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Day Trip to Dinard, a Breton beach resort

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(Saint-Malo, Brittany, France)

Following in the footsteps of Jacques Cartier, we boarded a boat in Saint-Malo and set sail for new frontiers. However, our journey ended only about 10 minutes later with our arrival in the nearby town of Dinard.   We could have taken a bus, but it would have taken longer and the views along the way would not have been as inspiring.

Dinard’s posh yacht club

When we arrived in Dinard, we saw the yacht club almost immediately…this is a fairly well-heeled beach resort!  Strangely, however, we didn’t see any obvious downtown core.  The ferry dock was in a leafy area and there was a large escarpment further obscuring our vision.  We were traveling without a map and we decided to resort to one of our time-tested navigational techniques.

The failed navigational aid. This is not in downtown Dinard.

In an unfamiliar French town, you can usually find the downtown core quite easily by scanning the horizon for the biggest cathedral spire.  We did that here, but found very little other than the cathedral itself.  The signage from the dock was quite poor (or well-hidden) and we later realized that we were actually walking away from the downtown.

Much closer to downtown Dinard…

Eventually, we found a sign pointing to the centre-ville parking garage. We had to climb a large hill but ultimately discovered a vibrant downtown core sitting right in front of a massive sandy beach.  Perhaps if you don’t know where Dinard’s downtown is located, you don’t need to go?  Anyway, the extensive hike worked up our appetites and we enjoyed yet another “formule” (savoury galette,sweet crepe, and bowl of cider) for lunch.

On the beach in Dinard

The beach was huge and, thanks to low tide, we could walk out on the sand for what seemed like miles before it slowly turned into the sea.  There were soccer games in progress:  Rio de Janeiro is apparently not the only place where you can play soccer on the beach!  Also found everywhere:  stripey Breton shirts.

At low tide, you can see Saint-Malo while still on Dinard’s beach

Finally armed with a map from the downtown tourist office, we walked back to the ferry dock via a steep coastal trail that passed by huge waterfront homes.  The trip back to Saint-Malo was uneventful until we arrived at the dock and discovered that a lobster boat had taken our docking place.  Much discussion and debate ensued, as the lobster crew still had to unload their massive catch.  In the end, a 10-minute trip ended up taking 40 minutes by the time we disembarked at a nearby pier.

A modest home in Dinard, just above the waterfront trail leading back to the ferry dock

After all of this exploring, it’s finally time to take care of some business.  But, in an unfamiliar country, even mundane activities can sometimes become epic adventures…

Posts from the road

The Walled City of Saint-Malo

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(Saint-Malo, Brittany, France)

The Breton city of Saint-Malo is located on the English Channel, a couple of hours (by very slow trains) southwest of Bayeux.  We decided to stay here for a few days because of its famous walled old town.  We also knew that there was a laundromat (as we were at the halfway point of our trip) and that there was a connection to Jacques Cartier.  That was enough to give it a look!

Main entrance to Saint-Malo’s old city (“intra muros”)

Jacques Cartier was a Breton explorer who claimed (what is now) Canada for France.  He was born in in Saint-Malo in 1491, and it is not difficult to see the architectural inspiration for the old parts of Quebec City.  Saint-Malo may rely heavily on tourism today, but it originally appears to have grown rich from seafaring and, well, piracy.

Statue of Jacques Cartier, atop the ramparts of Saint-Malo

Visitors are drawn to both the walled city and the city’s many sandy beaches. We’re not really into the beach scene, but we did appreciate the cool breezes coming in from the sea.  We missed that in both Rouen and Bayeux.

One of Saint-Malo’s side streets. We ate at the Asian restaurant on our first night, and had lunch at the creperie on the left on our last day

The walled city is larger than most and can also make you feel rather claustrophobic.  The streets are very narrow and the buildings are all very high.  While this creates shade during the day, it also seems to have stopped me from taking a lot of pictures within the walls (known locally as “intra muros”).

One of the many beaches below the city walls of Saint-Malo (at high tide)

Another reason I didn’t take many pictures in the city itself was simple:  it was very crowded.  It has been a very warm summer so far in northern France and I think a lot of people were escaping the inland heat.  In fact, we have yet to see a drop of rain on our trip.  You’ll notice that there is a fair bit of glare in my pictures:  the sun was relentless, and the sun also doesn’t set until about 11:00 p.m. at this time of year.  We can’t complain:  it’s better than relentless rain!

Looking toward Saint-Malo from the end of the lighthouse pier

There aren’t a lot of specific “must-see” sights in Saint-Malo: the main thing is to walk on top of the city walls.   A complete circuit takes about an hour, with stops, and gives some new perspectives on the narrow streets.  Alas, I can’t show them to you, as I left my camera’s memory card in our hotel room when we went for an extended walk on the walls!

A tall ship anchored at Saint-Malo

Coming up:  a boat journey from Saint-Malo!

Posts from the road

From Bayeux to Saint-Malo

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(Saint-Malo, Brittany, France)

Bayeux’s large medieval festival lasted several days, so we were able to revisit it a few times and check out some of the exhibits, kiosks, and activities that we missed the fist time around.

Medieval musicians in front of Bayeux’s Cathedral

One of the parks was devoted to medieval games…and we ended up spending quite a bit of time there. Quite a few were similar to “table shuffleboard”, and in fact one game was identical to a Dutch game called “sjoelen“. I remember playing sjoelen at my aunt’s house in ‘s-Gravenzande, but that didn’t give me much of an advantage!

Some of the medieval games in Bayeux

Some of the kiosks were a little different from what you would find in Canada. One was devoted to escargots! There were also many unusual clothing items for sale, ranging from full body armour to tricorne hats. As it was (and still is) quite hot, most of these items were not very practical and I didn’t end up buying any of them. I hope I don’t regret declining this rare opportunity!

Snails to go: escargots à emporter, à Bayeux.

We stumbled upon another unique site in Bayeux:  the Reporters’ Memorial.  This commemorates all of the reporters since World War II who have been killed in the course of their employment.  There is a forest path lined with large pillars containing the names of the reporters who died:  generally, there is one pillar per year, but many years (most of them recent) unfortunately spill over onto a second or even third pillar.  The memorial is a reminder of the important role journalism plays in a free society.

Some of the reporters who were killed in 2002

We’ve been eating a lot of galettes and crêpes lately, so I broke down and had a Turkish döner kebab on our last night in Bayeux.  It was a refreshing change but I think we’ll be having plenty of galettes and crêpes even after we move on from Bayeux.  While we are leaving Normandy, we will be spending five days in Brittany…where galettes and crêpes are just as ubiquitous.

An interesting intersection in Bayeux

The journey from Bayeux to Saint-Malo was very uneventful, compared to the strike-impaired journey out of Rouen.  We arrived in Saint-Malo on time and settled into our hotel without incident.  We miss having our own kitchen, but there is a boulangerie right around the corner.  This means we can continue our indulgent habit of having amazingly fresh chaussons aux pommes and pain au chocolat every morning!

Our local bakery in Bayeux

Stay tuned for more on Saint-Malo:  the Brittany town with a very strong connection to Canada!

Posts from the road

World War II Sites in Normandy

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(Bayeux, Normandy, France)

World War II can never be forgotten in Normandy. Until you visit here, it is difficult to comprehend the scale of what happened and how many people died.

Courseulles-sur-Mer

We first visited Juno Beach (see photo at the top of this post) in the nearby village of Courseulles-Sur-Mer. This was just one of several landing sites during the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944…better known as “D-Day” (le jour J in French).  However, the troops that landed here were predominantly Canadian, while the other landing sites had predominantly American or British troops.

One of the concrete bunkers at Juno Beach

The Juno Beach Centre is located right by the beach and is best described as an interactive museum.  Although the focus is on D-Day, there is also a lot about Canadian life in the 1930s and 1940s, to put everything into context.  We spent quite a bit of time here; it is actually staffed by young Canadians who are approximately the same age as the Canadian soldiers who participated in the invasion of Normandy.

Flags of the nations that participated in the D-Day invasion

Particularly moving was the movie shown near the end of the “circuit”.  The ferocity and carnage of D-Day is very strongly conveyed, using a combination of actual footage and extremely convincing recreations.  We also took a brief guided tour of the beach and two bunkers that were part of the Nazi defence of the coast.

Recreation at Juno Beach

We then spent some time exploring the beach on our own. It is still a huge sandy beach that is slowly moving inland.  Today it is predominantly a place for leisure, and it is often difficult to imagine that so many people died here.  It is estimated that there were at least 10,000 Allied casualties on D-Day alone, with 4,414 confirmed dead.

Vast expanse of sand at Juno Beach (low tide)

There are 18 Allied war cemeteries in Normandy alone.  As we are relying on public transportation here, it was not practical for us to visit the nearby Canadian cemetery at Bény-sur-Mer.  However, the cemeteries are usually not reserved for one particular nationality, so we visited the cemetery in Bayeux instead.

Entrance to the Bayeux War Cemetery

Most of the dead at the Bayeux Cemetery are British, but a significant number of Canadians are buried there too.  There are even a few hundred German soldiers.  It was striking how young most of the fallen soldiers were (mostly 18-20 years old) and how many died on the same day.

Bayeux War Cemetery

This was my first time at a war cemetery.  It is hard to process so many graves in one place, particularly with the knowledge that Normandy alone has 24 World War II cemeteries (including six predominantly German ones).  In Bayeux, there are nearly 5,000 soldiers buried.  A significant number are not identified, but contain the soldier’s nationality and the phrase “Known unto God”.

Bayeux War Cemetery

It was often challenging to reconcile the paddleboards and sandcastles at Courseulles-sur-Mer, or the shouts that came from the soccer field near the Bayeux Cemetery, with the Battle of Normandy.  However, our Juno Beach guide reminded us that the war was fought to preserve the freedoms (including leisure time) that we enjoy so much today.

Posts from the road

Arrival in Bayeux

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(Bayeux, Normandy, France)

The rail strike caused us a delay of nearly 3.5 hours.  Our original train still ran, but the entire self-serve rail ticket network was frozen and only a couple of ticket agents were working.  It took about an hour to buy our tickets, by which time our train had left.  Not a great start to our trip to Bayeux, especially as our (eventual) trains were very hot and we had to call our host in Bayeux repeatedly to adjust our arrival time.

Our apartment (on the left) in Bayeux, in a courtyard hidden behind an ancient wall.

We’re trying something a little different in Bayeux:  we have a furnished apartment with a fridge, etc.  In addition to being fabulously located in a historic building less than a block from the (huge) cathedral, it enables us to prepare some of our own meals.  This was a real blessing, as it is impossible to eat out every day without growing tired of it (and the cost).

This is the view from the street entrance to our apartment in Bayeux

As Bayeux was a very important medieval town, its cathedral is understandably huge.  I took many pictures of it, from various angles and at various times of day.  The days are long here, so I found the best light to be just before 11:00 p.m., when the summer sun is finally disappearing.

Bayeux’s Cathedral at 11:00 p.m.

Bayeux is perhaps best known for the the “Bayeux Tapestry” (actually an embroidery).  This work of art was created around the year 1070 to chronicle the victory of William the Conqueror (King of Normandy) over Harold (who claimed to be the King of England) at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.   It is a fascinating record of a major turning point in European history:  it also marks the beginning of the profound influence of French on the English language.

From the Bayeux Tapestry gift shop – a facsimile showing part of the 70-metre-long (!) tapestry

Looking like a massively elongated comic strip, the tapestry is nearly 70 metres long (!) and about 50 cm high.  Considering its age, it is remarkably well-preserved.  It was created to be hung in the cathedral so that the people understood the story of William the Conqueror.  In order to preserve the tapestry, photographs are not allowed and you only have about 25 minutes to view it.  The photo here is actually a contemporary copy of one of the scenes.

One of the creatures on the streets at the Bayeux medieval festival

Speaking of medieval times…we unknowingly arrived in the middle of Bayeux’s medieval festival.  The town was packed, with many of the people wearing full medieval costumes.  Many food items were medieval as well:  for a snack, I had a pear torte made from a 14th century recipe.

The medieval bakery kiosk in Bayeux. The chef is in period costume on the left.

Stay tuned for more medieval and modern stories from Bayeux!

Posts from the road

Last day in Rouen…and a strike!

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(Rouen, Normandy, France)

There are more than 2,000 half-timbered houses here…and sometimes one wonders how they remain standing.  The one below is right in the middle of the old town but nobody seems to be worried about it.

Precariously leaning house in Rouen

After quick visits to the (free) ceramics and ironworks museums, it was time for a big event:  the World Cup quarter-final match between France and Uruguay.  We claimed a table in a bar and assumed it would be like a big game in Canada:  noisy, occasionally, but still restrained.  We were wrong!

At the Rouen Ceramics Museum

Although there were only about 20 people in the room (this was a multilevel bar), it seemed like many more were actually there.  The intensity of emotion was astonishing and the amount of noise when France scored was deafening.  We had never seen anything like it, except perhaps when we saw a Feyenoord game in Rotterdam in 2014.  It will only get crazier, as France won 2-0 and advanced to the semi-final against Belgium.  I’m sure we’ll be watching that game too…I can’t imagine what it will be like if France makes it to the final on July 15!

As much as we loved the galettes here, we agreed that we should have something different for dinner.  My research uncovered a Senegalese restaurant just a few blocks from our hotel, so we decided to give it a try.

Inside the Ironworks Museum in Rouen

I chose chicken yassa and my wife ordered a vegetarian “XL samossa”.  It certainly was extra-large for a samosa:  it was filled with cheese, mixed vegetables, and an egg.  I wasn’t entirely sure what I had ordered but it turned out to be grilled chicken in a relatively sweet sauce.  However, the most interesting components of dinner were the sauces.

The very large Senegalese samosa

We were given some miniature samosas as an appetizer, with a very rich and flavourful tomato-based sauce.  However, the friendly proprietor offered me a spicier sauce, along with a warning that it was “medium strong”.  I appreciated the warning: if this was only “medium strong”, the “strong” must be impossibly incendiary!  I was glad that I had ordered a ginger-scented pineapple juice to soothe the (still enjoyable) burn.

The Ryal Metisse restaurant in Rouen

It was also nice to have Senegalese music playing throughout dinner.  I had picked up an unusual Youssou N’Dour record the day before, so music from Senegal was kind of a secondary theme for our stay in Rouen.  Who knew that N’Dour had covered the 1970s soul classic “Rubberband Man”?  You just never know what you will find while on holiday.

Notice board at the train station…STRIKE!

We really enjoyed our stay in Rouen and look forward to returning some day.  After such a nice introduction to France, I suppose it was inevitable that we would run into a classic France problem upon trying to leave:  a train strike!  At the time of writing, it looks like it will only cause a three-hour delay for us.

Posts from the road

Digging deeper into Rouen

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(Rouen, Normandy, France)

We’re living the good life in Rouen.  As predicted, we returned for dinner to La Crêperie Rouennaise, the same crêperie that we enjoyed so much the day before.  It was just as good the second time.  But I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself…

Part of the Place du Vieux-Marché, in the centre of Rouen

We started the day with a little shopping.  Some necessities, of course, but also some things that are too expensive or impossible to find back home.  For lunch, we found another winner:  the Listo restaurant, featuring food from Ecuador.  In addition to the “usual” fillings for empanadas, they had one with goat cheese and honey.  It was sublime with some hot sauce.

My empanadas at Listo

Next was a visit to the Musée des Beaux-Arts.   We didn’t stay for too long, but we made a point of seeing the paintings by Claude Monet.  He painted the Cathédrale Notre-Dame in Rouen at least 30 times, in addition to many other local sights.  Seeing vast amounts of art at once is not really my thing, but it’s different when the painting was made locally and is of something you’ve actually seen.  I took a picture but art photography rarely turns out well!

Unsettling plague victim at l’aître Saint-Maclou

We also visited l’aître Saint-Maclou, which didn’t really mean that much to us as a name.  But it turned out to be a cemetery from the plague that was being restored, along with the surrounding buildings. It was kind of creepy to see bones just lying there, including one skull with an opened mouth.  There are certainly some macabre sights in Rouen, as you can see from the following picture…

Also located in the Place du Vieux-Marché

We started the evening with a hike to the top of Mont  Ste.-Catherine, for a view of Rouen and the surrounding area.  This was more difficult than it ought to have been, which we blame on not waiting until at least an hour had passed after dinner.   It was only when we reached the top that I realized I would have to take pictures directly into the setting sun.

View of Rouen from the Côte Sainte-Catherine, with the Seine River at the left

But the day still wasn’t over.  At nightfall, the Cathédrale de lumière sound and light show is projected onto the facade of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame.  The simulated burning of the cathedral was very impressive.  Once again, photos don’t do it justice….so here’s another quaint streetscape from earlier in the day…

Streets like this are everywhere in Rouen

We have one more day in Rouen before moving on to Bayeux.  As we will likely not have wi-fi access in Bayeux, there may be a bit of a break before the next post.

Posts from the road

We’re back in France!

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(Rouen, France)

A series of random events (primarily a seat sale to Paris) have led us to Rouen, formerly the second biggest city in France but now a mere “regional centre”. Luckily for us, there is history everywhere and we are already enjoying Rouen despite just arriving from Canada today.

Rouen’s famous Gros-Horloge, dating back to 1389

Our hotel is, er, rustic. The breakfast room looks vaguely like a darkened hunting club. We found a boulangerie (bakery) nearby, so it was an easy decision to opt out of breakfast.  The dim rooms don’t really matter either: we won’t be spending much time here anyway!

Rouen’s Notre-Dame Cathedral

Rouen is probably best known for being the site of the execution of Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc). But the medieval feel of the city is probably the best reason to visit. If you have a liking for half-timbered houses, this is definitely the place to be!

Even the tobacco shops are historic in Rouen

We’ll be here for a few nights, so we will dig a little deeper in the days to come.  The main events on our first day were orienting ourselves, superficially exploring the medieval streets, and having an excellent al fresco dinner at La Crêperie Rouennaise.   Not only was it reasonably priced, the food was excellent and we are already talking about going back for another meal!

This is where we had dinner tonight

Like many restaurants in Normandy, they specialize in galettes (buckwheat “crêpes” with savoury toppings/fillings) and proper  crêpes themselves (with sweet toppings/fillings).  I chose a Galette Parisienne, filled with emmental, ham, fresh mushrooms, and cream, and then topped with a egg.  For dessert, I had a simple crêpe with freshly squeezed lemon and icing sugar.  The  dessert crêpe was probably unnecessary, but I felt I had a duty to try one!  The locally produced cider was an added bonus.

Alas, northern Europe is having a heat wave that is almost as bad as what we were experiencing in Canada.  Our hotel also doesn’t have air conditioning, so we will have to pace ourselves during the long, hot days.  It is still light until well after 10:00 p.m.  Luckily, there seems to be plenty of ice cream available!

Another quaint business in Rouen

This extended trip to northern France is off to a good start.  Stay tuned for more on Normandy and Brittany, as well as a Bastille Day celebration in yet another historic small city, before our finale in Paris!

Posts from Base Camp

Travel Flashback: Orkney 2002 (Part 2)

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

My previous post focused on the ancient sites of Orkney.  However, Orkney wasn’t just a big deal 5000 years ago.  It continued to be an important place for a very long time…so important that the Vikings controlled it for hundreds of years and left more than a trace of their culture.

Kirkwall’s St. Magnus Cathedral (founded in memory of Magnus Erlendsson)

The Viking presence is felt most in the “capital” of Kirkwall.  It’s the largest “city”, but still is home to only about 9,200 people.  For a city of that size, it certainly has its share of disproportionately large buildings. The most epic is St. Magnus Cathedral, which is built from red and yellow sandstone and dates back to the year 1137.  It’s very dark and drafty inside, with plenty of morbid gravestones (featuring lots of skulls, crossbones, and hourglasses) to remind us of our mortality.

Me “inside” the Earl’s Chambers, at the Earl’s Palace (Kirkwall, Orkney)

Right beside St. Magnus Cathedral are the ruins of the Earl’s Palace and the Bishop’s Palace.  The Bishop’s Palace was built in the 12th century to house the bishop of the Norwegian Catholic Church.  The Earl’s Palace was built in 1607, because the then-Earl of Orkney thought that the Bishop’s Palace was inadequate for his needs.

The “Interior” of the Bishop’s Palace in Kirkwall, Orkney

In a bizarre example of foreshadowing, I was intrigued enough by the bowling green behind the Earl’s Palace to take a picture of it (it’s the one at the very top of this post).  Little did I know that, 15 years later, lawn bowling would actually become part of my life.  Any future trip to Scotland will definitely include a bowling green visit – what an atmospheric place to play!

Goofing around on the Bishop’s Palace Tower (Kirkwall, Orkney)

The “second city” of Orkney is Stromness, with a population of just 2,200 people.  However, it was worth a visit because one of my wife’s ancestors sailed from here hundreds of years ago en route to a new life in Canada with the Hudson’s Bay Company.  We found the well where such sailors took on fresh water before heading across the sea.  In addition to the Hudson’s Bay Company ships, Captain Cook’s vessels and John Franklin’s ships (in search of the fabled Northwest Passage) also took on water here.

The harbour in Stromness, Orkney

While in Orkney, we also took the opportunity to visit one of the more sparsely populated (relatively speaking) islands.  Shapinsay is home to only 300 people and is about a 25-minute ferry ride from the Orkney “Mainland”.  There isn’t much for the restless tourist on quiet Shapinsay, which is known primarily for agriculture and birds, but there is a spectacular castle (Balfour Castle) that is now run as a hotel.

Balfour Castle – on the island of Shapinsay, Orkney

Other sights in Orkney include the Highland Park Distillery, which is the northernmost whisky (as the Scots spell it) distillery in the world.  We didn’t go on the tour, as it seemed rather expensive at the time.  Alas, we didn’t realize that Highland Park is actually a very special whisky;  apparently, it is the only whisky to ever receive a rating of 100% from the tasting team at The Scotsman newspaper.

Orkney is a small and remote place, but it far exceeded our expectations.  It’s yet another place that we’d love to visit again!

Posts from Base Camp

Travel Flashback: Orkney 2002 (Part 1)

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(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

One of our favourite trips was our 2002 journey to Scotland…especially if you ignore my severe allergy attack in Inverness and the food poisoning I suffered in Glasgow!  We loved the regal city of Edinburgh, but the most enjoyable part of our trip was our 5-day stay in Orkney, off the remote northern coast of Scotland.

Boarding the Pentland Venture at John O’Groats, Scotland…on our way to Orkney!

Orkney is fascinating.  It is largely treeless and it also has a rich Viking history.  But our favourite parts were the ancient (many of them older than the Pyramids!) structures at sites such as Skara Brae, Maeshowe, and Broch of Gurness.  To say nothing of the various standing stones…in terms of atmosphere and access, these put Stonehenge to shame!

The 5000-year-old chambered burial tomb of Maeshowe

The Maeshowe burial tomb was not just a mound…you could go inside and look at runic graffiti (30 examples, written by Vikings nearly 1000 years ago)!  The tomb was already 4000 years old by then.  The tomb was also precisely constructed for light to shine in on the winter solstice each year.

Beside one of the standing stones at the Ring of Brodgar

If you’ve ever wondered what is so fascinating about standing stones…stand next to one!  They are huge.  Trying to figure out details such as “why” and “how” could occupy you for an entire lifetime.  There are 27 stones still standing at the Ring of Brodgar, a circular Neolithic “henge” very close to Maeshowe on a windswept plain.  Only 1 km away, the Standing Stones of Stenness are also impressive, with one of the stones reaching a height of 18 feet.

Centre Chamber of the Broch of Gurness

The number of ancient sites on Orkney’s “Mainland” is almost overwhelming.  The Broch of Gurness would be a major attraction all on its own, but it is just one of many on this compact island.  This Iron Age settlement dates from “only” about 500 B.C.  See the photo at the top of this post for more of the Broch of Gurness.

Climbing above and around the Neolithic village of Skara Brae

Also found on Orkney’s “Mainland” is Skara Brae, the most complete Neolithic village in Europe.  Although constructed 5000 years ago, it was unknown for millennia until a severe storm in 1850 ripped away the soil and exposed a series of stone buildings without roofs.  You can now wander around, and look down on, the homes which have miraculously survived all these years.  In some cases, there are even stone “furnishings”.

One of the homes at Skara Brae – this is how we lived 5000 years ago

Stay tuned for further pictures and stories from Orkney (and Scotland).  There is plenty more to share!  While I highly recommend visiting Orkney, you should be aware that it is not the warmest destination.  The pictures in this post were all taken in the middle of the summer:  we needed a jacket every day.  Given Orkney’s location in the North Sea, and the lack of trees, it can also be very windy.