“Rue du Chat qui Danse”

Street names in Saint-Malo often carry fascinating tales. “Rue du chat qui danse” for example, meaning “The Dancing Cat street”, refers to the most famous English attack. The “infernal machine”, a ship filled to the brim with gunpowder and explosives, was headed to Saint-Malo! This operation failed miserably as the ship blew up before even reaching the ramparts! According to the legend, only a cat fell victim to an assault that was supposed to erradicate the city. A monk captured that legend in a verse: “The English, who like the mountain birthed a poor rat, in his malouine campaign, only killed a cat!” To rub it in even more, Malouins named the street leading to the ramparts “dancing cat”. To top it all off, it’s also on this street at no. 2, in the Bertaudière hotel, at number 2, that the privateer Robert Surcouf was born.