Carol ‘s mother arrived in Niort and after a few days, we started our visits in France.

The first area we visited was Brittany, a region of strong Celtic influence , with well-preserved medieval cities and a coastline with beautiful landscapes. We stayed 4 days at the home of Mathilde, Alexis’s niece in Rennes, and from there we visited several areas of the region. We arrived on Friday, it was the birthday of Sven, Mathilde’s boyfriend, and we celebrated with French delicacies and rosé.

On Saturday morning it was market day in Rennes and nothing more traditional than buying salamis, cheeses, baguettes, traditional butter cakes and go to sit in a bar and enjoy all this with a delicious wine… Hmmmm…. We love France!

Then we had a walk around the city, which is super charming with all the buildings with an architecture of centuries the XIII century. A beautiful ride in a sunny day.

In the afternoon we went to Saint-Malo, a beautiful walled city that is beachfront and has a style influenced by English architecture.

There we went to have dinner in a crêperie in the wall of the fort that only made crepes, crepes are originaly from Brittany. Delicious…

The next day we went to visit the famous Mont Saint-Michel. Built on the top of a hill, it’s famous for its strong tides, which give a limited access, but no worries we were there at low tide. We climbed up to thebuilt in the XIII century on the top of the hill, and we tried the famous omelet of the mère Poulard.

On the way back to Rennes we stopped in the medieval town of Dinan. A beautiful surprise that made us go back in time. The city began its history in the eleventh century, it has houses with well-preserved medieval architecture and a stunning look. A must see!

On monday, we went to visit Julie, Alexis’s cousin who lives in the small town of Montcontour also a medieval thirteenth century town. The city is much smaller than Dinan, but also quite charming. The most interesting were the platelets of all stores in medieval style.

We had lunch at Alexis’s cousin, in her very alternative house, a house of artists, Julie does art with glass and her husband is a painter.

Then we went to Julie’s store in the center and she showed us how she does her art with glass. A very interesting experience.

To finish our little tour of Bretain, we strolled along the north coast, passing by the famous Cap-Frehel, to see the wonderful sea view over the beautiful cliffs.

That day was Carol’s mother’s anniversary and Mathilde and Sven cooked a delicious dinner seafood and crisp with french fries in a gorgonzolla sauce, a very traditional French dish.