Sat 19th Aug Bayeux, Normandy ⇒ St Malo, Brittany
It was a beautiful sunny morning which made for good traveling weather and ideal conditions for visiting the island of Mont St Michel, one of the most popular French tourist sites after the Eiffel Tower. The general advice had been to avoid the place during holidays and on weekends and we hit the double whammy with a visit on a sunny Saturday during the European summer break. It was was easy enough to find, park and catch the shuttle but what was not easy was navigating the thousands of tourists, most with push chairs and / or canine companions. It was all rather chaotic and nothing like the image of serenity that exuded from most of the images I had seen of the area. We were no sooner there than we wanted to leave but we had a 2 pm booking to visit the Abbey. It was only near 11 am at this point though so I suggested we head up there and ask if we could get in early. Well, I’m glad I did as it was all rather chaotic at the Abbey as well and they couldn’t have cared less what time my ticket said so, in we went with our reserved audio-guides. The inside of the Abbey was just a constricted version of the outside and so we ventured through the place as quickly as possible so that we could leave. My daughter, Ali, has a saying that states ‘good from afar but far from good’ and I would suggest this describes Mont Saint-Michel up rather accurately. We were glad to be able to say we’ve seen it but, that’s about it.
The drive on to St Malo was almost an hour and we took the bay view route that had us weaving through beautiful farmland and numerous small villages. It was certainly a very beautiful part of the world. Our accommodation in St Malo was at the Hotel L’Adresse that I had reserved through Booking.com and this proved to be a great find. The hotel was located just a short walk from the Old Town and our room was lovely and spacious and had a huge balcony with a view out towards the beach and there was even onsite parking and a kettle. The concierge was exceptionally helpful and went to great lengths to guide me with some restaurant bookings for the next two nights, which was much needed as the short notice on weekend made this a challenge that I did not want to take on.
We spent the next couple of hours relaxing in our room as Mark had not slept well the night before and needed to catch up. It was around 5.30 pm before we ventured out and we headed to the medieval walled city part of the Old Town and it was very busy, it was like Mont Saint Michel on repeat. It seems like the whole of France, possibly Europe, has descended on this part of the world for the holidays and this weekend. We found our restaurant, Cafe de L’Ouest, but didn’t hold a lot of hope given how busy and touristy the area seemed to be but we were to be proven very wrong. The setting ended up being excellent for people watching, our pre-dinner drinks ranked up with the best presentation we’d had this trip and the food was excellent; we could not have asked for a better dinner experience. We only had tomorrow here as our one full day but we’d already decided that we’d make this a day of R&R by having a leisurely morning and breakfast, a walk of the ramparts of the walled city, then browsing the shops in the Old Town followed by an early dinner. Absolute Heaven!
Sun 20th Aug
It was a most glorious sunrise this morning but, sadly, Mark wasn’t up to walking with me to enjoy this experience. There is a fantastic wide and long promenade along the beachfront here and it made me think of my Bondi promenade back home and I felt a great sense of calm and appreciation for being back near to a beach and having a lovely promenade to stroll.
There was little planned for the day given we both wanted some rest but we ventured into the Old Town again after breakfast and took a ride on the 30 minute tourist train and then walked the city ramparts. The tourist train was worth the effort as it ventured around the the inside and outside of the Old Town and covered territory we wouldn’t get to see in our short time here. Walking a full loop of the city ramparts took about an hour and the scenery along the way is just breathtaking. We were up there by 11 am and it was starting to get busy so this is something best done as early in the morning as you can so as to avoid the crowd.
Being a Sunday meant it was very busy and by the time we dropped back down into the Old Town the cafes, shops, streets and restaurants were starting to fill. We managed to score a table at a cafe and thought we should try some crepes, given they’re on the menu everywhere around here, and we both went for a citrus serve. They were quite sharp, like the waiter, but at least we have given them a go. Mark then went back to the hotel to rest whilst I explored the shops for a bit before joining him back at the hotel.
It was 5 pm before we ventured back out again and we headed to the Old Town for dinner. We decided to try Lion D’Or given its sister restaurant last night turned out to be great. This choice proved to be a good one as well as we shared the most delicious steak meal we’d had in some time. We had some interesting company though with an English couple and their large Labrador sitting right beside us but she didn’t steal our steak so that went rather well. It was another delicious and lovely evening meal giving St Malo a strike rate of 100%. After that it was home for another early night and fingers crossed that Mark would wake feeling much better.
We had loved our very short visit to St Malo and, yet again, I wish that we had allocated more time to stay here, it’s an exceptionally beautiful part of the world. I would have liked an extra two days actually; one to take a boat cruise and one to walk out to the local islands at low tide and to also have some time at the beach. So keep that in mind if you ever plan a visit to this part of the world. We leave here tomorrow morning and head to the Loire Valley to take in a Chateau or two and hopefully some wine tasting as well.
