Guerande

I confess I do not really know my medieval European history. But looking around Brittany one is struck by the feeling that there were a lot of prosperous people, and they were shit-scared of their neighbours. As a case in point, take Guerande. Never heard of it? Well that is part of my point. A not very significant town historically, famed mostly for being surrounded bu salt pans, but with massive city walls. Walls built after the massacre of 8000 people in the War of the Breton Succession. Now it may be that things were similar in England and we just don't have many surviving city walls, but it strikes me that from an early time there were Frenchmen with a lot of prosperity, and a lot of extremely nasty people who would have no compunction in taking everything they had unless you were armed to the teeth and sat behind a bloody great wall. Certainly they thought it worth building them.

Anyway to Guerande. Nowadays the walled city is pretty and surviving on tourists buying tat and eating.

 It has an impressive church and a cathedral on top.

 You can walk the ramparts for part, which we did. Phil with a large bag of salt that Marie-Pierre thoughtfully bought for him to carry. Well builds up muscle I suppose.