A Breath of Fresh Air in St-Malo

After coming back from Menton and spending a few days at the house and celebrating Easter I headed off again for another little vacation.  This time I headed north to the Bretagne (Brittany) region and went to a sea town called Saint-Malo.  It is located on the English Channel and has a very different vibe from Menton.  I absolutely loved it here too and had such a wonderful time exploring and sitting on the beach.  I am so very blessed to have been able to visit another beautiful city, France never ceases to amaze me in how much it has to offer outside of Paris.

Monday I headed out bright and early to catch a direct train to Saint-Malo.  I had no issues getting there and found the walled city just fine.  However, when I got there I couldn't find the Tourism Office to get a map so I walked around and had a "rough map" and found where I was staying thankfully.

Made it into the city walls of Saint-Malo

The streets of intra-muros Saint-Malo

Walking along the ramparts

The streets of St-Malo

Looking out over the water

The beach at Saint-Malo

The two islands are Le Grand Bé & Le Petit Bé

Saint-Malo walls

Le Fort National

The buildings in Saint-Malo

The beach on the English Channel

The rocks along the beach

The path walking out to Le Grand Bé (can only go over at low tide)

View when you make it over to the island

View of intra-muros St-Malo

The green grass and the beautiful water

View of the city from the island

View of Le Petit Bé from Le Grand Bé

St. Michel (walking around the town)

Watching the sunset at the beach

The sunset didn't disappoint

On Tuesday I got up decently early and there was surprisingly almost nobody out and about even though it was only 9am.  But I didn't mind, it was a gorgeous day out and I got to visit lots of different places around Saint-Malo including a few museums.

Walking over to the lighthouse

A beautiful morning

The walled city of Saint-Malo

The lighthouse

La Cité d'Alet

Nobody at the beach

Enjoying the sunshine

The buildings of Saint-Malo

Walking to the other beach

Walking around the city

Le Fort National

Saint-Malo

High tide was coming in so everyone was scrambling across

Visiting the cathedral St. Michel

St. Michel

Elementary kids learning how to navigate a boat

Inside the history museum of Saint-Malo

Views of the port from the history museum

The beach view from the history museum

Le Fort National

View of the square from the top of the museum 

Enjoying the views

When I was at the top of the history museum enjoying the views I noticed that it was low tide over by Le Fort National and decided to make my way over there in the hopes that I would be able to walk over and enjoy the views.  Thankfully, it was still low tide and the views were great.

Heading over to Le Fort National and looking at Le Grand Bé

Saint-Malo from Le Fort National

Le Fort National

Climbing the rocks and enjoying the views

View from Le Fort National

View of the beach from Le Fort National

On the island of Le Fort National

Low tide on at the beach

On Wednesday I went over to La Maison Corsaire and could only visit it through a tour so I wasn't thinking it would be that long but holy cow was I wrong!  We only visited 5 rooms in this large old house and the lady talked for easily 2 hours or longer!  It was interesting but after a while I couldn't even concentrate anymore and was wondering when it would end.  I had lunch and later in the afternoon decided to make the 20 minute trek (walking) over to La Cité d'Alet which has a museum about WWII and has some great views and whatnot.  Well of course it was raining, I was prepared though with an umbrella.  Once I got to the top of the hill where the museum was it started pouring and the museum could only be visited by a tour guide and that was in another hour and 15 minutes.  I took refuge under a passageway after I got completely drenched in the hopes that it would let up.

Walking over to la Cité d'Alet

The dry dock

Views from La Cité d'Alet

Some of what is left from WWII

Views from this park, La Cité d'Alet, that is on a hilltop

The museum

Heading down the hill

Thursday was my last day and I didn't get to do too much.  I was able to head over to the beach for a bit but then I had to get to the train station to catch my train back to Paris.  I had such a great time in Saint-Malo and really loved the beauty of this city as well as getting to explore it!  It was such a blessing having the opportunity to visit a new part of France that I had never been to before and experience a different facet of French culture.  I would gladly go back one day because I feel like there is a lot more to explore in that area especially if you have a car available.