La Rochelle - La Ville Blanche
La Rochelle: Port View
Quick guide through La Rochelle History
La Rochelle was founded in 10th century, but its importance didn’t come out until 12th century. In 1130 Duke of Aquitaine, Guillaume X occupied the town and proclaimed La Rochelle as a free harbor with the right to establish itself as a commune. Later on, his daughter, Eleanor of Aquitaine sustained father’s charter and La Rochelle begun to flourish. The town had had right to mint its own coins and was allowed to do business free of royal taxes.
For 70 years (1154 – 1224), La Rochelle was under the rule of England. This transition was made by marrying Eleanor with English king Henry II. After the Siege of La Rochelle, the town went to the hands of Louis VIII.
La Rochelle was largest port base for the Templar Knights. Their main fleet was stationed here, from where they had insight in trade between Mediterranean and England.
In 1372 in front of the town, famous naval battle, called Battle of La Rochelle, took place. It happened after the English tried to take over La Rochelle, but Castilians and French stood up to that. The Spanish had more ships and men and use for the first time in naval battle handguns.
In 15th century La Rochelle became largest harbor in France, on Atlantic. They traded primarily wine, salt and cheese.
During French Wars of Religion (1562–98) La Rochelle was one of the centers of Protestant rebellions. La Rochelle was one of the first cities, along side Rouen, which accepted iconoclastic riots. Because of those riots and Huguenot’s rebellions, town itself was at several occasions attacked, sieged and suffered demolition.
After the wars, La Rochelle turned to West. Ships sailed to America and new set of opportunities came up. Trading with slaves from Africa, sugar transport to West Indies, fur trade with Canada, all marked new era of La Rochelle.
In that period the town was rebuilt.
Henri-Paul Motte [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Later, with French revolution and Napoleonic Wars France lost its strength on the sea, and trading slowed down so did the importance of La Rochelle. To revive itself La Rochelle became one of the centers for faience in 18th century.
In 19th century, La Rochelle was site of first ever mechanically powered submarine, Plongeur.
In the Second World War at the main port of La Rochelle, Germans established submarine port. Base and surroundings were held by 20,000 German troops, which made La Rochelle the last town to be freed after the war.
Interesting Sights in La Rochelle
The Old Port is the heart of La Rochelle. It’s the oldest part of the town, with narrow streets and buildings which are hundreds years old. Those beautiful pale stone houses give away Mediterranean influence throughout history of La Rochelle.
The Three Towers are part of Old Port. They are three defensive towers dating back to medieval times, which were used to guard the harbor. Today you can visit them. Inside, there are several rooms, with exhibits. Some exhibits are permanent and tell story about La Rochelle and its harbor, and some are temporarily.
Like many towns on coast of France, La Rochelle has its Aquarium. It is located near the harbor. Aquarium offers range of learning and exhibiting programs and it is great activity for every age.
Across the canal from Aquarium, there is Maritime Museum of La Rochelle. It’s open from April until September and it has 8 boats, 6 of which are named historical monuments. On the display in museum is also Calypso, boat-laboratory of famous explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, which sadly is rooting.
La Rochelle also has history museum called Orbigny-Bernon Museum in which you can take a look on important collection of porcelains of the town.
Les Minimes or Port de plaisance des Minimes as it’s also called is the largest marine for pleasure boats in France. It can host up to 3500 boats. You can take a walk among beautiful yachts, catamarans and sailing boats. And if that is not enough luxury for you, than at the back of the port, you can visit part of La Rochelle, where beautiful houses with ocean views make your jaw drops.
Planète Bleue is beautiful little bookshop which is famous for its specializations in books about travel, sailing, expeditions, nautical charts and others.
Where to Eat & drink in La Rochelle?
As every city in France on the coast, La Rochelle is known for seafood. You can find it in any restaurant. Very popular ones are those nearby Old port. One of the specials is meal with mussels called “charantais” in creamy sauce made with white wine and onion.
It the town there is The Café de la Paix, actually a brewery, which dates back to 1793. Inner décor is well preserved and cozy atmosphere takes you back through time. The building is historical monument.
One of La Rochelle specialty is white wine mixed with fruit syrup. You can try it in most of bars around town, but be careful – it’s very sweet, but it hits head quickly.
What to visit near La Rochelle?
La Rochelle: A bridge connection to Île de Ré
Great way to spend your day outside is to visit Ile de Ré.
It is island right next to La Rochelle, and connected with it by a 3km long bridge. Ile de Ré is known to have the same amount of hours of sunshine as south of France, which means that it’s most likely that you will have a sunny day to enjoy it.
Island has nice sandy beaches, which are real treat for leisure. Only the water can be a bit cold. Ile de Ré gets crowded during the summer when its population rises from 20,000 to 220,000. First in line are locals, people from La Rochelle, who come here for vacation, than there are others.
Main transportation here is bicycle. Whole island is covered in bicycle tracks. Rent a bike and discover island.
Main center is Saint Martin, local port, where besides fort as a main tourist attraction, all the souvenir shops, restaurants and bars are located. If you decide to stay for the night, get up early and go to the local market to have a look on locals selling and buying fresh fish and oysters.
If you have time, visit nearby La Pointe du Chay. It is 5km away from La Rochelle and it is popular cliff area. You can take a walk along the beach, or on the top of the cliffs with great view at the ocean.
La Rochelle: Port view at night from the seaside
Small botanical garden, The Jardin des plantes de La Rochelle is open daily without charge. It has collection of local plants, species from China, North America and North Africa, and it is great place to have afternoon walk.
La Rochelle's Biggest Annual Events
"FrancoFolies" is one of the biggest music festivals in France, which gathers Francophone musicians for a week of concerts and celebration. It takes place each summer in La Rochelle.
Grand Pavois is international boat show, which takes place in Les Minimes every year. Around 700 boats are showcased, 300 of them in water and 100,000 people come to see the boats and follow sea sports that go with the event.
Throughout year, La Rochelle hosts small events like gastronomy festival, jazz festival, art exhibitions, concerts and others. Any time of year, if you come to La Rochelle, there is always something going on.
The best way to travel to La Rochelle
If you’re coming to La Rochelle by plane, airport is near the town and it has daily flights from Paris and London.
La Rochelle is connected with Paris by high speed rail service. It has several trains per day and trip lasts about 3 hours. Other connections by train are with Le Mans, Nantes and Rennes.
La Rochelle: Quartier du Gabut quarter
You can come to La Rochelle by ferry, or you can take ferry to Caen or St Malo and take train from there.
There is no highway to La Rochelle, but regional roads connect it with A10 which goes from Paris to Bordeaux.
