Entre Les Murs

Weekend in La Rochelle

Janet and I spent the weekend on the Southwest coast of France, in the town of La Rochelle.  This is a bit of a summer tourist town, but it also has a great deal of history.  It was a stronghold of the French protestants, the Hugenots, who at one point had a measure of independence from the French king but became beseiged here and eventually slaughtered.  It was an important hub of trade with the new world, and an active port for the corsairs who harassed British shipping.


Nowadays it is known mostly as a holiday and retirement destination, with a charming old town, dramatic medieval fortifications and some spectacular restaurants.  Having strolled around the former (and been ambushed by an Easter parade), we went for dinner at one of the latter.  There are five restaurants run by the renowned Richard Coutanceau and his family.  The patriarch's eponymous establishment overlooks the ocean - but we really had eyes mostly for the table.  The meal was everything we expected, preceded by several amuses bouches and accompanied by a superb wine recommended by the sommelier (we hadn't heard of the AOC Quincy before, but it's right beside Pouilly Fume, and clearly a case of number-two-tries-harder).

The next day we went to the son's place, Les Flots, for lunch.  Another elegant establishment, in a more provincial way, with the added charm of dogs accompanying neighbouring diners.

After lunch we finished our tours of the towers and as it started to rain we went indoors to the aquarium, which was as good as any I've seen.  It had a huge shark tank with a grouper, sawfish and sea turtle as well as the sharks, and a rainforest exhibit in a greenhouse annex that had tanks of tropical river fish (like piranhas).

We took a late TGV home, which was unfortunately delayed by almost four hours, so it was nearly five a.m. before we got to bed.  Poor Janet had to get up and go to work, but I confess I slept until noon.

My pictures of the weekend are on the web, at my picture site here.

posted 3.4.07