LA ROCHELL

Lara Dunn feels invigorated after exploring La Rochelle’s coastline and historic towers with fresh seafood aplenty

My hair is a wild tangle of sea spray and Atlantic wind, but my grin is as wide as the blue sky above me. The Inter-Îles boat I’m on is currently circumnavigating Fort Boyard before making its way back to La Rochelle.

Finally finished in 1857 after Vauban had earlier advised against the project, deeming it impossible, the incongruous construction of Fort Boyard sits out in the sea, between Île d’Oléron and Île d’Aix.

Designed to protect the valuable port of La Rochelle, the fort had already outlived its usefulness by the time it was finished and is now best known for being the setting of the popular, pan-global game show of the same name, and as a great focus for a tourist trip, of course!

The boat journey feels like a fitting end to a few days in a city that has maritime history and culture at its very heart. Passing through the instantly recognisable Saint-Nicolas and Chain towers to once more enter the picturesque Vieux Port, there’s nothing about La Rochelle that doesn’t somehow reference the sea.

Thriving port

La Rochelle’s history stretches back as far as Roman times, when salt harvesting took place in the area’s bountiful marshes – and, in fact, it still does. The port began to thrive under Plantagenet rule, when it became an important centre for French Protestantism.