Little photo slide show of pictures I made at my visit of the Mont Saint Michel last week.

In late summer at the evening is one of the best times to visit le Mont as the tourists are already gone, the main street is quiet and the light is just beautiful.

Enjoy

In summer time you can see some pretty interesting ships coming to Saint Malo. This one here is one of the most futuristic ones. It is the “Skat”, one of the biggest private yachts on the globe and it is owned by Charles Simonyi former Chief Architect of Microsoft.

I saw the “Skat” already last year in Saint Malo but there it laid in the smaller harbor area. This year it has a good place directly at the city walls.

As you can see it is pretty unique with its military color and shape. The upper part looks even a bit like a loft .

If you would like to see some more pictures etc you should check out this thread on Yachtforums.com.

This is a neolythic site near the town of Dol de Bretagne. It is one of the tallest Menhirs in Brittany.

The Cap Fréhel is situated near the town of Matignon and is the most stunning cliff in this part of Brittany (Haute Bretagne) and therefore extremely popular amongst both tourists and locals on a sunny day and over the weekened. You have the possibility to go there by boat from Saint Malo or simply drive up to the Cap by car. Parking cost 2 Euros, so rather reasonable and in the end nothing is for free

You would then start your walk along the Cap and have really stunning views over the Côte Emeraude over to Saint Malo and in the opposite direction to another (less famous but as beautiful) Cap, the Cap Erquy. If you want more than just a walk it’s also a good area for some more serious hiking.

The cliffs are about 70 meters high and what makes it particularly attractive is the color of the stone itself. As you may know, Granit is THE stone of Brittany and it exists in many different colors: the most widely known grey but also yellow and blue. The Granit color on the Cap Fréhel is pink, although it’s not officially a part of the pink granit coast (Côte Granit Rose, visit it when you come to Brittany).
Cap Fréhel is also a natural reserve and many people come for bird watching or picture taking.
I’m not particularly an expert but you can see all kinds of Seagulls but also Cormorants and Boobies.
It’s said that already in Roman times there was a lighthouse on the cap and nowadays you can see 3 different one from differents epochs.  If you go up to the top of  the one that is open to the public you’ll have a magnificent view over the region.

The final fight on the roof of Fort La Latte

Near the Cap Fréhel is the Fort la Latte, a mediaval fortress by the sea and filmset of several Hollywood productions. The film, The Vikings from 1958 with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis is widely known. As Cap Fréhel itself Fort la Latte is a tourist magnet but it’s worth visiting.

Today I want to show you one of my favourite spots on the Côte d’Emeraude, the Emerald Coast of Brittany.

It is the peninsula named La Pointe Grouin. It is north of Cancale, the oyster capital I already showed you in my other video here on this blog.

La Pointe de Grouin on PhotoPeach

Standing on la Pointe Grouin on a clear day will give you a magnificent view to the east over Normandy, la Baie and the Mont Saint Michel, to the north on low tide to les Îles de Chausey and to the west up to the cliffs of Cap Fréhel.

I already tried to get there last weekend but it was so overcrowed that I decided to try it one week later. The weather was not as brilliant as last week but still, who wants to moan if you have the Pointe Grouin nearly on your own .

This is “my” château , well, kind of. I see it every day on my way home.

Château de Montmuran

I like to visit it about every month and enjoy the magnificent view. In summertime they offer guided tours. You can book rooms for marriages and conferences.

This is their website: http://www.chateau-montmuran.com/

Last weekend we visited the Mont Saint Michel. This is a trip we usually do once or twice a year outside the tourist season. The Mont is after Versailles the second most visited site in France so you can imagine how crowded it can get. The main “problem” is that there is basically only one small street leading up the hill to the cathedral which is about 4m wide. The second possibility is the old town wall.

Now in march it is still quiet and you can actually enjoy the walk. As a proof for this we found a little chapel along the way we never saw before simply because we were always pushed by the crowds along the main street.

One thing that astonished me this time is how near the land moved towards the Mont. For centuries the countryside was polderised but since a dam was built to connect the Mont with the land and to make it easier to access by busses and cars the tides brought in more and more silt year after year and now a big part of the Baie de Mont Saint Michel is covered by gras.

But this will change soon, again. They are working on a new hydraulic dam that will allow to clean out the bay with water power from the river Couesnon. You can visit the site of this project here. And a new bridge will be constructed to make the Mont Saint Michel an island again.

Every time I’m amazed again what mankind is capable of and willing to do to praise God, not only in christianity that’s seems to be a universal principle. The Mont Saint Michel is a World Heritage Site since 1979 and deservedly so.

Just ignore te Disneyland style souvenir shops!

I think if you want to visit Brittany you really have to come in spring time. Although the past two summers were horrible, the spring time is simply amazing.

Therefore we try to enjoy it as much as we can. Today we went up to Dol de Bretagne because there was a little market with plants and trees mixed with some garage sales. As it was not that great, the first “braderies” of the year never are, we decided to go to Cancale.

Here is a little video about Cancale and its famous oysters, of course.

If you would like to read more about oysters in France, I recommend oysters.us.

When I find some free time in the schedule I always enjoy driving up to the coast and spend a little while in Saint Malo.

Brittany has a special light which is appreciated  by many painters and also photographers. Some of the greatest Impressionists worked in the region. For picture taking early morning and late afternoon are the best times and I can say that I’m happy with the results of this day.

First, we went down the mole where you have a nice view over to the town of Dinard. On good days you can see the Cap Fréhel clearly.

We then made a little stroll through the inner city and ended up in a nice and oldfashioned tea room, well known for its chocolate specialities. So, I decided for a mouthwatering piece of Nougat de Montelimar. This is a town  in the South of France and famous for its nougat production. A beautiful piece of nougat filled with pistaccios and hazelnuts and covered with dark chocolate. And the real good nougat is not particularly sweet that only the cheap one. I wasn’t disappointed, it was gorgeous!

After that we continued walking towards the Chateau de Saint Malo and ended up at the Sillon beach enjoying the sundown and a magnificent look over the Channel and the Emerald Coast.

Beautiful evening in Saint Malo. Always great to climb the old stone city wall of Saint Malo and watch the sunset over the Channel.