Brittany, part deux

Ted. On our second day in Brittany, we drove north. For our first stop, we actually drove a few miles into the neighboring region of Normandy. While we visited that region two years ago, we chose not to visit an abbey that Judy had always wanted to see; Mont Saint-Michel. 

As seen from a distance

A childhood dream come true!

My only request was that we arrive at the crack of dawn to avoid the crowds. That’s what we did and we were in and out in a jiffy! 

Since we had most of the day ahead of us, we opted to visit Cancale, just a bit west along the coast. According to Louis XIV, and millions of French people since then, Cancale is where the best oysters in France are found. My goodness, I have to say they were easily the best I’ve ever had. And a fresh shucked dozen with wine down by the pier cost just $13.00! 

Oyster beds

We made one last stop on our drive back to Rennes and it was to another town with a well deserved reputation. Dinan is exquisite, with ramparts going nearly all the way around the town. There are lots of well preserved houses throughout and we enjoyed it.

Arriving back in Rennes, we turned in our car because we would use the train for our visit the next day. 

St Malo is a city that has intrigued us for a while as it provides the setting for a wonderful novel by Anthony Doerr called All the Light We Cannot See. It is easy to reach from Rennes by rail so we made a day trip of it. There is a lot of interesting history here. For one thing, it is the birthplace of Jacques Cartier, the explorer who basically founded New France in an area that the indigenous people called kanata, and we now refer to as Canada. 

As this was Judy’s birthday week, she could have anything she wanted for lunch. Naturally, she picked moules-frites with cidre (steamed mussels, french fries and hard cider). It was outstanding! 

For our last day before flying back to the UK we wandered around the town we had been living in but hadn't really seen. Rennes is a well preserved city that is home to over 350 half-timbered houses. We tried to see them all but failed. Here are just a couple of images of this amazing town.