Saint-Malo - Descriptions & Excursions.

Saint-Malo is a walled city in the province of Brittany with modern population of 46 tousands, from where corsairs sailed in the 17th-18th centuries in search of new lands, built in the 6th century around the abbey. The old city stands on a granite islet that is joined to the mainland by an ancient causeway and by an avenue bridging the inner harbour.

Saint-Malo was named for Maclou, or Malo, a Welsh monk who fled to Brittany, making his headquarters on the island, in the 6th century and probably became the first bishop of Aleth (Saint-Servan). The island was not substantially inhabited until the 8th century, when the population of the surrounding district sought refuge there from the Normans. The bishopric was transferred to the island in 1144 and was abolished in 1790. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Saint-Malo derived prosperity from its navigators, traders, and privateers. The town was three-fourths destroyed during World War II, but it has been rebuilt.

Freight and passenger ferries connect Saint-Malo to England, Ireland, and the Channel Islands.