La Rochelle
Friday 2 June - Located on the Atlantic on the south-west coast and protected from (most) storms by the barrier of the islands of Ré, Oléron and Aix, La Rochelle is a port complex and an ocean gateway due to the presence of its three ports – fishing, commercial and yachting.
A thousand year old city with a rich historical and urban heritage, it has become the most important coastal city between the Loire and Gironde estuaries. It is characterised by low coasts, sandy coasts, cliffs, coastal coves, three ports and three beaches and seems like the perfect place for sailor Geoff to visit. I already have memories of a visit here with my lovely mum and my sister Julie, and was thrilled to be going back again.
We decided that we would not go on the autoroute but stay on the D2 named both “Les Routes du Vins de Bordeaux” and “route of a thousand châteaux, which is a far more picturesque route than a motorway filled with trucks! Driving leisurely through the villages and vineyards and through the Gironde estuary we stopped off to indulge in a few more wine tastings before we left this incredible area of France. For a strip of land 50kms long and 3kms wide to boast 8 of the most famous Bordeaux appellations is quite something.
The conditions that make this peninsula so perfect for growing world-renowned grapes; the sea, the estuary and the pine forests as well as the beautiful little villages made for a wonderful drive. There are 8,500 acres of vineyards with wines varying from Margaux to Cos d’Estournel. We stopped firstly at Châteaux Giscours, and then at Châteaux de Terme both in Margaux, where we had a wonderful wine tasting experience with a lovely local girl from Pauillac whose parents were also wine afficionados and she was incredibly knowledgeable. A stop at a local supermarket put together another gourmet picnic for ourselves we found a little park at the side of the Gironde river to enjoy it before continuing our drive to La Rochelle.
We made our way up to Le Verdon-sur-Mer where we were able to pick up the car ferry to take us across the river to Royan – talk about lucky, we had no idea what the ferry timetable was but literally swung around into the dock, bought a ticket from the cashier and coasted onto the ferry – the last car on, and by the time we alighted and got up to the deck it had already cast off!!!!!
Arriving in La Rochelle around 6pm, we checked in to Hotel Les Brises (the breezes) and headed straight into town – it was such a beautiful sunny evening and lovely to be strolling around the old port – there are three iconic towers that mark the entrance and exit of the harbour, the Lantern Tower which is a former lighthouse and also served as a prison, The Chain Tower which used to be an entrance gate to the port and at night a big chain was strung between it and the Saint-Nicolas Tower to close off the port, and the Saint-Nicolas tower which is the biggest one of the three. These three towers were built in the Middle Ages and are classified as Historic Monuments - and made for some rather stunning photographs. The town centre is beautiful, quaint, picturesque and all of those adjectives, but it was bloody teaming with tourists, thousands of them in fact. A great atmosphere and really buzzing, we settled on a Moroccan dinner, very, very authentic it was too, Couscous for me and Tajine for Geoff, with all the accompaniments including some local wine. Too many crowds for us so we headed back and cracked open the Y’quem and relaxed on our balcony overlooking the Atlantic ocean in the Bay of Biscay, and enjoyed a glass of that golden nectar, a nice relaxing end to our day.
Île de Ré
Saturday 3 June – a lovely leisurely lie-in this morning followed by breakfast on the sunny terrace before we set of for another walk around the town centre, slightly less lively than last night and very nice to sit on the quai with a cold drink and watch the action from the other side of the port this time before we headed out to Île de Ré.
Separated from the mainland, but connected by a bridge to La Rochelle, Île de Ré is the 4th largest island in France. The streets, flowery alleys of hollyhocks and houses are all very picturesque and the island’s economic resources are mainly from tourism, maritime - oyster farming and boating – agriculture, vineyards and market gardening. The main town is Saint-Martin-de Ré and it is a lovely little port with plenty of leisure yachts in the marina which is surrounded by a plethora of lovely little cafés and restaurants and sprinkled with some cute little retail shops too. We had a lovely stroll around and ticked off two very important boxes….I have been in France for over a week and had not had meringue Chantilly, one of my favourite French desserts with that lovely chewy meringue, so I managed to satisfy my longing for this with a huge one in a delightful patisserie shop on the harbour, and later on Geoff was able to tick off his longing for oysters at Le Tout du Cru, famous for its oysters and seafood platters. We had a great drive around the island – it has ten charming little villages with traditional white houses and green shutters which has earned it the nickname of Ré La Blanche - Ré the White, lovely vistas of the ocean, moors, salt flats, dunes, pine forests and a general laid back casual atmosphere. It was a lovely afternoon, capped off with a dinner by the marina and another glass of our nectar back on the balcony when we arrived back in La Rochelle!!!!
