Sunday, July 10, 2016

France Day 8 - Continued - Dinan!

We finally reached the medieval town of Dinan!  The place we were staying, La Maison Pavie, had told us that the city had just changed a lot of streets to one ways, different from usual.  Lucky for us the GPS worked fine.

La Maison Pavie:
The house Pavia takes its name from one of its illustrious occupants:
Auguste Pavie. Nicknamed "The explorer barefoot 'first ambassador of France
in Laos and Minister Plenipotentiary, he was born there in 1847.
From 1872 to 1895 Auguste Pavie traveled Siam and Indo-China,
Vietnam to Laos through Angkor and Saigon.
Travel and Indochina of the last century have inspired the choice of materials,
colors, furniture design or tableware, fabrics, lighting ...
giving the home a contemporary and warm decor.
the historic elements of the house have been preserved and highlighted.
Of medieval origins are found in the ground large granite slabs of the entrance,
the stairs connecting the 3rd floor room and mud walls,
subtly preserved latrines. The floor of the first and second floor
of large, thick strips of dark brown oak, μ
recall the developments made ​​in the seventeenth.
Finally the exhibition evokes all the delicacy of the eighteenth with its paneled walls 
with rounded corners and fireplace walk lyon.

La Maison Pravie
A lot of the very old houses have the upper part of the house extend over the bottom of the house.  Since taxes were based on the square footage of your foundation in those years, this was a way to have more house and less tax.

La Maison Pavie is a real tourist camera moment.  The town square is below us and there were always tourists taking pictures of the house and then they would go into the church.
Part of the view from our front window shows the town square.
The other side of our front window view is the church.  Are we close enough?

The Church is St. Saviour's Basilica

The construction of St Sauveur Basilica was commissioned around 1120 by Sir Rivallon le Roux, Lord of Dinan, on his return from the first crusade to thank the Lord for his protection …hence its name.
The church was extensively rebuilt and extended during the 15th and 16th centuries and is a successful blend of architectural styles.
The lower part of St Sauveur Basilica’s facade was part of the original 12th century building.
The variety, complexity and beauty of the sculptures that adorn the porch turn it into a masterpiece of  Romanesque art and enhance the High Gothic style gable.
On the side of the church was a addition of a small chapel on the side of the church.  This was also part of our view.



The stairs were the original stairs and they were made for tiny. dainty feet.  They are very steep, narrow and some are rather worn.  It made you be very careful going down them.


We were on the third floor so it was a bit of a challenge.

Our view from the back window.


La Maison Pavie was very nice, clean and helpful.  I would recommend it highly.

Tomorrow is a full day in Dinan.








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