Earlier this week, we decided to take a trip to Saint Malo, in the heart of Brittany. This relatively small city has a particularity: a seaward fortress since the Middle Ages, St Malo still has a 1.8 km wall circling the city. Designed by Vauban, Louis XIV’s military engineer, the wall offers a great view of the city and the harbor.
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The old “Château de St Malo” (castle of the city) is now the City Hall. The small and narrow streets are typical of France… yes, parking is difficult!
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Saint Malo was the birthplace of Jacques Cartier, who discovered Canada, and the city is also famous for its… pirates. Growing up by the sea and close to major trade routes can do that do you I guess!
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St Malo has the highest tides in France… it’s quite impressive! A 14 meters difference between low tide and high tide is common.
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Because it was still low-season, the city was very quiet and relaxing. We walked on the wall around the city, then on the beach, before feasting on a seafood dinner… and before heading to Rennes, capital of Brittany, the following day.
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Sounds like you are having a great time.
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I love your photo tours! Mmm, Brittany seafood! I’d love to visit and I’d love to try crepes there, too.
Cool face in the sand. I love that shot!
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Thanks again for the pictures. They provide your readers with a window to places we cannot see for ourselves.
I like your sand etching. I find it amazing that I still can see your artistic style even if you have a different medium. I find it very very similar to the art work I find in your site.
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Hey Zhu, thank you for the birthday wishes, truly appreciate ti 😀
This place is so rich in culture and what a nice relaxing day to spend time with your love ones too 😀
Thank you for sharing.
Fascinating pictures. A waled city, that’s something I would have enjoyed seeing!
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Great pics! You obviously are travelling around quite a bit. Do you find France/Paris much changed since your early life here?
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Hey, I’ve been to St. Malo. It’s great to see these pictures as reminders of the city. The Wife and I visited there in 2001. I had some great escargot at a restaurant in the old city. However, it had rained that evening and on the way back to our hotel, there were snails everywhere. More snails than I had ever seen in my entire life. They seemed to all slowly coming to get me to punish me for eating their brothers. I didn’t sleep well that night!
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Wow, looks beautiful. Another place I’ll have to put on my travel list for someday…maybe when the kids get older. Love that drawing in the sand. 🙂
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@Spyder – Yep, it’s fun 😉
@Jessica – I had so much crêpes, I almost ODed on them!
@Linguist-in-Waiting – I have always loved drawing on wet sand… We took a similar pictures years ago in New Zealand I think, we were thinking of it for this one. Thanks!
@shionge – France is pretty nice to visit! I’m glad I took a break from my North American life.
@Ghosty – Yeah, it’s pretty unique!
@Shantanu – It changed quite a bit… prices are higher, people are a bit “blasé”, sometimes things don’t make sense for me. I’ll write about it more next week…
@johnada – snails are creepy, can’t blame you! Weather wasn’t so good but it didn’t rain at least. Just windy… We stayed inside the walls as well. Pretty unique I’d say!
Such beautiful pictures! Thanks for the tour. St. Malo sounds a bit like St. Augustine, which is another “walled city”. We were just there in the fall. I just love old, historic cities.
Enjoy the rest of your trip 🙂
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My wife loves Crepes. She doesn’t get the real French crepes tho, but she likes it nevertheless.
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gawwwwwd I love these pics Zhu!
Keshi.
Such a lovely place. The photos are wonderful (as always).
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I just love to see small places like this – with lot of history and great architecture – you really document it well with your story and great pictures – thanks for sharing!
Btw: Great self portrait in the sand too 😆
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Zhu,
Brittany is also an extremely lovely city! I can see that you are having a ball…you look great! 😀
Seafood: j’en adore!!!
Keep taking them pictures, that way we can pretend that we are there with you 🙂
Cheers, girl!
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Wonder how well it served in the defence of the city…
It always amazes me how we humans can construct such beautiful buildings…
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Hi Zhu,
Looks like you’re still having a wonderful time. The pictures are great and the face you drew on the sand is very similar to those which used to be in your blog last time.
Nice info about the St Malo tides, I didn’t know that there could be such a big difference between low and high tides.
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i have to admit that the face in the sand is more impressive that the tides and building them selves!
😀
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