After Le Mont-Saint-Michel we continue to Saint-Malo. The city is not another mountain in the sea, but a peninsula located directly on the French coast. The historic old town is located in front of the actual harbor basin. And so, everyone who wants to visit the old town inevitably passes the harbor promenade.
The city is the most important harbor on the north coast of Brittany and is a very popular destination on the French Atlantic coast due to its faithfully reconstructed historic city center and its fortifications.

Old town of Saint-Malo

In the old streets of Saint-Malo we find a hearty little café where we treat ourselves to a small but very fine brunch. Of course, everything is made in French and the plates are nicely arranged, but a normal hungry guest should probably not be full for now. Anyway – with this peculiarity we, or especially Paddy, probably have to come to terms in France. Furthermore, there are many smaller and larger stores, bakeries and pastry stores and souvenir stores. There are large mansions here and you can quickly see that the city must have enjoyed a certain prosperity in earlier times and richer merchant families once lived here.
You can walk along almost the entire city wall and enjoy the view of the city as well as the beaches, the sea and the surrounding countryside around the old town.
While doing so, one can also see the three surrounding small islands. Small extensions of the city fortress have been built on all three islands, the Grand Bé, the Betit Be Ford and the Ford National. At low tide, one can walk to the islands and back. According to the many information boards, however, one should be well informed about the tides in advance. Strong currents make swimming back dangerous and so you are forced to wait on the islands for the next low tide, if you are not back early enough.

Cathedral of Saint-Malo

On our city walk we also pass the cathedral of Saint-Malo and who has ever been on the road with Mimi, or diligently follows our blog posts, knows that she cannot pass any cathedral without a visit.
We need two attempts to even get inside the cathedral. The wooden entrance doors are closed with very old metal latches and on the first try we push and pull, afraid to break the door, but the door remains locked. Temporarily, our conclusion is that the cathedral is probably closed to visitors. A short internet search does not yield a conclusive result. Suddenly, several tourists come out of the cathedral, but we are too far away to take over the open door. Finally, there must be a way to open the door. After another inspection, we find out that the opening mechanism must first be unlocked by pressing it with all our heart. So, we still get to enjoy the cathedral visit.
The Saint-Vincent Cathedral of Saint-Malo was built in the 12th century and has undergone many changes over the centuries, especially after severe damage during the Second World War. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the architectural style is a mixture of different eras. While there are beautiful large stained-glass windows in the front choir, the windows in the rear nave are very high up, so that it is quite dark inside the church.

Beaches of Saint-Malo

On the western side of the coast there is a fine sandy beach, the Plage du Mole. Now, in winter it is not very inviting for swimming, but it is a nice photo subject. From here you have a beautiful view of the city of Dinard, opposite the bay. Through large passages in the city wall, we go to the beach and back again. On the wall itself we have a super overview over the beach.

To the northwest of the town is the much larger sandy beach Grande Plage du Sillon. The several kilometers long beach is currently not much visited in winter but should be ideal in summer for windy activities such as kite flying, beach sailing or windsurfing.