I like to show you wonderful Dinard, plenty in my blog on it but this was sort of an introduction to the town, and some new pictures found in my vault, Hope you enjoy as I.
Dinard is in the department 35 of Ille et Vilaine in the lovely region of Bretagne ; it is a beach town and well visited by British and Americans for its wonderful villas of the belle époque period and the British Film Festival held here since 1990. The official name of the city change from been Saint Enogat until 1879 to Dinard-Saint Enogat until 1921 and finally Dinard since then. It is located in the Côte d’Emeraude on the limits with the department 22 Côtes-d’Armor and the city of Saint Malo where the Rance river makes the separation. Not far, you have the Anglo Normand islands that can be reach in one hour fast speed from Saint Malo or in a few minutes by plane from the Dinard-Pleurtuit-Saint Malo airport (which had British friends visiting me here going this route by plane).
Some of the things to see (already with separate posts) are : The coffins of knights Olivier and Geoffroy de Montfort dating from the 14C now in the Chapelle of the old priory near the beach or plage du Prieuré; the house known as the Prince Noir or black prince built in the 14C; the manoir de la Baronnais ,renaissance style mansion with French gardens built in 1647; The fortress in the island or Ïle Harbour fortified from 1689; The Villa Les Roches Brunes built in 1893 and the Villa Greystones built in 1938; also, the Tennis club is one of the first built in France dating from 1879. Notre Dame Church and St Enogat Church. The beaches are great and many smaller creeks; but the main four are plage du Prieuré, plage de l’Écluse, plage de Saint-Énogat, and plage du Port-Blanc.
A bit of brief history I like. Dinard is link to the legend of king Arthur as it is told he landed here in 513 to built a fort ,and the name of the town comes from a etymology of Fort d’Arthur. One of the first discoverers of the city was William Faber an American aristocrat that had visited the city and felled in love with it so decided to stayed and built the mansion on the pointe du Moulinet, with small terraces that were shown to his Anglophone friends of Dinan and become the origins of the British community of Dinard, after his passing his wife Lyona Faber continue the work. In 1858, the first sea villa was built by James Erhart Coppinger in the same pointe du Moulinet, it is known as the Château du Bec de la Vallée, or the Villa Castel Mond (as it belong for a time to the couple Sir Robert Mond and his wife Lady Mond). (See my post on the villas) ,From the 1880’s it was the first beach town in France and had its golden age known as the Dinard of the hundred hotels or the pearl of the emerald coast ; with many notables coming and staying here such as Albert Ier, Raymond Poincaré, Agatha Christie, Victor Hugo, Edward VII, George V, Winston Churchill , Judith Gautier, Jacqueline Kennedy, Lawrence of Arabia (in his childhood), Edmond Rostand, and Paul Valéry. Pablo Picasso painted the portrait of the swimmers in Dinard or the Les Baigneuses à Dinard on a series inspired by the nudity of the beaches. The firm L’Ecluse tried to restored many of these mansions and the first and only that could be done was in 1927 ,the Gallic Hotel on the foot of the big beach or Grande Plage at 2 boulevard Féart done in a Art Déco style where Pablo Picasso stayed two times. Starting in the 1930’s Dinard saw its decline as the British stop coming and later followed by the rest.
The city of Dinard on its heritage: https://www.ville-dinard.fr/listes/ville-dart-dhistoire/
The Dinard Emeraude area tourist office on Dinard: https://www.dinardemeraudetourisme.com/en/explore/9-emerald-paradise/dinard-a-seaside-paradise/
The Ille et Vilaine dept 35 tourist board on Dinard: https://www.ille-et-vilaine-tourism.com/discover-ille-et-vilaine/the-loveliest-places/dinard/
There you go folks, this is beautiful Dinard, worth the detour me think. Again, hope you enjoy the post as I, and read my many other posts on the city as well.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
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