Poking into Bretagne
Trip Start
Apr 08, 2007
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32
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Trip End
Oct 01, 2007
St. Malo,
France
Friday, May 11, 2007
St. Malo is supposed to be quite the summer holiday destination for British tourists, lying as it does just across the water from old England. Well, that may be the case, but it's a fairly quiet place in the spring. There were certainly tourists out and about across the day, but once evening hit, it was deadsville. Fine with us frankly, as that just meant we had it all to ourselves. The only unfortunate thing was that also meant that most shops and cheap eateries were closed. Many of the town's restaurants focus on catering to those willing to shell out for pricier seafood on la Manche. We'd already done the moules et frites thing in Brussels, so we settled for kebabs and crepes.
The crepes, by the way, were heavenly.
Anyhow, it's a nice city way out here. Bloody windy and pretty heavy on monochrome colors under overcast skies, but it's well-kept and historic enough. Not bad for a place that got brutalized in the second World War - most other northern port towns were rebuilt as bland seas of concrete (see: Cherbourg, Calais, Brest, Dunkerque, etc.). The old walled city here was immaculately restored piece by piece to the extent where it's often difficult to tell what is original and what isn't. The French obviously had a soft spot for this place.
Mayu and I didn't exactly do a whole lot other than wander around and do some minor sightseeing. Walking the fully intact walls was a highlight, as was clambering over the stones to the historic Fort National (closed unfortunately, but interesting nonetheless) and - after the tide went back out - the semi-island of le Grand Be. Despite what my guidebook and other signs near the strand said to the contrary, le Petit Be further out remained inaccessible even at low tide. Blame global warming?
Tomorrow we make the long slog to Nice via Rennes and Paris, commencing with a train out at 7:50. Ought to be a bright, bleary-eyed morning.
