We are staying at the YHA, which is 1km from the centre of the old town. The YHA is in an area called Les Minimes. Next door is the largest marina we have seen so far.
The marina must cover about 100ha and it is jammed packed full every thing from small fishing boats to large yacths and cruisers.
This an aerial photo of the Les Minimes marina on the wall of the YHA cafeteria.
As you can see there is just a forest of masts.
The tidal range here must be 4m to 5m between the top of the high and the bottom of the low tide. The old port runs completely dry at low tide. All maritime activity in and out of the old port stops for about 2 hours either side of the low tide.
The day we arrived in La Rochelle we were just not fussed on it at all. Far from being cute and historic, it seemed to us unkempt and tired, to the point of being dingy. The old city was swarming with people; the French on holiday. Between the weather and the town, we just didn't feel very photogenic on our first day. That's not to say we didn't give it a good going over. We must have walked (or been on our feet at least) for 6 to 7 hours that first day. Our legs knew about it the following day!
In between visits to other towns around the area, over the next few days, we kept wandering in to La Rochelle and began to warm to it a little more; plus the sun began to shine a little more, and that always helps.
The successful and prosperous port and city of La Rochelle was a Protestant city in the era when the Protestant Religions were taking a different approach to Christianity than the dominate Catholic relgion. In 1627 the Catholic Cardinal of France, Cardinal Richelieu, decided to bring the people of La Rochelle back to the fold. He besieged the city for almost two years until the locals agreed to submit to the catholic faith. Of the pre-siege population of 28,000 residents, only 5000 survived. Over the next century due to the religious oppression many protestants immigrated particularly to Canada. As a side note some of the ancestors of both the Kiem and De Costa family came to Australia on a ship called the "La Rochelle".
The old port of La Rochelle has been guarded by three towers for many centries;
The Lantern Tower
The entry of the port is guarded on the left by the "Chain Tower' and on the right by the St Nicolas Tower.This is basically the same shot but at low tide.
What a different 6 hours makes.The old port is quite small. Today it is used as a terminus for local ferries and tourist cruisers and marina. There are huge ports just a few kilometers up the coast; one is a fishing port and the other a general cargo port.
At full tide it is a very attactive harbour and city centre piece.The only other signficant city artictecture is the old city gate and clock tower.
Beyond here it is only restaurants and shopsThe clock tower above the trees as viewed across the port from St Nicolas Tower is very majestic.
It is unusal to see the light house built into the buildings lining the street at the end of the port.
Mussels are the main local delicacy. Almost every restaurant, bar and cafe serves "Moules et Frites"; Mussels and Chips. It sounds an odd combination but it is very popular. For the basic recipe the mussels are cooked in a little bit of white wine. You can add a range of sauces if you choose.
While we were in La Rochelle, John celebrated his 54th birthday. As a special treat Jenelle treated him to a seafood meal.
Entree was a small seafood platter of oyster, sea snails, prawns, mussels and langoustine.
The mail meal of course had to be "Moules et Frites"
Steamed in white wine with a few slices of onion...yum.
It is unusal to see the light house built into the buildings lining the street at the end of the port.
Mussels are the main local delicacy. Almost every restaurant, bar and cafe serves "Moules et Frites"; Mussels and Chips. It sounds an odd combination but it is very popular. For the basic recipe the mussels are cooked in a little bit of white wine. You can add a range of sauces if you choose.
While we were in La Rochelle, John celebrated his 54th birthday. As a special treat Jenelle treated him to a seafood meal.
Entree was a small seafood platter of oyster, sea snails, prawns, mussels and langoustine.
The mail meal of course had to be "Moules et Frites"
Steamed in white wine with a few slices of onion...yum.The locals like mussel so much many head off to the rocky foreshore as the tide is going out to gather mussels. Considering the numbers we have seen gathering mussels it is a wonder there are any mussels left. But off they go in their sturdy gumboots, large bucket in hand and with hope in their heart to gather themselves a feed of mussels. At low tide the foreshore is dotted with dozens of hopeful mussel hunters.
While on the matters grastonomic we have been trying the local faire as often as we can. Some purchases more successful that others. John had two slices of a local speciality sausage. He decided that one slice in a life time was probaly enough.
You can count this encounter with the local cuisine a success!!
You can count this encounter with the local cuisine a success!!La Rochelle has two large, sandy beaches. We suspect man made, but beaches none the less. This is the beach at Les Minimes on a rainy day.
A few days later, on a hot and sunny day the beach was packed.
A few days later, on a hot and sunny day the beach was packed.