The story of this place
The walled granite port of Saint-Malo made its fortune from the corsairs—state-licensed privateers who preyed on enemy shipping and made the town so rich and independent it once declared itself a republic, its motto: 'Neither French nor Breton, Malouin am I'. From here Jacques Cartier sailed in 1534 to claim Canada for France. In August 1944, during its liberation, American bombardment and German demolition destroyed some 80% of the old walled town in a ferocious battle. Rather than modernise, the citizens painstakingly rebuilt the historic centre stone by stone over more than a decade, recreating the corsair city almost exactly. Its ramparts still front the tidal sea.