La Rochelle—September 23-26, 2018

September 23 & 24, 2018

We arrived a little after 4:00PM to a cloudy and misty afternoon and walked right to the BnB where Bernard and Andrea greeted us, showed us to our room, made sure we were able to connect to their wifi network, had us practice opening the back door because it's counterintuitive, asked us what time we wanted breakfast, and basically made sure we were comfortable. After settling in, we thought we'd take a walk to see just how small La Rochelle is, but we only got a little ways before it started raining in earnest so we returned to our room so we wouldn't get soaked.

Back in our room, we checked the weather forecast for the next three days and it's supposed to be sunny so we can explore tomorrow.

At Gare Montparnasse these free wifi
signs are posted all over the place,
but I tried logging on, and nothing
happened so I asked an official with
the train station and she was puzzled.
Then I walked into a pharmacy be-
cause pharmacists speak English
and he said, "Oh, it  doesn't work
here." Mystery solved.

Waiting for our platform to be posted.

The TGV is fast, efficient, and comfortable. Our 290 mile
journey will take 2.5 hours, an average of 116 miles an hour.

View from TGV. Lots of farmland once outside of Paris.

La Rochelle train station. Pretty nice, eh?

Stairs to our room. Narrow but just
ten steps to our comfy room with
a private bathroom.

Nautical theme matches La Rochelle's past and present, but I
was surprised by the Asian decorations on the walls.

Floral wallpaper in bathroom. 

This is the ceiling. Lots of pink but it's a private bathroom.

     

                                              Decoration over bed. Andrea told us at breakfast that it's
                                              something Korean children wear.  

 

Door to our room. It's Chinese
and means "good fortune".

 

View of back door, our entrance, from our room. This patio 

is private, partially covered and where breakfast is served.

  

Over breakfast Bernard and Andrea shared how they lived five years in China, Taiwan, and Korea, three years in Egypt and Israel, and one year in Jamaica where he served as a customer representative for Eurorail. When rail cars or engines were purchased he and a team of representatives from the company were posted in countries to assist in the smooth operation of the equipment. The length of stay depended on the size of the order. Jamaica was just one year, because they only purchased 6 locomotives.

While living in China Andrea taught Chinese and here in La Rochelle she teaches Mandarin at three local primary schools, works with the immigration office helping acculturate Muslim immigrants, and even teaches Chinese, via Skype to students in China. We also found out she has a brother who lives in Vancouver, B.C. so she knows where Seattle and Bellingham are because her brother's family likes shopping at the outlet stores. Bernard is now retired and enjoys running their BnB.

Once personal histories were shared our conversation turned to politics and how it's moving to the right all over the world. They are as worried about this as we are. We're noticing a trend here; Clemence, our host in Paris, is also concerned about the way politics is leaning these days. But it's sunny this morning so we'll leave politics aside for now and enjoy the harbor, the largest private marina in France, and pretend we're part of the 1% and then walk old town to see what La Rochelle has to offer.

Heading out on our first morning.

Praying to the Wifi gods.

Began walking tour around the harbor.

Two towers that protected the harbor and city. On the left is
the Tower of the Chains which protected the system of chains
that closed the gateway at nightfall. St. Nicholas Tower (14th
century on the right was first a defense tower and then later
a state prison. 

Hinged lock used to keep water in harbor at low tide.

Lantern Tower signaled boats using a fire lit in the stone lantern
and used as a prison at times.

You'll see the towers many times.

Walkway over locks adjacent to Old Harbor. Note water level.

High water behind locks. 

And just to the right of the berths behind the locks is what the

Old Harbor looks like.

The Big Clock is 14th century gateway to city.

Cool passage way, a short cut to next block.

On our 7 mile walk around La Rochelle today we took tons of pictures of the 10th-18th century Old Town. Enjoy!

Same passageway.

The old clock tower portal leads to Old Town.

Buildings in Old Town range from 13th-18th century with the

occasional 10th century bulwark supporting archways.

La Rochelle Cathedral.

Market where we purchased local cheese for lunch.

Pesto gouda.

This young woman helped us select a delicious local goat cheese.

Back in our room for a rest.

More walking after a little lunch.

A view down our street.

Another view down our street.

Our BnB is on St. Nicolas Street which was named for this

church transformed into a three star hotel. 

St. Saviour's Church was originally built in
1568, but the current church was rebuilt
in 1718 after a fire. It's practically new.

Note ship model. It's a naval town after all.

Old Town clock tower adjacent to post office.

Gotta love the arched walkways throughout

Old Town. 

It pays to look up, too.

We ended up at the beach just outside the town walls.

The modern marina is one of the largest recreational harbors
on the French Atlantic Coast with 4800 berths.

I'm standing at a medieval gate that separates Old Town from

the beach to the left. That beach and I are facing the Atlantic.

Behind me is the fortified wall that runs to the Old Harbor. 

The Lantern Tower is behind me and part of that fortification.

It looks like a renaissance-era home, but was
actually built in 1923. 

This is the Old Harbor later in the day when the tide is high.

The previously closed lock is now open.

Harbor Master's office overlooking Old Harbor.

Our view from a cafe near the end of our long walk.

We just sat and people watched. Bikes are popular.

Dinner anyone?

Moules et frites (mussels and fries)

We shared a chocolate crepe with hazelnut ice cream and

whipped cream to cap off our first dinner out. Hey, we walked

7 miles today.

September 25, 2018

Bernard and Andrea said it would be a pity if we didn't visit Ile de Re, an island known for salt marshes where sea salt has been harvested since 300AD or so. The island, almost an hour from La Rochelle via motor coach, is connected to the mainland by a 1.8 mile bridge. Ile de Re is 19 miles long and 3 miles wide and a favorite retreat for families and those who want a laid back vacation, because it's crisscrossed with bike paths and prized for its gently sloping beaches. But we also noticed dozens of kite and wind surfers taking full advantage of the constant breezes.

 

Pont Ile de Re to the island.

We spent seven hours on the island, first stopping and walking St. Martin, the largest town and the place tourists enjoy meandering around the narrow streets, as we did, or sitting at a cafe/restaurant overlooking the harbor soaking up the sun, as we also did.

St. Martin's Church, started in 14th century
and finished in the 18th century.

After St. Martin we caught the next motor coach to Les Portes, the last stop at the head of the island. The village center is essentially a small square with half a dozen restaurants that are open in the morning and later in the evening. People go to Les Portes to do a lot of nothing. Lots of Parisians have summer homes here. A local man riding by on his bike saw us looking at a map and asked us if we needed help. That was an understatement. We were sure we'd missed the village center, but Jean Francois laughed and said we'd already walked through it. He added that the area of Les Portes is large but the center is small.

We explained that we were also hoping to see one of the beaches and he started to direct us, stopped once he realized directions were impossible and said, "Follow me." We walked with him down a narrow lane, turned left down a sandy path, turned right at another path lined with ferns and 200 meters later found ourselves at a gorgeous beach. We thanked him and Jean Francois bid us adieu and jumped on his bike and rode off out of sight down the beach to his favorite spot.

Eventually, we retraced our steps, and two hours later, arrived back in La Rochelle at 8PM.

The church towers over everything. Many of the residences
are summer homes built in the 18th century. The population
of the island is about 20,000. In summer it swells to about
220,000, mostly Parisians. 

This gate guards one entry into St. Martin. The
ramparts were fortified in 1681. The entire
town is surrounded by these ramparts. St.
Martin was designated a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 2008.

Close up of gate leading into St. Martin.

Note the deep ditch and ramparts behind Marie.

Hey look, a three star hotel.

Knock, knock.

Pretty reasonable rates.

More cutesy village streets.

And more of the same.

This is the front of the above home.

Close up of the above home.

Making our way back down to the harbor.

St. Martin Harbor. This is where all the action is. 

We enjoyed a coffee and soaked up the scenery and sun.

A map of the island is painted on the side of a building on the main square.

It's a comfortable ride to and on the island. For $6.00 each
we rode about 45 minutes from La Rochelle to Ile de Re
and back and could jump on and off this motor coach any-
where on the island. Such a deal!

Never seen wooly donkeys before. They are an endangered species.

The bus driver negotiates the narrow roads with ease.

The hill to the left is a sea wall. The Atlantic is just over the top.

In search of Les Portes village center.

One of many old wells that used to serve folks.

Just down this way and around another bend
and you'll find the sea. We'd never have found
this beach without Jean Francois' help.

And off he goes on his bike to his favorite beach.

And back we go to the bus stop.

We looked over one of the walls of the residences in Les Portes
and here's a nice little summer home.

I'm sure the bus stop is down this lane.

Pont Ile de Re back to La Rochelle.

That's a wrap folks! A really long day but well worth the effort.

Bernard and Andrea.

September 26, 2018

Today our train for Bordeaux didn't leave until 2PM so we left our backpacks with Bernard and Andrea and walked around La Rochelle one last time.

We've really enjoyed visiting with them each morning over breakfast, but it's times to move on to our next adventure. More about that later.



We highly recommend staying at Bernard and Andrea's BnB. Here's a picture of their card. Although I think this is readable, you can click on the picture to enlarge it further.

 

And now for one last stroll around La Rochelle's old town. 

It's market day! When we purchased the local goat cheese a
few days ago, there were only a few vendors, but Wednesday
is the day and farmers are selling produce, all the fish mongers
and butchers and fromagerie merchants are present. 

We sat a cafe enjoying the morning 

sun, spending our last moments

gazing out over the harbor and then

noticed all the locals walking past

with baskets and bags in hand—

a sure sign it's market day.

The fish mongers, butchers and
fromagerie shops are inside.

We love this decoration "floating" over the square where
veggies and flowers are sold. Such a cool idea.

Oysters anyone?

Here's a farmer who takes pride in his product.

Lucie is the proprietor of Kaboom.
She makes backpacks, purses, and
other specialty items from scratch.
My day pack was in need of repair
and she took care of it.

Train station clock tower from
the harbor. It was an eight
minutes walk max from our
BnB to the station. Bordeaux,
here we come.