St.Malo & Dinan

- - Mike & Groverlee's - -
France and Italy - 2015
St. Malo & Dinan

From the Itinerary:

June 5th... Happy Birthday to Grove. We are in St. Malo with a walking tour within the ancient walls. We will check out what the corsairs were able to plunder in the name of the king.
We will explore more or go on optional tour to Dinan....a medieval village.

June 5, 2015

Hooray! 72 years old today and in beautiful St Malo! It can't get much better than that! Got happy birthday notes from Several good friends via email.

After breakfast we boarded the bus to St Malo's fortified city. It took only a few minutes as we can see it when we walk a half a block from our hotel to the beach.

We met Peter, who is an Englishman who came here and stayed in France. He has been living in Dinan but moved across the river to get on a farm and out of the city. He does the tours along this area of Brittany, especially Saint Malo, pronounced sa ma loh. Within these ancient walls lived a lot of corsairs... privateers that stole from the enemies of the king. We first visited a home of one of the corsairs; this was one of the few buildings that hadn't been burned out or bombed out.

The problem was that Peter was such a good storyteller that he had almost finished his talk there when I realized I hadn't taken a single note. For you that is probably a godsend and will shorten this missive by at least a page!

The gist of it all is that despite war, whether countries were trading with them, or whatever horrible problem they might have they could regroup and make a fortune from whatever they try. It is no wonder these "fishermen" lived in such mansions. The son of the first owner of this corsair home amassed over 7 million pounds of silver by selling stuff he'd stolen from other merchants. They even brought back beautiful marble as ballast. The house had 30 rooms; this corsair was traveling around the world buying and selling along the way in 1710. If countries had problems with pirates they merely hired the corsairs. I don't know how they were so successful as they rarely fired cannons at the foes. That was because they wanted the ship in good order to sell along with whatever was on board. They did have some pretty accurate guns that took out "anyone on deck wearing a hat"....officers! The rest of the crew went without a fight. I have a picture of Michael with the weapons.

During WWII the only bombing of St Malo was from the Allies, and that was because of a communication breakdown. They were told there were 75,000 Germans there but there were only 75! One of the Germans there who knew the Americans would fire on them if thy thought there were so many, is credited for saving all the civilians, by hurrying them to safety before the bombs could be dropped. He is a hero to the people... name is Van Aulock.

In most war memorials the soldier is glorified with a statue of a serviceman but here the statue is a widow and her son. There are many, many names of soldiers who died in the First World War but very few in the second war. At the memorial another thing they did that you don't see elsewhere was to inscribe the name of every Jew executed from that town during the war.

For lunch in St Malo we went to a creperrie again. It was part of an optional trip and we had savory crapes with buckwheat, cheese, ham and mushroom and sweet of chocolate and caramel. We drank cider.. an alcoholic apple drink that tasted a lot like that apple beer Dianne drinks at the Happy Viking?

We had some time on our own to walk around and then boarded the bus with Peter and headed towards Dinan. On the way we stopped at a quaint little village Peter wanted us to see called St. Suliac. This town had people who farmed rushes for thatched roofs and of course there were many people with thatched roofPeter said he looked into getting a thatched roof for his own home as putting it on is the same cost as a slate roof. He found though that a thatched roof lasts 15 to 20 years where a slate roof lasts 80 years.

We passed by a house that had a little crèche built into the front wall of her house. It had been put there by the family before her. In 1856 there was a terrible cholera epidemic and the family promised if their family survived they would build it. They lived and they kept their word. When we visited the church we found there were many people that made those same deals with God and had plaques in the church saying "thanks." It reminded me of the little silver plaques sailors gave the church when they came home safely that we discovered from our last trip.

At the front of the church there were nine statues. Some parishioners removed them before the French Revolution. and hid them to protect them from being ruined (as they were from the thirteenth century.) 70 years later when they wanted to restore the entrance, only five could be found. They put up what they had and put up two more of that time. One looked very much like the priest at that time,.. Father Joseph. He must have felt pretty important up there with Saint Peter and Virgin Mary! I have included the photos of this. There were many beautiful little home and gardens everywhere. It was such a pretty little village I will send a few from the hundred Michael took if this place. We loved the flowers and the beautiful lace curtains in the windows. The fishermen, who were more like ship owners would have their little boats painted and then use the rest of the paint on their shutters, ergo many colors of shutters in the town.

We then boarded the bus for Dinan. This is a medieval town with churches, clock towers, and ramparts to protect those in Brittany from the Parisians.

Peter assured us we could NEVER get lost and they reminded us if we thought we were lost just ask to go to the gerendame! We of course took a wrong turn and were thinking we could get back but decided to ask for that police station which was by the bus. What we didn't know was the gerendame had been moved some time ago to the other side of town, but didn't bother to take their sign. People kept pointing the other way from where we had to go. Finally we backtracked and found our way back but that was after 35 minutes of walking up and down curvy cobblestone streets. It was an INTERSTING way to spend my 72nd birthday. Needless to say, I nixed the 30 minute round trip walk to the other restaurants and the Fishers and Us returned to last night's restaurant tonight. Michael had steak and I had carbanera which was so delicious. Leona went with the snails, shrimp and limpits along with salmon and Vic had mussels steamed in a big pot with wine sauce. We counted over 40 in the pot. Boy, did I think of Izzy and her love of mussels. It was a great birthday dinner and The Fishers treated us! Michael said he'd buy dinner on the boat! A joke! I have a picture and that will have to so as it is 11:00 and I have to be on the bus at 8 a.m. Besides my iPad isn't the only one with a battery at less than 50%!

Can you imagine if I had taken notes at the house in St. Malo? As you know I can't say anything in less than a thousand words! Sorry!

Grove

^ At St Malo With The Statue Of
The Widow And Son

< The Number Lost In The First War
Far Outnumbers The Second War...
Even Counting Jews and Civilians

Names Of The Jewish Victims

Waiting At The Wall Of St. Malo

Entering The City of St. Malo

Inside The Walled City

Near The Shopping

^
This Chest Is Where They Kept Their Important Stuff, And Was Bolted To The Deck Of The Ship. The Locks On The Outside Of The Chest Were Not What Held It Closed... It Was A Trick

< Mike With A Gun

Looking Out To Sea At St. Malo

The Pilings Protect The Wall By Breaking Up The Waves

Mike And Stuff

Crepe Eaters

From Atop The Wall

Taken By Mike From The Top Of The Wall

Young Workers Take A Break

Lace And Tatting On The Window

Crèche To Mary

More Crepe Eaters

Our Anne, Tour Director Magnifique'

St. Malo

St. Peter, Mary, And Father Joseph

5-Alter In The St. Suliac Church
This Shows the Dangers of the Lives of the Fisherman. When one of the Fishing Hooks Was Destroyed, A Fisherman Gave His own Aluminum Hook To Save the Boat

Window In St. Suliac Church
Depicts the Fishermen Leaving the Church at St. Malo Barefoot. They Are In Procession By the Clergy and Families Who Follow them To Bless the Boats and Their Journey Knowing They May All Not Return.

More SS

Piece In St. Suliac Church

This Sunburst Was in the Early Church. Nobody Knows What the Letter Says in the Center Triangle. It Is Gold Leaf On Wood. they Got Rid Of It When They Remodeled But Years Later Found It In An Antique Store and Bought It Back