Dinan is in northeast
Brittany, in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine, about 250 miles northeast of Paris, 18 miles south of
St. Malo and
41 miles north of
Rennes. We visited on our 2006 trip, making it a stop on our way from Rennes to St. Malo.
The attraction
of this hilltop town is the town itself, an almost perfectly preserved medieval gem. There are the narrow streets,
half-timbered buildings, an old clock tower, ramparts of the medieval fortifications with views of Port Dinan on the river
below, a Chateau and beautiful old churches. We had the good luck to drive into town and find a parking space right in the parking
lot in the central square. We discovered much later that in 1357 that parking lot was the exact spot of a mano a mano battle
between
Bertrand de Guesclin and an English Knight named Thomas Canterbury to free Guesclin's brother Oliver who had been captured
by the English. Guesclin won, went on to serve the King of France for the next 23 years, became Constable of France and
a local hero. A large bronze statue of him stands in that parking lot. It was just in back of us and we are sure that
he watched over the RV while we walked around the town.
The
photos Ron took and the
letter show tell why we liked this town so
much. If you want more, go to the
Tourist office web site and click on "Dinan and it region" where you
will find a
history and two
virtual tours. The web site also lists "megalithes" on the history page but does not indicate where
they are. We assume that they are somewhere nearby.
