(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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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…