Brittany part deux: Saint-Malo

Panoramic view from the walls of St. Malo.

Since we started our trip (our blogging trip) to Brittany going backwards, we’ll keep going that way: our next (previous?) stop is/was Saint Malo. 

(If you missed the blog about Mont-Saint-Michel, you can find it here.)

But first, we’ll mention that at this point in our trip we were joined by Kate and Debra, two of our American friends in Montpellier.

Exiting the city walls...

 

...which were very much defensive, protecting the city from France's main enemy, England, just across the channel.

Saint-Malo sits on the mouth of the Rance River, right across from the city of Dinard, facing the English Channel, We’d been to Saint-Malo some years ago; I remember nothing of that trip, but I have photos, so I know we were there! After visiting the city again I see why I don’t remember it—we didn’t find much that was memorable.

Saint-Malo, 2016

  A salt-water pool that refreshes itself with every tidal cycle.

 While it’s an ancient city, it was mostly destroyed during WWII by an American bombing raid. It seems the Germans had settled in, and were difficult to dislodge. Informative signs just outside the city gates said that 80% of the city was destroyed. It has, of course, been rebuilt, and while they did a good job, there was nothing about the city that seemed particularly noteworthy (apart from the news that it had been mostly destroyed!).

We bought sandwiches and sat in a square to eat them, then wandered on to the walls, and the rather fabulous beach just beyond them. After that, we were pretty much done with St Malo. We got back on the bus and rode quite a ways through the modern city to the car park, then drove quite a ways through more modern city to… 

… Les Rochers Sculptés, a place Debra had read about.

This cheerful fellow greets visitors to Les rochers sculptés

A few miles up the coast from St-Malo, in the community of Rothéneuf, are stony cliffs carved at the end of the 19^th century. Les Rochers Sculptés—the Sculptured Rocks—are figures carved by a priest, l’Abbé Fouré. Reportedly deaf, he spent long hours alone on these cliffs over the ocean. His inspiration for the figures included fairy tales, religious personages, articles he read in the paper, and stories he’d heard from the folks in the nearby coastal areas whose ancestors were pirates in the 17^th century.

Fairy-tale figures or 17th century pirates?

Kate, Paula, and Debra enjoy the ocean view from amongst the carvings.

 

A somewhat more grim countenance.

It’s a popular spot, in spite of the town not announcing it (to keep the crowds down). We spent a good hour there, and ended our sojourn by taking the short cliff walk to the chapel built by Fouré, Notre-Dame-de-les-Flots (Our Lady of the Waters).

 

Fouré's lonely chapel to Our Lady of the Waters.

The small window lets in light, and provides a view of the Atlantic.

It was a very satisfying day. We’d learned some things, we’d seen some things, and we'd spent time along the ocean. And we’d been blow away by those incredible, and still puzzling, rock carvings!