Constructions

One of the lookout points on the ramparts, facing the channel.

 The last few days of winter have been glorious in St. Malo. The sun bathes the city in golden light and calls us out of doors. We find ourselves wandering further on our walks until, once again, we circumambulate the town. 

This week I offer you a photo essay of the walled city, concentrating on the buildings erected so long ago, and completely rebuilt quite recently.

I have always admired the stone building with big glass windows. It is a classroom of the maritime academy.

St. Malo is a hardscrabble location. The buildings are all of granite, and the shapes are geometric. The eyes see boxes, angles, monochrome and uniformity, without much plant life to soften the view. Yet, for some reason, the town has incredible charm and I never grow tired of scanning the scene.

Ships come in and out of view as they transit the waters.

St. Malo seems to have organically grown out of the waters in which it sits, with so many rocky islands that harmonize completely with the structures on the mainland. 

Another lookout tower

The forts on the islands around are long decommissioned, but they served their purpose for centuries, protecting the coast.

Notice the pathway that, as the tide rises, is swallowed by the sea.

So hard is the granite that it has withstood, for close to a millennium, the constant buffeting of the ocean tides.

This pathway leading from the mainland to the nearest island is submerged and exposed in turn twice a day.

There has certainly been research done on the effects of the environment upon the human psyche. Not having the relevant data, I can't speak to how this one affects its inhabitants. I will observe that when we meet other residents of our apartment building from time to time, they seem universally unfriendly. On the other hand the men who work at the port are a very jolly lot, and an older woman we often see on our way to the port flashed me a big smile this morning.

Yet another lookout post

The view from the walls out to sea and the islands, even with their starkness, is hard to beat.

The geography of the bay is lovely.

At a certain point on the walk along the walls, you are dumped back down to ground level and must walk a couple of blocks past the front gate to remount and continue your ramble. This is the most touristic part of town, and I hadn't been there since Christmas. 

The Main Street of town.

One of my favorite buildings in St. Malo is the market hall, with its Belle Époque facade, glass and decorative frills which don't exist on many buildings in town.

Market Hall

The National Fort is also close to the mainland, but since it is closed at the moment, we have not explored it. Its building looks much more contemporary.

Le Fort National, originally known as Le Fort Royal. 

The buildings of St. Malo project strength and seem impervious, which they were up until the Second World War when men invented weapons impossible to withstand.

The fort on the Petit Bé.

It has seemed like a privileged adventure to spend so many weeks in this remarkable place. Time passes quickly and we rarely find a reason to wander far from home base. I seem to snap pictures of all the same things, but the tides are constantly changing their aspect.

View back to St. Malo from the Petit Bé.

Meanwhile on the port, the pleasant weather has attracted more and more marine traffic. One morning we saw, in the space of a few minutes, two fishing boats unload their catch, a water taxi come in to pick up a private customer, a local ferry and a sauveteur (rescuer) zooming away on his inflatable Zodiac.

The busy port.

This morning we had a new sighting. An apparent coast guard vessel arrived with about a dozen sailors lined up on the bow dressed in their navy blue uniforms with white hats, and at least another six men in the wheelhouse. There was no national flag prominently displayed, but as it sailed past we could hear bagpipes being played aboard. It was an intriguing mystery since the ship was not listed in our marine tracker app, perhaps due to its military use. I could find nothing at all online about it. We have seen ferries, tankers, cargo ships and fishing boats, but never before one such as this.

The mystery ship which piqued our interest.

We will be in Paris next week for the premiere of No No Nanette, after which we will spend some days in Burgundy. I will be back to blogging once we return from there to St. Malo.