We headed into La Rochelle, to spend a couple days exploring. Neither Chris nor I have ever been there.
The ride into La Rochelle from La Tranche-sur-Mer was uneventful. Most of it was along small road and canals, quiet and sometimes even monotonous. The most exciting parts were crossing over and under bridges and locks along the way and then marveling at the depth of the canal that we rode along for several miles leading into La Rochelle.
That canal is called the Canal de Marans à La Rochelle, ordered by none other than Napoleon I in 1805 to foster trade, and finally connected to La Rochelle in 1888, in time for the railroad to make the canal useless. It’s kind of amazing to ride along the canal and think of what it took to cut the channel 200 years ago!
We stayed in a lovely hotel in La Rochelle, just 5 minutes walk from the port. It’s the kind of place that makes you feel instantly at home and simultaneously completely inadequate. It, and its proprietors, were simply lovely and charming. We so enjoyed pretending that this was our place or that our rich friends had invited us for the weekend.
It was a shock to burst into La Rochelle, crowded with people milling about around restaurants and bars along the old port. Coming into the city as we did, along the quiet and narrow path along the canal, we had no chance to see what we were about to enter. This is one charm of riding a bike.
The town is stunning. The port, castle, churches and squares are well preserved, and crowded to the gills with people. After checking into our hotel, we got a 15 minute spirited overview from the proprietor of the “best places” to eat, avoiding the pizza and taco places [frequented by commoners?]
And so, in order to not completely disgrace ourselves, we went to one of the recommended restaurants, and had a lovely time.
We spent the next day doing some exploring. We visited the market, and bought food for dinner and a knife for Chris.
There’s a lot of lovely little and grand details in La Rochelle.
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