Unterwegs

Saint-Malo: Saint-Malo ist der Geburtsort des berühmten Schriftstellers Chateaubriand und eine ehemalige Basis der Corsairs. Der beeindruckende Küstenort ist berühmt für seine ummauerte Altstadt und die atemberaubenden Panoramen. Schlendere entlang der Stadtmauern und genieße den Ausblick auf die Küste und die nahe gelegenen Inseln. Erkunde bei Ebbe die reiche maritime Geschichte und historische Festungen wie das Fort National und das Petit Bé Fort. Lass dir frische Meeresfrüchte schmecken und tauche in die lebendige Atmosphäre ein. Besuche auch die Kathedrale von Saint-Malo, ein Meisterwerk der gotischen Architektur.

Mûr-de-Bretagne Guerlédan: Diese Stadt liegt am atemberaubenden Guerlédan-See und ist mit ihrer atemberaubenden Landschaft perfekt für Outdoor-Aktivitäten wie Wandern und Radfahren geeignet. Der See bietet sich für Wassersportarten wie Kajakfahren und Paddleboarding an. Erkunde die umliegenden Wälder und genieße ein Picknick am See, während du die Ruhe dieses malerischen Ortes wortwörtlich einatmest

Ille-et-Vilaine (35)

Population: 1.11 million, spread over 27 cantons and 333 communes

Prefecture: Rennes (pop. 216,815)

Sub-prefectures: Fougères, Redon, Saint-Malo

Surface area: 6,775 km²

Specialities: Cancale oysters, Roellinger spices, PDO mussels from the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel, PDO salt-meadow lamb from the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel, Rennes cuckoo chickens, Janzé chickens, Bordier butter, Saint-Malo crackers, sausage and pancake, Redon and chestnuts, the Lices market (2nd largest in France and one of the oldest)

Festivals: Quai des Bulles and Étonnants Voyageurs in Saint-Malo, Dinard Film Festival, Transmusicales in Rennes, La Route du Rock (summer and winter collections), Yaouank (Breton music festival in Rennes)

Tourist attractions: Rennes and its parliament, the bay of Mont Saint-Michel (UNESCO site), Broceliande forest, fortresses of Vitré and Fougères, eleven-lock staircase at Hédé-Bazouges, Bécherel cité du livre®, Book Festival at Easter, valleys of the Rance, Vilaine and Couesnon rivers, megalithic site of Saint-Just

Economy: France's leading dairy-producing region. 71,542 students (56% of Brittany), 47.9% of businesses in services (CCI 35), Rennes Métropole has French Tech label. 4.32 million overnight stays in 2019

Sport: Stade Rennais (Ligue 1, European competitions), Cesson Rennes Métropole Handball (Les Irréductibles Cessonais), French Pro D2 champions in 2009 and 2020

Websites:www.ille-et-vilaine.fr, www.ille-et-vilaine-tourisme.bzh

Châteauneuf-d'Ille-et-Vilaine

Châteauneuf-d'Ille-et-Vilaine castle

Construction: 18th century

Style: malouinière

History: There is clear evidence of the castle's existence as early as 1117. Rebuilt in 1353, it was again destroyed and rebuilt in 1441 under the name of Châteauneuf. The oldest parts (north tower, fragments of the east and north curtain walls) date from this period. Dismantled in 1592–1594, it was rebuilt in 1611 along the same lines as the previous enclosure, with the addition of a drawbridge and barbican. Between 1747 and 1748, the keep and the châtelet were demolished. The stones from the demolitions were used to build the stables. The courtyard was raised by three metres and two outbuildings were constructed to frame the old château. Two marble busts that once adorned the castle gardens are now preserved at the Château du Bois-Bide in Pocé-les-Bois. The chateau park was first opened to the public in 1890. The gardens stretched for more than a kilometre down to the river Rance and were the largest in Upper Brittany in the 18th century.

Listed as: Historical Monument in 1992

La Vicomté-sur-Rance (Pop: 1,200)

The village, whose privately-owned Château de la Bellière is a listed building, is the birthplace of film pioneer William Dickson, son of a couple of artists who lived near Saint-Malo. After emigrating to the United States, he became one of Thomas Edison's right-hand men, developing several projection devices and making his first film in 1890.

Calorguen (Pop: 7,209)

Calorguen is the home village of Bernard Hinault, who ran a farm here for around twenty years after retiring from the sport. The village is no stranger to the Tour de France, which passed through here in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2013. So inseparable are the Hinaults from Calorguen that the wife of the five-time winner, Martine, was the town’s mayor from 2008 to 2014.

Bernard Hinault

He is French cycling's most successful rider, whether Jacques Anquetil or Louison Bobet like it or not. Bernard Hinault was also the last French rider to win the Tour de France in 1985. With this title, as well as those won in the three major Tours, in the most prestigious classics on the calendar and in the 1980 World Championship, he remains the last larger than life champion of cycling in his country. The Tour de France, of course, which he won five times between 1978 and 1985, was a perfect stage for this former apprentice fitter who switched to cycling after starting out as a runner. A true force of nature, this Breton cut from granite had incomparable physical resources, recuperative powers and resilience. Cyrille Guimard, his former team manager, described him quite simply as "the most powerful rider in the peloton". A hard-hitter, versatile and an unrivalled rouleur, he was on par with the climbers in the mountains and did not shy away from winning a bunch sprint if he felt like it, as he did on the Champs-Élysées in 1979 and 1982, when he didn't take kindly to criticism of his alleged "lack of panache". Cyrille Guimard had this to say that year: “Hinault knows how to adapt to any situation. That's what makes him incomparable.” His talent was already apparent in the amateur ranks, and it wasn't long before he had his first successes with the professionals in 1977. The following year, his first experience in a major Tour confirmed what everyone had sensed: by winning the Vuelta, he demonstrated that he was cut out for three-week races. His victory in the 1978 Tour de France underlined this. He repeated the feat the following year, declaring without wavering: “I'm going to win, that's all. I tell myself I'm the strongest. I act and speak accordingly”. This unshakeable confidence enabled him to bounce back when the going went tough. That's how he made up for dropping out of the 1980 Tour with a sore knee by becoming world champion a few months later in Sallanches. His third title, in 1981, was undoubtedly his most deliberate and relentless, and his 1982 victory the easiest, soon enhanced by a first Tour-Giro double. He also found new resources in 1985 to dispose of Laurent Fignon, who had beaten him on a regular basis the previous year. He was also able to accept the victory of a team-mate, Greg LeMond, in 1986, even crossing the line hand in hand with the American at the summit of Alpe d'Huez. It was a harsh handover – so much so that he pushed LeMond to his limits – but a respectful one. Adversity stimulated him more than anything else. In 1985, he overcame a broken nose in Saint-Étienne to win. Similarly, he forced himself to compete in Paris-Roubaix, which he hated, to win in 1981. Of all the Tour's great winners, he was, perhaps even more than Merckx, the only true 'boss' of the race, the man who dictated the rules to the peloton and led the uprisings when it came to asserting the rights of the riders... or pulling punches. Between 1978 and 1986, he dominated world cycling, with 216 professional victories (144 excluding criteriums). His pugnacious character earned him the nickname "Petit Blaireau" (Little Badger) from the start of his career – a nickname given to him by his friend Maurice Le Guilloux -–and later Blaireau (Badger, Breton ar broc'h), as this animal is renowned for rarely letting go of its catch. At the age of 32, he cleverly withdrew at the top to be reunited with Martine, his wife since the age of 18, and to settle in Calorguen, where she was mayor until 2014. After working for ASO as an ambassador for the Tour de France and presiding over jersey presentations, he stepped back in 2016 to enjoy his children and grandchildren. He is also godfather to Christopher Anquetil, son of Jacques, proof that French cycling is one big happy family.

Dinan (Pop: 15,000)

Perched on a hillside 75 m above the River Rance, Dinan boasts one of the richest architectural heritages in Brittany (71 listed monuments) and proudly boasts a crown of ramparts 2,700-m long, with 14 defence or watchtowers, four monumental gates and a keep built for Duke John IV. With its ancient streets lined with timber-framed houses with corbelled upper storeys from the 15th and 16th centuries, its Renaissance town houses, its grand mansions from the Age of Enlightenment, its Romanesque and Gothic churches, its former convents, its chapels and its many shops, the town of Dinan is a veritable time machine. You'll come across the memories of Bertrand du Guesclin, Duchess Anne, Chateaubriand and Auguste Pavie. Tens of thousands of visitors come every year to visit the castle-museum, the belfry and the former convents. Dinan is also the birthplace of Théodore Botrel, the famous singer-songwriter who penned “La Paimpolaise”, and actor Jean Rochefort. Dinan has also hosted the Tour de France in 1930 (stage won by Learco Guerra) and 1931 (stage won by Max Bulla). Among the many riders born in town are former French champion Edwige Pitel, Benoît Salmon (16th and 1999 Tour white jersey), Christian Levavasseur (1980 Tour combativity award), Arnaud Gérard (3 Tour appearances), National Cycling League president Xavier Jan (3 appearances) and Cédric Hervé (1 appearance).

Dinan Castle

Built: 1384-1393
Style: medieval.
History: the current castle, built in the 14th century, replaces an 11th-century castral mound. John IV the Conqueror, Duke of Brittany and victor in the War of the Breton Succession, decided to build a master tower in Dinan in 1380 to assert his authority over the town. At the end of the 16th century, Dinan became a stronghold of the Catholic League and, at the instigation of the Duke of Mercœur, Governor of Brittany, major modifications were undertaken. At the end of the 17th century, military engineer Simeon Garangeau suggested transforming the tower into a residence for the town's governor and then into a military prison. Throughout the 18th century, hundreds of English sailors were imprisoned here. Turned into a common law prison in the 19th century, the château was bought at the beginning of the 20th century by the town of Dinan, which set up its municipal museum there in 1908.
Characteristics: it is a composite whole, made up of three initially distinct elements: the ducal tower, built in the 1380s; the Guichet gate; and the Coëtquen tower, a remarkable artillery tower built at the end of the 15th century during the modernisation of the town walls.
Current destination: gradually withdrawn from the château in 2015, the museum's collections are now stored in the municipal reserves. In 2014, the town of Dinan decided to embark on an ambitious programme of restoration and enhancement of the monument, which was made possible by extensive historical research that provided a new perspective on the château.
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1886.

Plancoët (Pop: 3,100)

François-René de Châteaubriand spent part of his childhood in Plancoët, where his grandmother lived. The town produces a mineral water that bears his name.  "Plancoët" was the nickname of Désiré Letort, who took part in eight Tours de France between 1965 and 1972 and held the Yellow Jersey for a day in 1969. It is also the birthplace of Pascal Poisson, a former team-mate of Bernard Hinault and Laurent Fignon, who won a stage of the 1984 Tour de France in Blagnac and a stage of the Vuelta the previous year. He now lives in Guadeloupe.

Pléneuf-Val-André (Pop: 4,100) 

 Val-André is the seaside resort proper, created at the end of the 19th century by the gradual construction of villas along a 2.5 km beach; the main street, of equal length, stretches some fifty metres back from the promenade dyke and in its middle section is home to numerous shops, a casino with games, bars and restaurant, theatre and cinema, a large chapel created by the nuns of Saint-Quay in 1890, as well as tennis courts in Parc de l'Amirauté. The port of Dahouët has made a major contribution to the prosperity of Pléneuf, and with its heritage, shops and port facilities, it now plays a key role in the town's tourist appeal. Actress Charlotte Valandrey, who grew up in the commune, was buried there after her death in 2022. Pléneuf is also the resting place of writers Raoul Ponchon and Jean Richepin, and publisher Simone Gallimard, daughter-in-law of Gaston Gallimard, the founder of the publishing house that bears their name. Rider Fabrice Jeandesboz, who took part in three Tours de France between 2011 and 2016, is a native of the town.

Hillion (Pop: 4,300)

Hillion is one of Brittany’s mussel-growing strongholds, accounting for 10 pc of the mussels produced in France. The municipality is home to a dozen small castles and manor houses, one of which, the 19th-century Château des Aubiers, has had French MH listing since 2007

Langueux (Pop: 7,950)

On the shores of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, the former Saint-Ilan brickworks has become a museum dedicated to the history of the bay. The museum focuses on three themes: the brickworks, market gardening and the Côtes-du-Nord railways. The Association des chemins de fer des Côtes-du-Nord occupies part of the site. Volunteers have re-laid track and restored historic railway equipment. During the summer, you can take this little tourist train, which is unique in Brittany.

Plédran (Pop: 6,700)

A country town, nicknamed the "green lung" of the Saint-Brieuc conurbation. Populated since Neolithic times, it was occupied by the Gallo-Romans before expanding during the Middle Ages. Today, the commune has become a major tourist attraction in the Côtes-d'Armor, as much for its landscapes as for its historical and architectural heritage. Plédran is also the birthplace of Maurice Le Guilloux, one of Bernard Hinault's most loyal lieutenants, who took part in nine Tours de France between 1975 and 1984. It was Maurice Le Guilloux who gave his leader his nickname of "badger".

Uzel (Pop: 1,070)

This former weaving centre was the birthplace of the father of the Paris metro, Fulgence Bienvenüe (1852-1935), who gave his name to Montparnasse-Bienvenüe metro station.