Saint Malo is a walled city that was built in 1689 by the French King Louis XIV and was primarily built to protect it from the British. It is a fantastic structure and has an exterior wall, called a rampart, that is around 2kms long. We walked almost the full circumference today on our walking tour of Saint-Malo. The permanent population of Saint-Malo is around 46,000 but that number can swell to 200,000 in the peak season. This is a photograph I took of a poster to give you an idea of the layout of Saint-Malo.
Our ship is anchored not very far from the shoreline and we were ferried back and forth by local ferry that is very comfortable compared to the tenders that are normally used. Our guide meet us dockside and quickly assembled us to begin our 2.5 hour walk around Saint-Malo.
The tour guide lead us first around the perimeter of the wall before entering through one of the entrances. I must say, I was very impressed. Saint-Malo was bombed mercilessly by the Allies throughout World War 2 as it was taken over by the Germans as a stronghold and the Allies fought to regain it. 80% of the city was destroyed but through sheer dedication the town was re-built stone by stone to what it is now.
The buildings are mostly residential with both hotels and apartments. There are all types of shops lining the streets but today is Monday so many of the shops are closed. However the smell of pastries has our mouth watering. The bakeries are open…..
A Catholic Church is our next stop. They are always beautifully presented with their gorgeous stained glass windows and the liberal use of marble and gold. I can't think of the name of the church but as we're a bit over church's I probably tuned out…...
After the church we head towards the staircase that will take us to the top of the wall (rampart) to begin our circumference of Saint-Malo. The views from up here, north, south, east and west are magnificent. There are many statues scattered along the perimeter and the guide talks about each person that they are dedicated to. Can't say I can remember who they are :-)
Our tour ended right about where we started and we were given the option to stroll around by ourselves or go with the guide back to the ship. Philip had spotted an old ship (galleon I think) that he wanted a closer look at so we left the group and headed towards the harbour. We would have liked to have a look around the old ship but there was dozens of people already onboard so we had to be content to just look at it from the outside. It really is magnificent.
Tomorrow the passengers that were on the second leg of the Grand Arctic who embarked in Reykjavik will leave the ship and a whole new lot of passengers will come onboard to join the 70 who are here for the long haul! It's interesting to see all the new faces.
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