2015-09-08-La Rochelle, FR (Day 1)

2015-10-17-Evanston, IL & South Bend, IN-ND-USC Weekend

2015-09-08-Richelieu, FR

After leaving Richelieu, we drove an hour southeast and stopped for a delicious pot roast lunch after which we drove another hour to our destination for the day, La Rochelle, population 80,000. A medieval Atlantic port city with an excellent harbor, and rich history, La Rochelle has, at various times, been independent, ruled by England and ultimately France. In the late 1500's and into the 1600's, the city became a center for French Protestants, the Huguenots, who rebelled twice against the French Crown. This did not sit well with the Catholic King Louis XIII who dispatched his Chief Minister Cardinal Richelieu to La Rochelle who led a fourteen month siege by Royal Forces that fatally starved 15,000 of the city's 20,000 inhabitants, until the city's mayor finally capitulated.

After checking into our hotel, Guillaume led us on a one hour walking tour of the Old Port area which featured three magnificent towers built in the 1300's and 1400's and served as port defenses. Other points of interest included two lighthouses and an impressive medieval stone gate tower, the entryway to the old city. After this brief tour, we continued on our own in the cobble stone paved Old Port area. Around twilight Georgia unfortunately lost her footing on a cobblestone step and badly sprained her ankle, an accident that would slow her down for the rest of the trip. After recovering a bit with a few sundown beers, we made our way to Cafe Andre, a seafood restaurant where we enjoyed an excellent dinner of mussels roquefort, a local specialty.

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The Orderly architecture of Old Town

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The flags of Heirs-Brouage and Saintonge flutter over a bastion

In 1825 Brouage was joined to the village of Hiers, 2.5 km away, forming the commune of Hiers-Brouage. Heirs most celebrated son is the French navigator Samuel de Champlain, who lived there when young, before being the co-founder of French settlement in Acadia (1604–1607) and Quebec (1608–1635). Saintonge is a former province of France located on the west central Atlantic coast. Today, four fifths of the historical Saintonge province occupies the modern département of Charente-Maritime.

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The St Nicholas and Chaine Towers.

In olden times during times of conflict a chain would be stretched between the two to prevent access to the inner harbor

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Time for our late afternoon beer. Dave went to fetch Jean from the hotel for dinner.

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A casaulty of touring

Both Cary and Georgia tripped on a cobblestone step near the harbor but Carey stayed upright while Georgia went down, badly spraining her ankle in the process.

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Late afternoon in the Old Port area

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Bell Tower of Saint-Barthélémy, part of La Rochelle Cathedral

Attached to the chevet of the present cathedral is the late medieval Gothic bell tower of the church of St. Barthélémy (Saint Bartholomew), first constructed in 1152 by monks from the Ile d'Aix, the rest of which was destroyed by the Huguenots (French Protestants) in 1568. The tower, on one of the highest points of La Rochelle, was used as a gun enplacement against the besieging army of Louis XIII in 1627.

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