Ferries to St Malo
St Malo St Malo is a walled port city in Brittany in north western France, situated on the English Channel. History St Malo is a small city with a long history. It is sometimes called the City of Corsairs, because the corsairs - privateers - preyed at will on the English ships crossing the channel in the 18th and the 19th centuries. The walls of the city are 20 feet thick. They were originally built in the 14th century, although the military architect Vauban designed most of what still stands in the 18th century. Modern St Malo traces its origins to a monastic settlement founded by saints Aaron and Brendan early in the 6th century. In later centuries it became notorious as the home of a fierce breed of pirate-mariners, who were never quite under anybody’s control but their own. For four years from 1590, it declared itself an independent republic, in a sort of Gallic version Passport to Pimlico. The corsairs of St Malo not only forced English ships passing up the Channel to pay tribute, but also brought wealth from farther afield. Jacques Cartier, who colonised Canada, lived in and sailed from St Malo, as did the first colonists to settle the Falklands. Now inseparably attached to the mainland, St Malo is the most visited place in Brittany, thanks in large part to its superb old citadel. What to See & Do in St Malo
