Day trip to La Rochelle

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Today was sunny but cold - it didn’t get over 10C until the early afternoon - and we headed off on a day trip to La Rochelle, today, about an hour and a half away.

La Rochelle is a port town on the mid-west coast of France, and has at times been a key stronghold and trading post with such distant partners as Canada and the West Indies. The town itself was established originally as a fishing village over 1000 years ago and its old port is a quite the picture postcard, making up one of the 4 ports of the town.

We spent the morning wandering the winding cobbled streets of the old town and stumbled across the 18th Century market place in full swing. The market building itself is surrounded by everyman and his dog trying to sell you whatever is their current speciality. Loads of fresh produce and seafood of every shape and form, including crate upon crate of dry oysters…we think they were smoked, but they certainly didn’t look very appetising. The place was full of wannabe used car salesmen trying to sell you exactly the same thing as the guy next door, for the same price…in case you were wandering, 3 punnets of strawberries for $5 euros is a bargain!

Overlooking the markets are 3 story houses, in classic Tudor style but instead of dark wood features, these are covered in slate tiles.
Another nice feature of the old town is they have retained the old archway arcades of the old stone building - providing much needed protection from the sun for all those delicious chocolates and patisseries that we cant get away from.

After lunch by the harbour Sarah lead the group on an official tour of La Rochelle. Despite losing the map at one point the tour was bang on schedule at 90 minutes and took in some of the not-so-familiar spots of the town, including Henry II house and courtyard (a great spot for breastfeeding in the hot afternoon), a 500 year old house that’s still in use today, a lighthouse in the middle of a residential street, cartoon dog gargoyles, and the most notable lions and doors.

We ended the day with a walk along the beach to check out the old saggy ladies getting their kit off (sorry, no photos).

Plans are afoot for hitting the road tomorrow morning for our next 2 night country side stopover in Tarn et Garonne, just out of Toulouse.

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