History and seafood in La Rochelle

During our visit with J&K, we gave them some space to continue with their work commitments and headed off for a day trip to La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast.

A YouTube visit to Port of La Rochelle. Panorama photo by Chris Handel Photography

La Rochelle has been an important port of France for over 1000 years and I had wanted to visit since reading several historical novels based in the town. One was about a Huguenot refugee called Solange Luyon. As the story goes, she left France and arrived in Bath, England where she changed her name to Sally Lunn. She became famous for the delicious buns which can still be found at the teahouse “Sally Lunn’s”. The book by Pamela Oldfield is a fictitious account but my interest is that my maiden surname was Lunn and so the story captured my imagination. More recently I have enjoyed Kate Mosse’s books set in France. The Joubert Family Chronicles with references to La Rochelle at the time when the town was the capital of the Huguenots from 15th century. Between 1627-1628 the siege of La Rochelle took place when the town was surrounded by 7,000 Royal troops. They built fortifications to cut of the town by land and sea preventing supplies of food. The population decreased from 27,000 to 5,000 due to casualties, famine and disease. To escape further persecution, the Huguenots began to migrate around the globe. You can read more about the siege here and the Huguenots here.

I imagined the many boats that set sail from this port in the past

Our GPS took us on a rather long cross country route but eventually we arrived and after parking the car we meandered to the old port. Passing Tour de la Lanterne, once a medieval lighthouse and former prison, the original purpose was to watch the ship traffic entering and leaving the port.

Tour de la Lanterne

We passed lots of lovely mosaics decorating the small houses along the route.

Arriving at the Vieux Port we were hungry and it just had to be seafood. The harbour front was already very busy with diners and luckily we were able to seated at Café Leffe. It was a bit touristic but La Assiette Marine (the seafood platter to share) was delicious with a bottle of Sauterne, a perfect match for a leisurely lunch under the shade of the parasol on a hot summer’s day.

La Assiette Marine

We enjoyed oysters Marennes-Oléron natural and perfect with a touch of lemon or vingarette.

Chris enjoying our lunch right on the quayside

Our restaurant seat allowed plenty of time to view the other 2 medieval towers that guard the port of La Rochelle. Tour Saint-Nicolas and Tour de la Châine guard each side of the harbour entrance. Both were constructed in the 14th century. Tour Saint-Nicholas you may notice has a bit of a lean, as it was built on unstable ground. Tour de la Châine was built to operate the chain to guard the harbour. It lost its tower in the 17th century.

Tour Saint-Nicolas and Tour de la Châine

After lunch we strolled along the quayside, past market stalls and musicians. The sunshine, warmth and bustle of people enjoying their day was just the right balance to create a lively summer atmosphere.

Strolling through the markets along the quayside. Enjoying the many stalls, musicians and below the statue of Eugène Fromentin (1820 - 1876). A French painter, native of La Rochelle.

The Grosse Horlage (the big clock), was once the old city gate. Enter through the archway into the winding streets behind the waterfront where you will find the main shopping area. We took photos and then chose ice creams. Pistachio for me. Melon and Passionfruit for Chris. Then continued our quayside walk around the port.

There are many more things that you can do in La Rochelle see here. But we made our way back to the car via le plage and then eventually back to J&K’s via a shorter route.

Le Plage panorama by Chris Handel Photography

Please join me next time. Its all about food. À bientôt!