Fort La Latte

Fort La Latte or Castle of La Latte

Fort-la-Latte or Castle of La Latte is a castle located about 4 km southeast of Cap Fréhel and about 35 km west of Saint-Malo, Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany, France. This impressive castle was built on a small piece of land at the Baie de la Fresnaye in the 13th century.

The house of the mighty Goyon-Matignon built at this sit a castle in the 13th century. In the year 1379 it was conquered by Bertrand du Guesclin. It was besieged by the English in 1490 and by the holy League in 1597. Garangeau under the reign of Louis XIV turned it into a fortress, using Vauban's building plans. They used canon batteries, stationed in Fort La Latte, to defend Saint-Malo against English and Dutch attacks. In the year 1793, a melting furnace for cannon balls was built and some counter-revolutionary suspects were imprisoned at Fort la Latte. The last attack happened in 1815 during the Hundred Days (French Cent-Jours) (also known as the Waterloo Campaign, it describes Napoleons return to power between 20 March 1815 to 28 June 1815), when a few men from Saint-Malo unsuccessfully attacked the castle.

Various films have been shot at this site, including The Vikings (1958 by Richard Fleischer) with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis.

Saint-Malo Walled city

From the Walls of Saint-Malo

Saint-Malo the famous granite city, is a walled port city in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. Saint-Malo became notorious as the home of the corsairs, French privateers and sometimes pirates. (The "corsair" activities started in the Middle Ages)

The corsairs of Saint-Malo not only forced English ships passing up the Channel to pay tribute, but also brought wealth from further afield. Jacques Cartier, who sailed the Saint Lawrence River and visited the sites of Quebec City and Montreal – and is thus credited as the discoverer of Canada, lived in and sailed from Saint-Malo, as did the first colonists to settle the Falklands – hence the islands' French name Îles Malouines, which gave rise to the Spanish name Islas Malvinas.

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2012 America's Cup Newport 2nd part of the day.

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2012 America's Cup Newport 2nd part of the day
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Bernard