Emerald Coast (Fort La Latte, Cape Frehel)
When we were returning from Dinant to Saint-Malo in the middle of the day, the guide asked: who wants to go to Fort Latte and Cap Frehel? There were 5-6 people who wanted to. Naturally, the bus tour was cancelled. (On that route in the north of France, which I once chose for myself, but because of the bankruptcy of the company that offered it, I could not pass, these places were not optional, but part of the route. )
I confess that I have not heard about these places, I have not seen them in the photo. Because I did not know what it is and what you can see there. But castles have been my love since childhood, this castle is medieval, so I was going to go there. Now I had to look for some other opportunity to leave Saint-Malo, in which I was not at all interested in sitting.
Returning from Dinan, I went to the tourist office at the Saint-Vincennes gate. Nothing. Walking along the walls, I went to the booth of the water travel company. There is no information on the board either.
I took their booklet and returned to the hotel. The next morning I went to the tourist office again: no offers for the day. When she got to the water travel company's booth, she looked at the board: there were two routes written in chalk - to Fort La Latte and to the tidal power station (first) on Rance. Both are interesting, but both start at 2 pm (apparently, this is also due to the tides). I had to choose one thing - the fort. I spoke with the saleswoman. She gave me some tips for this trip (bring warm clothes) and for those that we still had along the route.
There was still a lot of time before departure. I went to Saint-Servant (about him - in a review about Saint-Malo). Returning, I went down the wrong street and lost a lot of time getting out, so there was no time left to go to the hotel for a jacket. I had to settle for a shawl.
When a boat appeared, which was supposed to take us to the fort, it became clear why the departure was scheduled for 14. Indeed, at an earlier time there was no water at the pier. Now the ship (small ship) came to him.
The ship set sail from Saint-Malo, passed by the pier, lighthouses. Picked up tourists from Dinara on the way. In the dynamics, they told something about the islands, the coastline of the Emerald Coast, the birds living on the coast. To be honest, I don’t even know birds in Russian. Where is it in French? I turned off and just watched. Then we somehow trickyly went to another place, taking tourists there too. After that it became noticeably colder: we went out into the open English Channel.
Soon, in the distance, La Latte Fortress appeared. It is located on a rock that drops steeply into the sea from three sides.
On the land side, there are two more gaps with drawbridges that allow you to organize several belts of defense: first you need to get through the first bridge into a small part of the fortress, then again through the bridge into a large one, and then still get into a well-defended donjon. That is, the fortress was practically impregnable. And inside there were traps, traps, descending bars, narrow stairs, etc. This is an example of an effective defensive structure of the Middle Ages.
donjon of Fort Latte
According to the Breton legend, the first fortress was founded in the 10th century by a certain La Roche Goyon, a member of a well-known family in the province (one of his descendants, by that time already bearing the surname Matignon, marries a lady from the Grimaldi family, however, with the condition of preserving her coat of arms).
The castle, from which parts of it are visible today, was founded in the 14th century, when cannons appeared.
Then the fortress was called by the name of the family. Once it was besieged by Du Guesclin, whom I mentioned earlier. After the War of the Breton Succession, for some time the fortress went to France, but then returned to the family again.
the sea from three sides
In the 15th century, the wealthy family moved to the French kingdom, and appointed officials began to manage the fortress. In the 16th century, when Brittany and France united, the fortress was besieged by the British. But they failed to take it.
During the wars of Henry IV of Navarre with the League of Guise, the fortress was already called La Latte after the name of the nearby village. She was taken, ruined and burned; donjon remained intact.
To protect Saint-Malo from the sea (less than 50 km away), it was rebuilt in the 17th century.
In the 19th century, the fortress was last tried to be taken by storm. Then they dropped it. At the end of the 19th century, the family sells it to the state. At the beginning of the 20th century it was restored.
two drawbridges
Later, I saw a photo of the fortress from above on the Internet: impressive. Perhaps if you climb the donjon, the view is also curious. For us, the fortress remained impregnable: there was no way out to the shore. We walked around the fortress on the water. She posed from different angles. Then the boat headed for Cape Freel.
The fortress was "acted" in some films. Perhaps the films “Vikings” with T. Curtis and K. Douglas or “Chuans” with S. Marceau and L. Wilson tell you something. I haven't seen these films, so I don't know how the castle "played".
The castle is open every day from April 1 to July 4 and from August 27 to September 30 from 10.30 to 18; from July 5 to August 26 - until 19; the rest of the time - only on weekends, holidays and school holidays from noon. Paid entrance. Medieval holidays are also held in July and August.
Cape Frehel rises above the sea to a height of more than 70 m.
From the water you can see that literally the whole rock is covered with different birds. Paradise for ornithologists and all bird lovers. As usual in these parts, the so-called "customsman's path" stretches along the coast, yellow gorse and lilac-purple heather bloom around. There is also a lighthouse over 100 m high.
lighthouses at Cape Frehel
