Dinan - The medieval city - Discovery of Bretagne

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Today is a big day for us. Last night we planned to visit Dinan, one the most historical - well preserved medieval city of 13th century. We instead choice to go to Dinan because we could not get a ferry to St. Malo. We took a local train from Landebia, which is located not far from Little Paradise.

It was another hot day. The absence of the wind made impossible to wait under the metal roofed waiting area. We must have been there for almost half an hour, the train appeared from the far end of the turn. We were hurried into the train, within a minute we were heading to Dinan.

The train journey was very pleasant as it ran through the country side. The entire train journey was less than an hour. We arrived at the main railway station in Dinan. We walked to the post office first.

We entered the old town after a short walk along the rampart. The old city itself impressive, crammed full of half timbered buildings dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, with cobbled rambling streets all carefully restored and preserved. Scattered throughout the old town are numerous individually owned traditional creperie, the colourful shops of butchers and patisseries have established their businesses every single space previously left untouched. The shops of florists, artisans, craftsmen and weavers mingle with many gift and post card shops that thrive in any town that is a magnet to tourists.

At the time of our arrival, a lot of people from every direction have entered the old town. We tried to get some leaflets in English at the tourist information, there was a long queue to be served. We walked through a car park, where we found Bertrand Du Guesclin - the local hero's statue is situated where the battle between an English Knight and Bernard Du Guesclin took place. Today this place is less importantly used as a car park which is not an interesting place for anyone to stop for a photo.

The most significant feature of this city is, full of half timbered medieval buildings. The most striking activity of the day was, having lunch break at one of the traditional creperie, which we did first thing after our arrival.

Then we walked along the cobbled street Rue Du Petit Fort, which lead us to a steep lane, runs almost a hundred meter to the bottom of the valley. From the old town to the picturesque River Rance and the old port of Dinan walk is scenic and very interesting.

Even though our time was limited up until 6pm, we managed to pay a visit to both St. Saviour's Basilica
and St Malo's Church, which are extraordinary attractions of Dinan. On the way back, we climbed the old clock tower to see the picturesque view of the medieval city Dinan.

It was the time for us to get back to the train station, because we are going to take the last train to Landebia.

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Comments

[Alice]

Dinan Rail Station Lockers?
Can anyone tell me if Dinan, France, has lockers at the rail station?

[Marikkar]

Sorry to say, we didn't have to keep anything at the railway station as it was a very short break for us. Hope you'll get some useful information soon.