Arriving in Saint-Malo via train required a 20 minute walk to the old part of the city. I spotted the walled old center and it looked amazing.

I had to look up the name of my hotel because I honestly couldn’t remember. I was standing right in front of it. I had an hour wait before the room was ready so I sat in the hotel outdoor bar and ordered a sparkling beverage. It felt good to be at my destination and seated, along with everyone else in town!

My room was on the third floor which is really the fourth floor if you don’t live in Europe. My agreement with myself has always been I take the stairs until I can’t. I have passed more older people standing in front of that tempting elevator and even if they step in when I take the first step up, I beat them. Always. Anyway…

Two nights here. There is much to explore, including nature and World War II sites. There are shops to check out and food specialties to discover. I will say the first thing I noticed when looking for something to eat is… this town has way too many sweet shops. Ice cream, pastries, special Brittany sweet shops which include a lot of caramel. There are biscuits of some type about every fourth shop. One of my favorite spots to watch the action was a shop that added gobs of Nutella to make a sweet sandwich. People were lined up and I tried hard to video the process but too many people in my way!! It was crazy!

Walking along the wall surrounding the entire old town was my favorite.

From that vantage point I could watch people walking below me in the streets or…

climbing the path to the Grand Be island at low tide or

Swimming in the pool that filled based on the tide.

There is a lot of WWII history in this town. The Germans were firmly in place and would not surrender despite the fact the town was being severely bombed by the Allies to the point of near destruction. They finally surrendered a few days after the war was declared over!

What a fun and interesting spot to spend a couple days enjoying the water, food and a little bit of history.

#47daysineurope #saint-Malo