Advertisement
It rained overnight and the air was fresh smelling when we woke up. The rain did not do anything to remove the humidity as it was still at 80%, but humidity on the ocean is different than humidity inland, the breeze keeps it more bearable. The alarm went off at 7:30 and instead of getting ready, we again, just chose to splash water in our face and go down to breakfast. This gives us more time to just relax when we come back up and not hurry to get ready.
The breakfast room was less frantic than yesterday so a bit more enjoyable. The concept of them actually cooking your eggs anyway you want is pretty novel. I just cannot imagine a Hampton Inns cooking to order eggs.
As I write this post, Jerry is out doing some shopping, wine for the room and a new wallet for me, since the other one is ruined from the dip in the canal. It was a goo day. After breakfast we got back on the bikes, and there were no incidents, my bike legs came back to me and we pedal our way around the city.
Our first stop was
the central market. It was a very nice market, seafood galore, meat looked wonderful, and the vegetable always look so much better than anything you can get at grocery store back home. We stopped at one of the fish markets and were able to get some clarification on types of fish we had been eating. In case you want to know, Merlu is Hake and Lotte is monkfish.
After the market we headed a bit north to check out some other neighborhoods, again to modern and no real French feel. However, the neighborhood around the market has a lot of potential, but most of the places seemed like you had to buy them and would not be able to rent. The next stop was the all-important Gare. La Rochelle has a beautiful train station, and there is a TGV to Paris.
The final neighborhood to explore was the St. Nicholas area, just slightly on the edge of the port area. This was our favorite and definitely somewhere we could see ourselves living. It was walking distance to the train station, bikeable to the Market and other shopping. It was just far enough outside the highly touristic area to
be very livable.
Based on this visit, we both agreed the La Rochelle is still in the running, as long as the cost of living is within our retirement budget. Other major plus of this city was a Major University and Hospital.
Our tour ended a bit earlier than we had planned, so we returned the bikes and walked back to the hotel, first stopping at a place to have our first crepe of the trip. To be clear what we think of as a crepe is not in fact a crepe. The correct term for a savory crepe is a galette and typically made with buckwheat. A crepe is sweet. We each had basically the same galette, ham, Emmenthaler, soubise (cooked down onions) and a sunny side egg on top. Jerry’s also had mushrooms and spinach. The galette batter was prefect, crispy and tasty. It was a perfect light lunch in the sun. Well, we were not in the sun, but sitting outside in the shade.
That was pretty much the day. We found a place for dinner in the morning and made a reservation. I believe we might have an ocean view. Other than blogging
my primary task for this afternoon while Jerry is out shopping, is to google map the timing for out drive tomorrow. The drive to Brest is our longest drive to the trip 5 ½ hours. We are stopping for lunch in Vannes, which is three hours in, so we needed to know the exact timing since we have a lot to do, including picking up our dry cleaning before we head out of town.
Nothing more for now, other than we like it here and could see ourselves living here for at least a few years of our retirement.
***
Dinner was a find. It was actually listed in the book we picked up from the restaurant in Jarnac, which as you may recall was the worst meal of the trip. We were naturally a bit skeptical of any place recommended by this particular publication, but in this case, it was spot on.
It was called Le Mail, it was on the rue Le Mail, so that is the only reason we can figure out that is what it is called. It is run by a lovely husband and wife couple. They will be getting a
very good trip advisor review. It is located about a half of a mile from the west port and our hotel, so a very easy walk. When you get there, you think this just can’t b e the right place. It is the size of a train car and sits right on the sidewalk in a very influential neighborhood. If we when the lotter (Jerry purchased a couple of French Lottery tickets) it is the street we will live on. It is along a very nice green space and along the harbor entrance.
We had a 7:30 reservation, made same day, not sure how we got in at all, because it was packed 30 minutes after we arrived. When we entered there were three tables, 30 minutes later, there was not a table to be had.
We were served by Herve one of the owners and his wife Patricia, they were both very friendly, he spoke English she did not. The menu was full of wonderful seafood, a bit of meat and some Basque influence. The first thing to the table was the best baguette since we left Paris, with wonderful French butter, and a pot of creme
fresh with chives. I was already in heaven.
Other than my appetizer we went very fish. Jerry started with Tartare de mairgre à la rhubarb. A local white fish served tartare style with very fresh rhubarb sauce, delightful. I had Soupe “fraiche” de celery, ricotta & oeufs de trute fumers. In short the incredible celery soup made with crème fresh, eggs and trout row.
We of course had our traditional champagne and toasted our last night in La Rochelle. The mains were equally as delicious and they both are the dish of the date. We basically had the same dish just with different types of fish, Jerry had Lieu jaune (white fish) and I had the Hake. Both were served with the best burre blanc we have ever had, it helped that it had tarragon in it as well. For a side we had Pommes de terre grenailles, tomates, onions and paprika. It was basically French patatas bravas.
The wine was equally as good, one of the best white Burgundy’s we have ever had. Take note Napa, this is how a chardonnay is suppose to be made.
It didn’t stop with the mains, dessert was next.
One comment, the bread service alone was amazing, there was a never-ending supply of wonderful baguette slices. So dessert, Jerry had a very different version of Ile Flottante, it was the classic meringue, but covered in coconut and the cream anglaise had pineapple and hints of banana. I had a very light chocolate Mousse.
It was really the best meal in La Rochelle. Perfect for our last night here as we prepare to head to Brest and Brittany on the final leg of our journey.
The walk home was very nice, and the moon was just huge. Pictures of the moon, never really do what you see with the naked eye justice.
So ends our time here in La Rochelle, a long day tomorrow with a 5-hour drive before we get to Brest. Up early, pick up the dry cleaning (and the laundry we sent out at the hotel came back perfect today, never had my underwear ironed before. There is a bit of a story yet to tell about our time here, but really need to get this posted and off to bed.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.397s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 14; qc: 64; dbt: 0.1299s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Sharon Hughson
non-member comment
La Rochelle Gets My Vote
You've sold me on this little town, so I hope you do get to spend part of your retirement there and I visit you during that time. I especially want the chocolate mousse. But I will pass on any fish tartare (served raw), thank you very much. I'm not a fan of fish. Period.