And here comes the rain - Rainy Brittany- 4
And here comes the rain
After leaving Le Mont-Saint-Michel, we finally arrive in Brittany. First stop of the day is Saint-Suliac [↗], one of the "Most Beautiful Villages in France". This is a cultural tourism award in France. It was created in 1982 to promote small villages for tourism. A place that wants to be included in the list must not have more than 2000 inhabitants and must have a protected zone or historical protected buildings. There are only 4 of them in all of Brittany.
The weather is so-so, but the village is really nice. We walk through the narrow streets down to the sea. Even at this time of year there are still many flowers in bloom. Freya's favorite is the Spanish daisy. She recently bought some in Germany for good money and they are spreading like weeds here. We also visit the grounds of the village church. We make friends with a pretty red cat and then we're on our way again.
From here we drive to the ship cemetery in Quelmer [↗]. Quelmer is officially part of Saint-Malo and just before you enter the village there is a small road down to the shipyard. We park at the central parking lot in the middle of the village and walk back the few meters and down to the water. You might be able to find a place to leave your car near the shipyard, but it's really not a deal to walk.
This is a strange place. Nice (and not cheap) sailboats in the background, a shipyard on the right and wrecks used as graffiti canvas in front. Nothing worth a massive detour, but if you're in the area, give it a try.
We're already close to Dinan [↗], where we'll spend 2 nights, but it's too early to check in. So we stop at Saint-Jouan-des-Guérets, one of the countless churches of the region. And we stop briefly at Leclerc to stock up on fresh bread and red wine.
Finally, it's 3 p.m. and we head to our hotel, which is in the middle of town, just 5 minutes from the city walls. That's the plus - the minus that comes with the location is that parking nearby is extremely limited. But we are early enough to get one in the small parking lot around the corner.
The hotel is a small boutique hotel in an old house. All rooms are different and we can choose between two of them. One has a wider bed, the other has a small terrace leading to a small garden in the backyard. We choose the one with the terrace and use it for a late lunch before heading into town.
Dinan is the nicest old town of our trip so far. We zigzag through the town, take a look at the local church, and then walk down to the river. At the port we find a restaurant with outdoor dining. They serve fish soup and cider, which is just as dark as the beer Jürgen has chosen. All delicious. But then we have to go uphill again. Quite steep.
There are many delicious things for breakfast and Freya spontaneously chooses "sweet". A delicious apple tart, whiskey-salt-caramel-spread, fraise-thyme jam and nice bread. Jürgen sticks to sausage and cheese and leaves the sweets for last.
A tasty start and with today's weather any encouragement is welcome. First it rains, then it pours and in between it drizzles. The perfect weather for a dark, defiant city like Saint Malo [↗]. We park at the harbor and walk across the bridge into the city itself. We take a look at the church and stroll through the narrow streets. We climb the city wall and walk around the city. The city is not that big, so why don't they block the cars?
Earlier than planned we give up and return to the car. On our way back, the bridge is closed because a ship is passing through. We should have done what the other group did and run. But we didn't. No matter.
We had a few more destinations on our list for today, but somehow we've almost run out of steam. Nevertheless, we still want to see the little chapel in the sea, St. Michel near Erquy [↗].
It's a bit unclear how to get there. Our navigation system sends us to a dead end, but as we know, Google knows everything. Anyway, we finally reach the sea, see the chapel and stay in the car for a while. At some point we get out of the car, take some useless pictures and head back when a French couple comes out of a dune. The woman asks Freya: "Nous cherchons la soleil, avezvous la trouvé ?" Freya laughs, she has understood the sentence - unfortunately she is not capable of a funny answer. So she just says "non". That's all she can think of.
On the way back there is another parking lot with a different view of the chapel. While Freya stays in the car, Jürgen gets out to take some more pictures.
Now we are fed up. We don't even find the delicious wine whose label we photographed. Instead we find another one and tartlets, which we eat in the hotel. Here we drink tea, later red wine and finally we go out to eat in town. There aren't many open restaurants, but finally we find one. Jürgen has a delicious steak and Freya has a seafood salad with some prawns. The pizza at the next table looked good as well.
On the way back we hear it for the second time. One of the evening bells rings beautifully, the second sounds tinny.
At breakfast, Freya is given a small glass of delicious whiskey caramel cream as a farewell gift. She is very happy about it.
