Every year in May, Guérande offers its famous medieval festival. Each year, the themes chosen reflect the history of the city, from the late Middle Ages to the present day, offering costumed re-enactments as well as various festive animations. The Peninsula represented an important crossroads for these and other tribes, as it was surrounded by waterways. One waterway was the river Vilaine, used by the tribes Redones and Veneti. The Loire river was used by the tribes Namnetes and Pictones, and the Atlantic Ocean was used by the tribes Veneti and by Greek traders. Former, the town of Guérande has experienced a dwelling since prehistoric times, and the one that today is called the Guérande peninsula alone has nearly half of megalithic monuments remaining in the department. But we must wait until antiquity for the city to exist as such, including the presence of several farms. The activity of salt marshes, but also viticultural, began during the Middle Ages, in the fourteenth century, and made the city famous over the centuries.

During the Middle Ages, the town had a very rich history, with many important events. It was also the capital of the Pays Guérandais, an ancient region of the Duchy of Brittany. Salt forms part of many religious ceremonies and is a sign of hospitality when it is placed on the table. There are many traces of medieval times in the narrow streets of Guérande, like the ramparts still present in their entirety. Classified as Historical Monuments, they allow to appreciate the centuries of history which succeeded in the city. Thus, the Porte de Saillé dates from the 12th century, while the Porte Vannetaise reveals a typical architecture of the second half of the 13th century. As you walk through these ancient defenses, do not miss the Saint-Jean tower, from the 15th century, or the splendor of the Saint-Michel gate. Monumental, the latter was built at the beginning of the XVIIth century and unveils the coat of arms of the city of Guérande, two helmeted lions. Long of more than 1400 meters, the ramparts are the occasion of a beautiful walk in the oldest parts of the places. The salterns of Guérande are a swamp of salt water about 1 700 hectares in size. The current saltmarshes began before the 9th century and lasted for several centuries. Around the year 1500, the marshes reached 80% of the current surface. The latest were built around 1800. In the middle of the 19th century, a gradual decline started for different reasons: competition from a salt mine, lower consumption of salt as a product of conservation and improvement of transport by land.This salt is completely as nature created it - unwashed, unground, unrefined - nothing added or removed at all. Different salts dissolve at different speeds and sometimes take time to disperse. Always go easy on the salt to start with – it’s better to add more later than to add too much. Temperature makes a difference as well: a dish that has been salted to taste whilst cold might be too salty after heating. Be especially careful with sauces and stews that reduce down during cooking; only add a very small The Guérande Peninsula is surrounded by water. It stretches out from the Atlantic Ocean (west) to the Brière Regional Nature Reserve (east), and from the river Vilaine (north) to the Loire estuary (south). If it does reach the bottom, it continues to crystallise, in a similar way to a coarse salt, in hard cubes, but in an organised way and not in clumps. It is a coarse salt crystallised around a flower of salt embryo. This product, however, does not correspond to the definition of flower of salt! Salt and fleur de sel are formed by wind and sun, however, fleur de sel is a little more capricious.

In 1840, following the creation of the National Historical Monuments commission, the church's true value was realised and it was listed. The works undertaken by the architect Bourgerel were overly ambitious and caused the collapse of the west front in 1876. It was Eugène Boismen who was charged with reconstructing it in the original style. Sea, sun, wind and craftsmanship come together to create this exceptional sea salt in a wetland long ago wrested by man from the Atlantic. Out of the clay soil came not only the salt marshes, glistening in the sun with their 7,000 crystallisation ponds, but all around them this ecologically unique, natural landscape with its very own protected flora and fauna. Between the headlands of Pen Bron and the coast of the quaint fishing village Le Croisic is a large reservoir that the supplies the ètiers, the channels of the salt marshes, with water in tandem with the tides. In the harvesting ponds known as oeilettes, the sun and wind cause the water to evaporate and the sea salt begins to crystallise on the bottom of the ponds. The salt farmer or paludier uses a kind of shovel known as a cimauge to drag the salt to the edges of the 10-40 cm-deep pond, where it is allowed to dry in direct sunlight for another day in special recesses. The bottoms of the oeilettes themselves must never be allowed to dry out completely, and therein lies the great art of the salt farmer: he works continually to regulate the water level perfectly and maintain a constant salt concentration in the channels and ponds – taking into account the weather, number of hours of sun and wind strength. Harvesting begins in June at the earliest and lasts until September, throughout the rest of the year the farmers are busy keeping the ponds clean and level. Our flower of salt is harvested with the same tools that have been used for centuries and we use no additives. It therefore has nothing to compare with refined industrial salts which are harder and more aggressive. TRAD Y SEL Guérande salt is natural and rich in minerals (magnesium, calcium, potassium, trace elements), its taste is fine, without bitterness or spiciness. Human organisms can ONLY absorb Bio-available minerals, meaning minerals which have been FIRST digested by a plant or animal (Prof Maurice Jaubert). The minerals and trace-elements in the Celtic sea salt are Bio-available which means they can be ABSORBED by the body. Our Celtic salt carries a certification from Nature and Progress, a French organic and environmental standard, which ensures its purity, quality and sustainability. Our Guerande salt has carried this certification since 1989.Guérande salt also contains extreme halophile (salt-loving) micro-organisms (link to glossary), which contribute to its colour and aroma. The dunaliela salina is a micro algae which gives the characteristic pink colour to the mother waters, feeds artemias, which themselves give the rose colour to salmon and flamingos. the Namnetes, further South, whose frontier was the Loire river. As a seaboard people, their fortunes increased as they sided with Rome. The proposed certification of organic salt, under discussion in Brussels, allows too wide a range of industrial production techniques according to salt workers and salt producers. Very badly damaged during the Breton Wars of Succession, the Collegiate Church was restored in time for the signing of the first peace treaty in 1365. Various building projects succeeded one another until the 18th century, improving and adding new features: choir and chevet (15th–16th centuries), Baroque altarpieces and stalls (17th century). But hardly had this work been completed, than the church found itself in the midst of the French Revolution. According to the classification established by the INSEE in 1999, Guérande is now classified as an urban district, 1 out of 9 forming the urban area of Saint-Nazaire.