26 March - Dinan, Medieval Town (Day 67)

When I reached the train station, it was very crowded and there was a long queue at the ticket booth. There were queues too for the ticket machines, which normally were under-utilised. I guess people were using the long weekend for traveling because normally the station isn’t this crowded. I wonder how it would be like in June when it is the holidays. I think it is best that we arrive at the station 1hr before departure to play safe during our tour. Now I always arrive 20min before departure and sometimes it is quite risky as you never know if there is going to be a long queue or not. Luckily, I got my ticket within 10 min and hence was in time for the train. However, inside the train, I almost couldn’t find a seat as it was very packed. With less than 5 min to departure, people started rushing in and soon the entire train was filled up. This was the first time I encountered this. Normally I could put my bag on the seat next to me and stretch my legs over to the seat opposite. The train was so packed that some of the people had to stand at the doorway as they couldn’t find a seat.

A young mother (yeah!!!) boarded the train together with her baby and her pram. She sat beside me and her pram was right in the middle of the walkway. She was quite embarrassed for obstructing the centre walkway, esp. when people wanted to move to the other car. After a while, the train moved and it was the bumpiest ride I had ever taken. It was the same train company TER, just that this was a lousier train. The train was bound for St Malo which I had gone to last Sat, and would pause at Dol de Bretagne. From there, I needed to change to another train in order to get to Dinan. Perhaps the train was rocking too hard, the young mother decided to carry her baby in her arms. After 40 min of uncomfortable train ride, the train reached Dol and I had to squeeze my way through in order to alight. Not many people got off in this station as most of them were going to St Malo. I had more than an hour to spend in Dol before my train arrives and hence decided to take a look at this quiet town.

There is just one thing to see in Dol which is the Cathedral of St Samson. Brittany has 9 cathedrals and 7 of them were used for pilgrims. This is one of them. It is a very vast structure with 2 porches, a big one and a small one. In a way, the cathedral looks like a fortress. After spending 45min there, I had to return to the train station as I didn’t want to miss the train to Dinan. On the way, there was a Saturday market but it was closing as it was already passed 2pm. There was a stall (in those mobile van) selling crepe and I actually wanted to try but dropped the idea because of the queue. Really can’t afford to miss the train. The train ride from Dol to Dinan was just 20min but it was even bumpier. By the time I reached Dinan, I felt like throwing up.

Some history on this small medieval town. It was defended by Du Guesculin and his brother Oliver during the Hundred Years War. The English were besieging the castle and Du Guesculin asked for a 40 days truce after which he would surrender. Oliver however broke the truce and while outside the castle, he was captured by an English knight Lancaster who demanded 1000 (don’t know what currency) for the ransom. Du Guesculin challenged Lancaster to a single battle and the English knight was defeated. Basically, that’s the story about this town. The train station was a distance away from the city centre and so I had to walk to the other end of town to find the office of tourism. I wanted to ask for a town plan but it was too crowded as there was some kind of guided tour going on and hence I just bought a postcard. Anyway, I had the guidebook which was sufficient.

I had more than 4 hrs to spend here and hence took my own sweet time exploring the place. On the way, I saw quite a number of British tourists. It was easy to identify them once they open their months to speak. The first place I went to was the castle. I didn’t want to go in initially because I had been to enough castles. But then I saw that the entrance fee was only 1.60 euros for students and hence changed my mind. This is really a small castle with very short towers but has a large keep. The exhibitions inside the castle were quite interesting, about Du Guesculin, the traditions of Bretons, etc. Previously when I went to such exhibitions, I would just take a glance and moved off. Today, as I knew I had ample time, I tried to read those explanations which were in French and had a bit more understanding. At the top of the castle keep, I had a good view of the town. Then I went outside of the castle and saw a drawbridge half-drawn from the main gate. This was the first time I have seen a drawbridge. The previous castles that I had been too had none or had the bridge removed. I feel that a standard castle should have towers, a keep, a moat and a drawbridge.

Following the guide, I came to Place du Guesculin and there I saw a statue of the hero, mounted on his horse with one hand carrying a lance. There were some ramparts leading to some towers. One of them was the Tower of St Catherine and from there, I had a great panorama of the River Rance. Thanks to the guidebook, I was able to take some real nice pics. Next I went to the Basilica St Sauveur, which is just another chapel. When Du Guesculin died in another place, he wanted to be buried in Dinan. Traditionally, the kings of France had 3 tombs, for the heart, the entrails (the organs, intestines, etc) and the body. For Du Guesculin, the embalming was not done properly and he had 4 tombs in the end. His heart was preserved in the tomb which is in St Sauveur. So I went there just to take a picture of that tomb.

After that, I went to the heart of the town and it reminded me of the centre of Rennes with the timbered houses, medieval streets, etc. It was fun to use the guidebook as I would be looking out for those buildings and places mentioned in it. And when I reached that place, I would take a picture of it and it felt like a mission accomplished. What the guidebook had was the descriptions of the buildings, like 3 pillars, 2 arches, etc. And when you actually saw the building and it matched the descriptions, there would be a sense of satisfaction. Along the way, I passed by a shop that sells Kouign Amann and I remember what Mr. Giant said about the best Kouign Amann is found in Dinan. But it looked unappealing and worst made than the one I had in St Malo so I didn’t try. After wandering around the streets and taking occasional breaks, I began to explore the promenades which were just long walk paths with trees by the side.

I always like to visit the gardens in the town as they not only have trees and flowers, but also animals. Here in Dinan, the garden had deer, roosters, peacock and lots of ducks in the pond. But the most enjoyable part was to see how much fun the children were having. Some boys were playing swordfighting using branches just under the castle wall. At about 615pm, I slowly made my way back to the train station. Even though now I am much more at ease in taking the train, I almost missed the train home because I went to the wrong platform. Luckily, intuition told me that something was wrong and so I went to ask the controller who showed me the way. The return trip was just as bumpy but there were no crowd at all. In fact, on the train from Dinan to Dol, there were just me and another guy in the entire train! Really a waste of resources to transport 2 people using the train. From Dol to Rennes there were more people but I could still have 4 seats to myself.

After I reached Rennes, I had less than 10 min to catch the 2006hrs bus. I didn’t want to wait for the next one which was at 2021hrs. So I had to run a bit because the walk from the train station to the bus stop is about 15min. When I reached the bus stop, a lady just finished her cigarette and asked if I had one to offer her. I said I don’t smoke and boarded the bus. There were quite a lot of students on the bus going back to INSA. Why are they spending the holiday in campus? Why aren’t they going home or going somewhere else to play? That reminded me of myself in Hall 2 as I sometimes do stay back in campus during weekends or holidays. Really like no life like that.

I would be spending the next 2 days in the room. I don’t mind traveling but the transportation service is not very reliable on Sundays and holidays and hence it would better to stay in the room. But I would check out that Carrefour supermart tomorrow.

PS: While I was on my way back to the train station in Dinan, I saw a young gangster challenging an old gangster to a fight while his girlfriend stood there and watched. I couldn’t understand what the dispute was about but I was hoping that a fight would break out. Fists were raised and there were some pushing around but none of them dared to give the other a punch. No one dared to start off. I walked passed them and felt that since I wasn’t in any rush, I turned around and stood at a distance to enjoy the show. My guess was the older thug would win because although he was shorter, he was stouter. The quarrel broke off after some exchanges of vulgarity and there was no fight in the end. What a disappointment. Maybe I should go and talk to that youngster’s girlfriend.