Saint-Malo, July 14

Friday, July 14 – Happy Bastille Day!
Saint-Malo, France

Today we cycled 21 miles (13 for me) along the beautifully rugged Brittany coast. More... Some of the scenery was so gorgeous that I didn’t even take pictures of most of it because a picture could never do it justice. But here’s a few that we took anyway:

Our first stop was the tiny fishing port of Cancale, known as “the oyster capital” of Brittany, where our tour leaders treated us to an oyster tasting. King Louis XIV supposedly liked Cancale oysters so much that he had them brought fresh every day to Versailles. Oyster farming is still a major activity in the port (about 25,000 tons a year). The oyster beds cover about 4 miles and can be easily seen at low tide from the pier. The oyster market (marché aux huîtres) at the harbor sells a wide variety of fresh local oysters at producer prices, but there are also stalls selling just about any kind of crustaceans you can think of.

Adel and Sophie set up our picnic lunch at the foot of the steps overlooking the oyster beds. When we were done slurping down our oysters, we just threw the empty shells right onto the beach.

After lunch, I decided to ride on to our next stop in the van again. While I was waiting for Sophie and Adel to pack up the van and meet me, I had time to browse around the town. I finally gave in to fashion and bought a blue-and-white striped shirt in a little shop that sold nautical clothing.

Striped shirts are one of those stereotypes of the French that it turns out is actually true. Called une mariniere (“sailor’s blouse”) or un tricot rayé (“a striped knit”), they were originally part of a naval sailor’s uniform starting in 1858. The distinctive stripes made overboard sailors easier to find in the waves. At the time, all of the French navy came from Brittany, so the shirt came to be called the “Breton shirt” or the “Breton stripe.” The shirts originally displayed 21 stripes – one for each of Napoleon’s victories over the British. They were manufactured in both cotton and wool, and eventually caught on with other workers in Brittany because of their practicality. Then French fashion designer Coco Chanel featured them in her 1917 nautical line and they became popular with everyone.

The striped shirt still seems to be a fashion essential in France. I’ve seen lots of people on the streets, both men and women, wearing them during this trip, usually with a scarf or a blazer. (I heard you’re never supposed to pair them with a beret, though. That makes the whole look too gimmicky or over-the-top, like you’re on your way to get your mime makeup done.)

I also had another public bathroom adventure while I was waiting for the van. This was one of those unisex public bathrooms where each stall had only a tiled hole to stand – or squat – over, and no toilet paper in sight. Luckily I was wearing cycling shorts, which aren’t that hard to take off, and I was carrying tissue paper in my cycling jersey pocket. I learned my lesson well after my mishap the other day.

Sophie then drove me to meet up with the group at our next stop – the manor house of Saint-Malo resident Jacques Cartier. In 1534 he crossed the Atlantic and sailed up today’s St. Lawrence River as far as modern-day Montreal, making him the discoverer of Canada. We had a short guided tour of his manor and watched a brief film about him. The film did a good job of celebrating him as a brave explorer, while at the same time not hiding the fact that he had the usual white European man’s attitude toward the natives he encountered during his travels. (He kidnapped an Indian chief’s sons to act as his guides. He eventually brought them back on his next voyage, but then kidnapped the Indian chief himself to bring back to the king as a trophy.)

After we cycled the short way back to the hotel, we had several hours before we had to meet up with our group for our farewell dinner. Gary and I put on our bathing suits and took a dip in the hotel’s Aquatonic sea water thermal spa. This was like a giant communal swimming pool with a series of mazes. Each pool had jet baths, currents and air jets which massaged different parts of the body with different intensity and positioning. Very refreshing!After we cycled the short way back to the hotel and got cleaned up, we had several hours before we had to meet up with our group for our farewell dinner. Gary and I put on our bathing suits and took a dip in the hotel’s Aquatonic sea water thermal spa. This was like a giant communal swimming pool with a series of mazes. Each pool had jet baths, currents and air jets which massaged different parts of the body with different intensity and positioning. Very refreshing!

After that, we got dressed and made a visit to La Ville Intra-Muros, Saint-Malo’s ancient walled city. It took a good 25 minutes to walk there from our hotel, but it was worth it.

It’s hard to believe that the Saint-Malo you see today is not the original, but a restoration. Eighty percent of this walled city was destroyed during World War II in August 1944, mostly by American shelling and bombing as well as British naval gunfire. The Allies believed false reports that there were thousands of Germans occupying it. The Germans did urge the citizens to evacuate beforehand, but many of them chose to stay because they thought they would be safer in the cellars of the corsairs’ houses than in the open country.

Later, the Germans rounded up all men between 16 and 60 and locked them in an old fort on an islet, as punishment for a supposed terrorist attack in the town. Several of these hostages were later killed by a falling shell because the fort was in the line of fire of the oncoming Americans. A truce was arranged on August 13 to allow the remaining people to evacuate, but by then most of the city was in flames. When the Americans entered the city with tanks the next day, they found the burning city mostly empty. The Germans didn’t surrender until August 17 because Hitler had ordered them to hold out until the end. (Many of these events are included in the book “All The Light We Cannot See,” which is set in Saint-Malo.)

After the war, the Malouins painstakingly restored the city as close to its original style as possible, mostly in a 12-year period between 1948 and 1960. The project was only officially finished in 1971! Today, all of the mansions have identical facades of granite and a 60-degree pitch to their gray slate roofs. Other restored buildings that you can visit today are the Chateau de St.-Malo and the Cathedrale St.-Vincent.

St.-Malo's burned-out mansions in August 1944, and St.-Malo today

After we explored the town itself, Gary and I climbed up one of the many stone staircases to see the view from the top of the ramparts.

Quite a crowd was gathering at the port entrance to the city as we were leaving, probably for Bastille Day celebrations. Gary and I still had a long walk ahead of us to get back to the hotel, though.

At our farewell group dinner tonight, we exchanged contact information with the other members of the group and drank toasts to Adel and Sophie, who took great care of us on this trip. (The highlight of the dinner for me was seeing John show up wearing a blue-and-white striped shirt and a scarf. I considered running back up to my room and changing into mine, but decided it would be a bit too much.)

Much later on, around 11:00 PM, Gary and I could hear the sounds of fireworks going off. We could actually even see them when we went out on our bedroom balcony and leaned over. So now we can say we (kind of) celebrated Bastille Day in France!