Finsatsea: October 6 - La Rochelle, France

Bonjour from La Rochelle. This is a city of approximately 80,000 on France’s Atlantic coast midway between Brittany and Bordeaux. The area was first settled by a Gallic tribe but eventually was occupied by the Romans after their conquest of Gaul in the first century BC. The Romans developed salt and wine industries in the area and exported both throughout the empire. (Those Romans knew what people needed.)

The city of La Rochelle was founded in the 10th century AD and became an important port in the 12th century. For a couple of hundred years it fell under the English Plantagenet kings’ domain through Eleanor of Aquitaine who married Henry II. I won’t write about her here but if you are interested in learning about strong, scheming women, she’s a good one to read about. During the Hundred Years War, the people of this part of France defeated the British ending their rule. An interesting fact is that the English were defeated in a naval battle, the Battle of La Rochelle, which included the first use of handguns on warships.

Evidently the people of the area were independent-minded because in the 16th and 17th centuries many became Protestant, both Calvinists and Huguenots, and fought against the Catholic French. The English, who still had an eye on reacquiring territory in France decided to do some meddling and eventually suffered a resounding defeat. Some of the events going on at the time are part of the backdrop of Dumas’ book The Three Musketeers.

Because of its location on the Atlantic La Rochelle was a good jumping off spot for French explorers headed to the New World. There was an unsuccessful expedition to settle a colony in Brazil. Others went to what is now Canada, the Canaries, and the Caribbean with more success. The French engaged in their own triangular trade, bringing slaves from Africa to the Caribbean, and sugar from the islands and furs from Canada back to France. La Rochelle became a wealthy city because of it.

Following the Napoleonic wars in the late 18th and early 19th century, and the abolition of slavery around the same time, La Rochelle’s importance declined. Then in WWII after the Germans occupied France they built a submarine base and sub pens in La Rochelle. Following the Allied invasion in June 1944, the Allies moved to capture the sub base and actually laid siege to it from September 1944 to May 1945. For movie buffs some of the sub base scenes in Das Boot and Raiders of the Lost Ark were filmed in La Rochelle.

Today is an absolutely gorgeous day with a Carolina blue sky and not a single cloud around. The dock is in an industrial port and Seabourn is running a shuttle bus to the old town. I had booked a tour which was canceled so I decided to just walk around a little. The old town is charming with lots of cafés and bistros. I didn’t see many shops which was probably a good thing because I really don’t need anything.

I was on the same shuttle as my new friend Mae so we strolled around. It was lunchtime for the locals (they don’t eat as late as Spaniards do) and the cafés were filling up. We passed one restaurant where a man was shucking oysters outside and arranging them on beds of ice on platters. After we walked around the little harbor we headed back to André’s and went in to try the local wine and some shrimp and oysters. We hadn’t had breakfast too long before, but how could we not try these? They didn’t disappoint us. I am always amazed at the difference in taste of oysters depending on where they were raised. These were saltier than ours at home but absolutely delicious and the large shrimp had been cooked to perfection. The wine was pretty good too!

After our little break we headed back to the shuttle bus stop. It was a nice, relaxing visit to a very pretty place. I’m doing something I hardly ever do; I’m including a photo of Mae and me.