It might have been named the Blue Coast or else the Amber Coast, however the readers of the ‘La Mouette’ (The Seagull was the name of the local newspaper at the beginning of the 20th century) decided otherwise during the newspaper’s name-finding contest.
On this coast the Bretagne looks southwards, its fine sandy beaches spreading from Piriac-sur-Mer to Saint –Nazaire. Between Le Croisic and Le Pouliguen though,  the coast gets wilder, more secret and cut into bays. Strangely shaped coves and caves follow one another.  From the numbers of colourful boats, nets and crates, it is obvious how important fishing is in this region. The trawlers in La Turballe go after anchovies as far as the Gironde estuary in winter and up to the tip of Brittany during the summer. The fishermen from Le Croisic track down  sea spiders and lobsters. Le Croisic has a distinctive style with its lighthouse and old well-restaured houses.

The Guérande peninsula opens up onto La Baule’s huge bay, the ports of Pornichet and Pouliguen lay on each side. The well-known sea-resort of La Baule, (La Baule Riviera as it is known) unfolds as a huge crescent of golden sand, facing south towards the sea.
The medieval town of  Guérande offers a totally different sight with its battlements of over one kilometre long. La Guérande owes its name to its well-known salt-marshes, indeed Gwenrann means “white land” in Gaelic Breton. This is the land of the ‘paludiers’, these men who gather the ‘white gold’ and have fashioned the landscape as a grid with canals and small salt-sea canals.

Saint-Nazaire, a shipbuilding yard town, has given birth to legendary steamers such as the Normandy and shows yet again, another side of this so contrasted coast.
In the early 60’s poster bills called this coast ‘the Brittany Riviera’ as it is true enough that from here starts the south : the vegetation starts looking like the one of the Mediterranean coast and the warmth of the red roof tiles slowly replace the blue slates.

Salt marsches museum at Balt-sur mer www.maraissalants.com