From the beginning of the xxth century, Granville was an important cod-fishing port sending 110 fishing boats for 5.000 sailors to fish off Newfoundland. On each side of the Norman-Breton Gulf, Granville and Saint-Malo were vying for the title of leading French fishing port. The other fishing was, during several centuries and until the beginning of the xxth century, the dredging of natural banks of these great oysters called “Pied de Cheval” (“horse’s hoof), which were reappearing those last years on our coast.
The power necessary for the dredging gave rise to a handsomely-rigged sailing ship called the “Bisquine”. We can see every day La Granvillaise, which is a replica.
In 1855, Granville was the first port of registry of the Compagnie Générale Maritime. Nowadays, its marina has 1,000 berths. Its fishing port, fifth port of France for the shipping and eighth in terms of importance, commissions 77 trawlers and all-purpose boats. Almost 500 families directly or indirectly live on fishing.
Its commercial port serves the South of the Manche, the North of the Mayenne and the Ille-et-Vilaine. Its passenger port receives each year many passengers for round trip from or to the Chausey Islands (the coastal area of Granville) or the Channel Islands.
Today, tourism in Granville, it is also the ethnographic museum of the old Granville, the museum of modern art Richard Anacréon, the Christian Dior Museum, in the childhood villa of the famous couturier, who was born in an old local family.
For more holiday information please visit the Granville
Tourism website.
