The first portion of our time in France was spent getting to know the lovely area surrounding our abode. On the few occasions when the weather cooperated, Jake and I planned little excursions much farther outside the immediate bubble that we had grown accustomed. Thanks to the amazing guidebook that our house-hosts provided, we had a whole host of places to explore!

The first big trip we took a few weeks into our stint, and was one of the further jaunts at nearly 2-hours (one-way). This would be the first (of many) French “castles” that we visited. Fort la Latte lies along the northwest coast, very near Saint-Brieuc. And no, this Fort didn’t provide any coffee, lattes or other beverages (though that’d be really cool)! Its an impressive granite structure that stands in solitary splendor on a small spit of land at the Baie de la Fresnaye.

Jake has already grown comfortable driving on the opposite side of the car (still same side of the road). The major drawback here is that the roads are quite narrow and often difficult to see around the large banking corners, what with all the foliage in the way. Also, the speed limits constantly change to 50, 70, 80 and 90km/hr at the drop of a hat. If you are caught going even 1km over the speed limit, you get a ticket, and there are automatic detectors EVERYWHERE.

I simply enjoyed the rolling hillsides interspersed with beautiful quaint-looking villages. It appeared that the sky would hold off in the rain-department for a change, but still remain cloudy. When we were only a few kilometers away, we could see the coast and at low-tide, the seagulls were feasting, it was really beautiful (and smelly).

One of the best things about France is that most, if not all, of the historic and significant sights are relatively inexpensive to visit. If you live here, they’re free! For us it was only €12 to get the full tour. Jake bought our tickets with cash, and did a good job speaking French.

Fort La Latte sits right on the coast which had a few cruiser boats and fishing boats anchored at its heels. It was so beautiful and I was off snapping photos like a maniac. There weren’t too many tourists yet, and since this is our first real tourist attraction, it felt like we had the place to ourselves. We took our time walking up every narrow, winding stone-stairway up to little nooks and crannies, turrets and all. There were a few really lovely gardens along the front entrance and inside there was an impeccably maintained hedge-maze.

In 1490, La Latte besieged by the English and by the holy League in 1597. Later the castle was turned into a fortress to defend Saint-Malo against English and Dutch attacks. The last attack happened in 1815 during the Hundred Days (Cent-Jours) or Waterloo Campaign when a few from Saint-Malo unsuccessfully attacked the castle. Now its here for everyone to enjoy and it is certainly worth a visit. After several hours the crowds poured in and so we headed down to the rocky beach. I kept thinking how much fun it would be to have Bosco anchored out right here!

We continued our travel along the coast only a few kilometers to the west to Cap Fréhal. This peninsula extends off the Côte d’Émeraude into the Golfe de Saint-Malo. There are 2 lighthouses situated here, one from the 17th century and the other from 1950. We only briefly walked around but it was so crowded, and you had to pay to park that we didn’t stay long…just to snap a photo.

There is a long footpath that follows the cliffs and spans for almost the entire length of the north coast, lined with gorgeous flowers, brambles and extraordinary views. We found a perfect spot along the path to park the car and enjoy our yummy lunch. Jake packed us a really nice lunch of homemade bread, sausage and cheese and a big bottle of sparkling water, oh and homemade brownies. I was envious of all the people hiking down to the beach, so afterwards, we followed their lead and took a walk.

The water was much further from the shore than it looked, as was the beach from our parking spot. So we ended up walking quite awhile to get down into the sand and then to get to the water. Though it was lovely, it was a bit cold and we had no suits or towels. I’m pretty sure this isn’t a nude beach… 😉 So we made mental plans to have a proper beach day when its warmer, and took our sweet time hiking back up.

One of the best things about this type of planning (or lack there of), is the randomness that changes the course of our day. We didn’t plan much beyond the Fort, other than I found a natural land preserve nearby that boasted some amazing hiking trails and photographic opportunities. Its called the Reserve Naturelle Baie De Saint-Brieuc. Too bad I could not remember this name at the time and google was no help. Jake grew impatient and kept driving down the road until I finally found the name of a town that seemed to be associated with our destination: Hillion; so that’s where we headed.

Along the drive, we spotted a sign for a “Chateau de something Abbey”. I couldn’t tell you what it actually was because we drove passed it too quickly but Jake was keen to turn around and check it out. It wasn’t far off the main road we followed a line of perfectly pristine apple trees and trimmed hedges, a MOAT, and up to another stone fortress. This was much less impressive than La Latte, but it still looked like a huge manor and had some horses and chickens milling about. We parked along with the other few cars and meandered to the front. Turns out we would have to pay €20/pp to go through; perhaps this is a private residence because that’s crazy cher! (my Franglish way of saying ‘crazy expensive’)

So we bailed and continued to our pseudo-destination, which turned out to be a super cute French village worth exploring. Our destination was further on, to the very end of the road, literally ending at the sea. Another dead-end (with a nice view).

We drove back to the center of town, which is most visibly seen as the church steeple and followed a sign called Maison de Baie. We aren’t positive if this is our goal, but its something similar enough and might be worth a gander. We went from one small road down to another and then another. We drove in a full circle but somehow ended up in a different area and then right before we were about to give it up, we spotted a wide parking lot with a big welcome sign. Jake made a remark like… “where are we?” and for some reason we both couldn’t stop laughing. We both thought of it in the rhetorical sense, like how the hell did we end up here (wherever here is).

There were tons of hiking paths toward various beautiful scenic places. There were also very large signs with funny pictures of animals labeled Tranche d’humour, or Slice of Humor (which I actually knew in French!). Oh it makes sense now, this is a photo gallery. The Maison is the building that is featuring said-gallery and that’s why its so crowded!

We explored a little bit but by now we were pretty wiped out from the day and needed to get back to the Shmeeka.

What I loved most about this was that it marked a big occasion…Our first “big” trip out of our comfort zone. Our first tourist destination and we somehow managed to survive with our limited knowledge of French language. And our first random experience in a completely foreign country.