This easy-to-get-to French port has more to offer than just a stopover for a ferry
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY: Sue Phillips
As far as I’m concerned our long weekend away starts the moment we drive onto the overnight ferry headed for Saint-Malo, a historic French port on Brittany’s north coast. Although we’d be asleep for most of the crossing, we’d wake up in France just in time for a continental breakfast.
My husband once visited Saint-Malo as a young boy. His family didn’t have money to burn, but Paul’s dad promised him a lovely, flaky sausage roll on the last day of their trip. He couldn’t wait!
Unfortunately, the enticing pastry in the window display turned out to be a pain au chocolat. Delicious, of course, but less so if you’re anticipating a savoury supper…
Saint-Malo undoubtedly offers a convenient entry point to France, and a handy overnight stop near the ferry terminal on the way home. But it has so much more to offer.
We’d visited the city briefly during our honeymoon some six years before, and promised ourselves we’d return someday to explore, including the Saint-Servan neighbourhood where we’d be pitching up. Additionally, we’d allowed ourselves a day to visit friends who’d recently bought a house in Guingamp, around 80 miles west of Saint-Malo.
This fortified city was built on a rocky peninsula, and the tall granite ramparts encircling Saint-Malo rise up from sandy beaches punctuated by outcrops of rock.
Behind the defensive ramparts, the spire of Saint Vincent Cathedral points assertively towards the sky from the centre of a mass of densely packed grey and biscuit-coloured buildings.
Viewed from the ferry the city is austere and even slightly forbidding. However, it’s a different story inside the ramparts, where the narrow streets are characterful and bustling with life.
But first we headed to our campsite, Camping de la Cité d’Aleth (also known as Alet), to check in. Fortunately, La Baravane (a converted caravan serving takeaway bread, drinks and pastries) was open when we arrived. After a delicious breakfast of coffee and croissants, we decided to walk into Saint-Malo.
Our route curved around the sandy bay of the Plage des Bas Sablons, past the ferry terminal and into the city via the Porte de Dinan (a gateway between the walled city and an adjoining wharf). The best way to get an overview of the city is undoubtedly to walk around the ramparts, so off we set. A sea mist hung in the air,
