny Thés for my Harley Davidson mug and 1960’s Paris placemats for drinks, and now I know where I bought them lol !! The store was located at 11 rue de la Poissonnerie, however, it has closed, here for the memories and the webpage : https://www.lesternythes.fr/ . My sons got their leather belts at TM Cuir at 8 rue de la Poissonnerie ,webpage : https://www.tm-cuir.com/le-magasin-tm-cuir-de-dinan-vente-et-fabrication-de-ceintures-et-ceinturons-en-cuir-depuis-1984/
We loaded for the day when hunger struck with goodies of baguettes and dejeunettes sandwich breads at Boulangerie Royer-Gana at corner of the Grand Rue and Rue du Marchix ; however sadly now closed , Mention for the memories of always, And finally we did eat at the wonderful service and food of Pizzeria Cecco at 3 rue de la Lainerie. Nice quatre saisons or four seasons pizza, banana splits and a bottle of red Italina Negroamaro from Salento ,Lecce ;diabolo menthe, other desserts and pasta/pizzas total came out to 21€ per person,ok and nice ambiance with currency money frames and bucket lounge style tables and chairs in the old section of town. Official webpage : https://www.pizzeriacecco.eu/
The city of Dinan on its heritage : https://www.dinan.fr/152/monuments-musees
The Dinan-Cap Frehel tourist office on Dinan: https://www.dinan-capfrehel.com/en/our-destination/not-to-be-missed-any-circumstances/dinan-unmissable-medieval-city-brittany/
The Bretagne region tourist board on Dinan: https://www.brittanytourism.com/destinations/the-10-destinations/cap-frehel-saint-malo-mont-saint-michel-bay/dinan/
There you go folks, another dandy in my lovely Bretagne. Dinan is worth the detour and we came back again, I say one of the must cities to visit in the region. Hope you enjoy the brief introduction and do see the other posts on things to see in Dinan.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 