St Malo

St Malo has quickly become one of our favourite places in France.

It was a revelation the first time we went, and equally gratifying the second time.

The first time we went to St Malo was at the end of our little tour of Normandy. As I wrote in that blog post, it was a spontaneous addition to our trip that we decided on to avoid going back to Paris, where the city was heading into its fourth day of temperatures over 40°C.

When we went, we had already booked the second trip, and so we were hoping it would be worth two visits. It definitely was, and I could easily return for a third.

When we arrived at the hotel - the Hôtel & Spa Oceania Saint-Malo - they weren’t able to check us in, even though we arrived after the designated check in time. We were a bit annoyed since we were hot and bothered and wanted to head to the beach. But they leant us some towels, we changed in the reception bathroom, and we went down to the beach to wait for check-in. We really enjoyed laying in the late afternoon sun and cooling off in the frigid waters of La Manche (what the French call the English Channel, which is decidedly less possessive).

And to our surprise and delight, when we returned to the hotel, they told us we’d been upgraded to suites because they’d overbooked the hotel. I had the best night sleep I’d had in months at that hotel.

It had well-functioning air conditioning, which made it cool; there were block out blinds, making it dark; there was no street noise, so it was silent through the night; and a spacious king bed, which didn’t creak at all. In short, we had everything we needed for a good night’s sleep (and which we lack in our Parisian apartment). We stayed in the same hotel on our second trip, and enjoyed it just as much.

Our first trip was short. We arrived late afternoon on that Monday and left Tuesday just after lunch. It was a brief, but magical, 24 hours.

While we were waiting to check in, Max and I wandered over to the Fort National, a 17th century fortress sitting on a rocky outcrop that is only accessible at low tide.

One of the most interesting things about St Malo is seeing the effect of the tides. Due to the influence of the “sleeve” (La Manche or English Channel), the difference between high and low tide averages 12m. At low tide, the sea is far out, exposing a large swathe of sandy beach and rocky outcrop that provide pedestrian access to the fort (and a number of other small islets).

Since we’d walked over directly from our spot on the beach, we turned up at the Fort carrying only our phones (and Max wearing only his swimmers).

As it turns out, it was about to close for the day, and there was an entrance fee, to be paid in cash only. We told the lady we had no cash so we’d come back the next day. But then she told us that it was closed the following day and when we said we were unfortunately only in St Malo for the one night, she let us in, free of charge. It was a beautiful place, perched on the rocks with spectacular views back to the town.

The old town of St Malo is completely surrounded by tall, granite walls, and was once a stronghold for privateers. You can still walk along the top of the ramparts, which provide an incredible view over the old town on one side and the beach and its fortified islands on the other. Walking along these ramparts felt like being in a Game of Thrones scene; we expected a dragon flyby at any moment! And in fact, parts of the movie ‘The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan’ were filmed in St Malo.

Some form of settlement has existed at the location of St Malo since as early as the first century BC. The area of the walled town was, in fact, originally an island, but the sea was filled in at the end of the 19th century to permanently attach St Malo to the mainland, even at high tide.

After checking in to the hotel (and sprucing up in our suites), we continued our exploration of St Malo, finally entering the city’s walls. Before dinner, we found an Irish pub down a little cobblestone alleyway and sat for a couple of drinks while watching a FIFA world cup match.

The weather was too good to be inside, and so we ended up back outside the walls, down at the beach, for dinner. We found a casual beach bar in front of the ocean pool at Bon Secours Beach, famous for its large ocean pool and concrete diving board. The food was very mediocre, but the bottle of chilled rosé we drank while watching the sun set over the glittering sea more than made up for it.

From our vantage point, we could also see the ocean swimming pool. It is another beautiful feature of St Malo that is also only accessible at low tide. It was an unusually hot day in St Malo and so, despite being a Monday night, approaching 10.00pm, the beach was busy with people swimming, playing beach volleyball, jumping off the platform, and generally profiting from the good summer weather.

We stayed until the sun was barely an orb on the horizon and then returned to our hotel for a perfect night’s sleep.

The next morning, the boys went for a run along the beach while I explored Grand Bé, another one of the small islets that becomes accessible by foot at low tide.

We were fortunate that during our short stay the high tide arrived at night while we were sleeping and so the little outcrops and islands remained accessible during the day.

We finished off our visit with fish and chips for lunch before very reluctantly starting the four hour drive back to Paris.

It was such a great trip that we were already looking forward to our return visit (though it would sadly be without our third musketeer Max).

For Dylan and my second trip to St Malo, we arrived by train, which was an easy 2.5 hour ride from Paris Montparnasse. We stayed in the same lovely hotel, which continued to provide a cool, dark, quiet night’s sleep.

For our second visit, we spent two nights. We went for a run each day along the foreshore, wearing our swimmers, so we could then head straight to the ocean to cool off.

During our second trip we also saw high tide. Having missed it the first time, it was a shock to see the incredible difference between the two, and just how far up the sea comes. And once the tide starts moving, it rises quickly. We were having a swim and had to get out of the water to move our belongings as the tide rushed in within minutes.

We had also taken a path along the beach and rocky shoreline to get to this particular beach, which was completely impassable once the tide rose. We saw the forts isolated to islands; the ocean pool completely consumed by the sea, including its 5m diving board; and the waves crash over the sea wall, which until that point had seemed like an unnecessary fixture when, at low tide, the sea was some 200m away.

St Malo is a place transformed by the waxing and waning of the sea. The tidal movement reshapes the landscape each day, as its beaches vanish and its islands emerge. Seeing this daily transformation is worth a visit alone, but the fortified old town and its surrounds are also full of little treasures.

We were a little more organised for the second trip, and so we also ate better, having done some research and booked into a few restaurants.

On the first night, we ate dinner at a little seaside restaurant called La Barque à Papa, which was located a little way out of town. It was the kind of evening that becomes memorable not because of some grand thing but because of all the tiny details that, together, form a vivid impression.

It was little more than a beach shack, decorated in a quaint nautical theme, ideally located along the foreshore. We were seated at the front corner of the restaurant, whose floor to ceiling glass doors were fully open. It was a warm night but we were out of the sun and the sea breeze was playing across our faces. We had a bottle of wine and some fish and chips, and my dessert was the best pain perdu of my life. It was simple, but perfect.

After our meal, we slowly ambled back to the hotel, taking time to take photos of the sunset.

After a run and swim the next morning, we had lunch at a seafood and oyster bar, which was set up along the sea wall above the beach.

We were recommended a little place dedicated to babas which are a small yeast cake saturated in alcoholic syrup - usually rum - and garnished with cream. This place made many variations of the classic. I had one soaked in Cointreau and Calvados and Dylan had a chocolate one with whiskey and coffee mascarpone, which they called baba-misu.

That night we skipped the seafood (for a change) and instead had traditional galettes for dinner at Le Comptoir Breizh Café St Malo, which were the best ones we’ve eaten so far in France.

We also had one of their sweet crêpes for dessert. It was a hard decision between that and trying one of the many ice-cream stores we had walked past throughout the day.

One place, Sanchez, had a dizzying array of ice-cream, soft serve, cookies, waffles and other local treats such as the kouign-amann, which is a traditional Breton baked good made of dough, butter and sugar. And there were more stores serving the same kinds of sweet treats. During our stay we indulged in an ice-cream, one kouign-amann and a cookie, but we never did get that soft serve at Sanchez… so we’ll have to go back.

On our last day, we got up a little earlier for our run since it was Monday, and we skipped the swim since the tide was up and the wind was blowing. A cool change had finally arrived, but unfortunately, it wasn’t making its way to Paris.

While Dylan attended a meeting, I found a cute little café nestled in the old town where I enjoyed a slow morning with a coffee and croissant. It ended up being one of - if not - the best flat white and croissant I’ve had in France. This little seaside town just continued to surprise us.

I also stopped in at La Maison du Beurre Bordier, a butter shop and mini museum, often described as selling the best butter in France (and maybe the world). I read all about the history of butter in their little display before purchasing my doux and demi-sel to take back to Paris. They still prepare the pats of doux by hand upon ordering.

Afterwards, I met up with Dylan and we continued to wander the old town before having lunch at a fantastic little place called Cam et Léon, where the food was excellent and the service was very friendly.

St Malo has left a very lasting impression on us.

We can imagine, some time in the future, when we’re back in Australia, reminiscing about that life we briefly lived in France, that it might just be memories of this little seaside town that endure.