La Rochelle (France)

...Paris, Stockholm… and last week, La Rochelle.

Well, I guess this is not a destination everyone has heard of. The reason I chose it is… well, let's be honnest, is because the flight was cheap. 1 penny on Ryanair, and once taxes are added, the flight costs only £15. So that's right: £30 return; that was quite tempting. The other reason was I wanted to fly back from another destination, close to La Rochelle -Poitiers- which I will mention ...
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What's La Rochelle?
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La Rochelle is a small city in the West coast of France. It is not quite in the South, but the weather is known to be always very good. In La Rochelle is also famous for

- Les Minimes, which is the biggest marina in Europe

-It's Vieux Port, or Old Harbour, with its 3 medieval towers

- Its brand ... more

I must confess… I'm a travel freak!

Not that I have travelled a lot in my life, as I am scared of flying, but lately for some reason, I have overcome my fear and I am planning more and more trips -so far I have planned mostly short breaks. This is when the freak inside of me shows up: The planning bit. I cannot stand not to plan a trip. Of course, you have to sort out the flight, the hotel, most of the visits, but then, I also have to choose the restaurants, see how much they will cost, choose what I will eat and at what time exactly. I must choose the bars, the clubs, print maps of every single place we will go, and decide whether I will pay by cash or by card! I must make notes and lists of everything. And of course, I always spend hours trying to fit everything into my very busy plan.

Well, I am totally aware that in a trip, you cannot plan EVERYTHING, that something -good or bad- will always pop up at the last minute. But, just to feel relaxed before leaving, I must have an exact idea of what is going to happen. I must have our entire trip planned on paper, so usually; I can revise it like an exam when I am in the plane. What happens when we get there doesn't always have to match the plan, but this way, I feel secure that we will have a great time. Then, on our way back, I spend my time taking more notes about how everything went, and how it could have been even better. So I guess it's time I shared my experience with you.

Before that, I must also add that I am very lucky to have a very understanding and compliant boyfriend, who enjoys following me and is happy with wherever we go. Without that, we would just argue over everything. Instead, he trusts me and so far, my freakiness has allowed us to have a wonderful time in Paris, Stockholm… and last week, La Rochelle.

Well, I guess this is not a destination everyone has heard of. The reason I chose it is… well, let's be honnest, is because the flight was cheap. 1 penny on Ryanair, and once taxes are added, the flight costs only £15. So that's right: £30 return; that was quite tempting. The other reason was I wanted to fly back from another destination, close to La Rochelle -Poitiers- which I will mention very soon in another review. Finally, having already taken my boyfriend to Paris, I wanted to show him another aspect of France, and I needed some kind of "exotic" destination that, even for a day, would make us feel as if we were on holidays.

But let's get back to our business.

What's La Rochelle?
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La Rochelle is a small city in the West coast of France. It is not quite in the South, but the weather is known to be always very good. In La Rochelle is also famous for

- Les Minimes, which is the biggest marina in Europe

-It's Vieux Port, or Old Harbour, with its 3 medieval towers

- Its brand new and massive aquarium

-Its fish and seafood restaurants

-Its 5-kilometer bridge, leading to the island of Re

We stayed in La Rochelle for less than 24 hours, so of course, we could not see everything, but I am sure I can make you want to go there, and give you some hints of what to do and see when you do.

Getting there
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We flew from Stansted Airport, but you must check carefully, as there is only one flight a day, and they haven't got flights 7 days a week, so the choice is rather limited. I would have preferred to arrive some time in the morning, but we departed after 11 and, with the time difference, it was already nearly 2 in the afternoon when we landed in La Rochelle.

The flight was very enjoyable as we flew over the sea, some islands, Brittany, and we got a wonderful view of La Rochelle before landing, as well as the Island of Re and the famous bridge.

We were surprised at how hot it was there. It was snowing when we left London, and no more than an hour and a half later, we got rid of our jackets and waited for the bus in the sun, with only thin tee-shirts on. That feeling was just amazing.

The airport is only about 2-3 miles from the town centre of La Rochelle, and they also have buses and taxis going there. It took us only 10 minutes by bus to we got off at the last stop, right in the middle of town.

La Rochelle
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As I said, it was incredibly sunny and warm. My boyfriend got all excited about girls wearing skirts, but apparently, no one had noticed the hot temperature and every single person we met that day was wearing a big jacket and a scarf.

Those are definitely days when I feel more English than French.

The first thing we did after leaving our bags and jackets in the hotel was have a look around. The city centre is very pretty, with lots of shops under the famous arcades. The 14th century City Hall (Hotel de Ville) is said to be worth a visit, although we didn't have time to check it out.

Then, the Vieux Port (Old Harbour) is definitely a place to see. It is mostly famous for its 3 towers: the Tour St Nicolas, Tour de la Lanterne, and Tour de la Chaine. You can normally visit them and enjoy the excellent view from the top, but unfortunately, they were closed for refurbishment when we went. Something that my plan had failed to detect… Well, no one is perfect I guess. So we didn't see the view… Instead, we went to the beach.
The beaches in La Rochelle are not the best in the world, but they looked okay to me, so I ran in the sand, found a few shells, got my feet wet accidentally by a big wave, and took a few pictures, still thinking of how grey and snowy London must have been at that very moment. Yes, it did feel good.

We also decided to have lunch on the Vieux Port. Something I really wanted to do was going to a "Creperie" to show my boyfriend the taste of real French pancakes. Not that English ones are bad, but he wouldn't believe me when I said that savoury pancakes can actually be good.
I have no idea if you can find those in England, but in France, anywhere by the sea, and particularly in Brittany, you can have the best savoury pancakes, made with buckwheat flour. If you haven't tried them before, this is definitely something to do if you go to France. The Port was full of Creperies, so we picked one with a terrace in the sun, sat outside, and enjoyed the wonderful view on the boats, towers, and the overly cold passer byes.
"They would definitely fit in London today", I thought.

I had my usual Ham-Cheese and Egg pancake and ordered a "Cheese-Egg and home-made tomato coulis" one for my boyfriend. He just loved it so much that he wanted to eat another one straight away, but instead, I forced him to try a sweet crepe with chestnut puree.
We also had delicious cider to drink. And the best part is that creperies are usually very cheap: for 2 savoury pancakes, 2 sweet pancakes and some cider, our bill was only 20 euros (about £12).
I would definitely recommend that creperie, as the food was excellent, the view was fantastic and the service very friendly. You can usually get served at any time of the day.

~~~ Creperie "Au Gre du Vent": 46, cours des Dames ~~~~~
on the Vieux Port next to the Towers ~

Le Passeur
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After our meal, we decided to head off to the aquarium. It is located on the other side of the Vieux Port, so you can either go around, or take the other option: The Passeur.

The Passeur is a tiny little boat that will take you to the other side in just a few minutes. Walking would have been really quick but I thought our trip to the sea wouldn't be complete without going on a boat. The Passeur was the only one I could find at this time of the year, so there we were, on a mini-cruise to the aquarium.

The Passeur goes right in between the towers, which gives you a great opportunity to take pictures.

The trip lasts only a few minutes, and costs only 60 cents, which is really nothing (less than 50p) so it is definitely worth it, and can be quite handy too if you don't want to go around every time. It is open until quite late, and even later in the summer.

The Aquarium
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If you don't like fish… well don't bother!
For everyone else, I am sure you will love this place. A few months back, my boyfriend was extremely disappointed after visiting the London Aquarium. Therefore, I was delighted to take him to the La Rochelle aquarium, a brand new aquarium, also one of the largest in Europe.

The visit was a bit pricey: 12.5 Euros (around 9 pounds) for adults, but definitely worth it. Everything is made in a really nice and interactive way. Nearly all tanks offer explanations in French and English. For 3 euros, you can also rent some ear-phones and hear more comments. We didn't try them, and I don't think they are necessary.

Some rooms are made especially for children -even though we still spent quite a long time in there! - and explain different things such as the tides, the environment, etc.

All tanks are huge; you can even go underneath one of them. Some of them have windows where you and put your head and feel as if you were inside, swimming with the sharks.
One of them is particularly puzzling at first, as it makes everything look 10 times smaller. The jelly fish are shown in a tunnel. You can also sit down in most rooms and admire the fish.

We both thought the visit was brilliant. Overall, we spent nearly 3 hours in the aquarium, so make sure you plan enough time. It shuts at 8 every day, except in the summer, when it stays open until 11!

We left just on time to admire sunset on the sea, and after seeing so many fish, we decided it was time to eat some.

The Restaurant
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It was a tough choice to make, and today, I am still not sure that we made the right decision. We were hesitating between two of them:

- Andre, is THE seafood restaurant in La Rochelle. The place is simply massive, and it seemed pretty packed for such a quite evening. The prices were the same as everywhere else.

- The other one was also located on the Vieux Port and called "Le Bistrot des Pecheurs". This was the one we picked.

We ordered some massive seafood platters, and my boyfriend also had some fish.

The seafood platters were amazing. I was really disappointed when I realized I had left my camera in the hotel room, because the sight of us with those huge platters must have been worth it. Apart from the crab, which was way too dry, everything else tasted just great. We had shrimps, prawns, clams, scampi, whelks, winkles and crab, and also some vinegar, mayonnaise and garlic mayonnaise.

The fish however, was very disappointing. My boyfriend chose the "Mix of the chef" and he thought half of it didn't taste great. They were served with vegetables that looked and tasted quite horrible too.

Finally, my dessert was supposed to be hot, but was still a bit cold from not being quite defrosted.

So I guess this is the moral of the story: if you go to the Bistrot des Pecheurs, STICK TO THE SEAFOOD PLATTERS! And also avoid the crab.

As for the other place, Andre, it is a shame we didn't try it as it looked really good and original from the outside, they might have had nicer fish, maybe nicer crab too. Check it out and let me know, but avoid it when the city is full of tourists, or you might not get good quality either…

~~ Bistrot des Pecheurs~~~
Right opposite the Towers on the Vieux Port, and right next to the hotel Saint Jean d'Acre.

The Hotel
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All hotels in La Rochelle seemed good and pretty cheap. The one I chose was called:

Hotel Saint Jean d'Acre.

It is a 3-star hotel, which is quite good in France, and it was a lovely place to stay.

First, the location was fantastic, and I couldn't have dreamed of a better place. The hotel is located n the Vieux Port, right opposite the towers, a few meters away from all the restaurants and shops, from the beach, from the Passeur. It is only 5 minutes away from the station, or from the bus stops.

If you can, have a look at their website, they have amazing pictures of the expensive rooms. Most of them have living rooms and terraces overlooking the sea and the towers and offer amazing view for a reasonable price.

Our room however, was much cheaper and overlooked a private courtyard. It was a very quiet average-sized room, with a TV, mini bar, kettle, good bed, air-conditioning and a very nice bathroom with bath and shower. I guess we didn't need anything else, and I paid 73 euros for the night (so less than £50). It is just a shame I didn't have the money to afford one of those amazing rooms.

Apart from that, the rest of the hotel looked really posh, with a huge reception area, internet access in the hall, nice elevator, restaurants, etc. Staff were friendly and helpful, but their advice wasn't always good: they warned us it was really cold outside! They should have seen London on that day…

Breakfast is not included and costs 10 euros per person. You can get it delivered to your room from 7 in the morning.

~~ Hotel Saint Jean d'Acre *** ~~
4, Place de la Chaine

Everything else you could do in La Rochelle
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We left the morning after, with a warm feeling of having been on holidays, even for such a short period of time.

The city was simply lovely and we had a great time. However, because we lacked time, and because it wasn't summer, we missed out on a few things. I hope you will give them a try too:

First, I would have loved to go on a cruise, but they open only from April. From the vieux Port, you can take a boat to see the different islands around La Rochelle: L'ile de Re, or the less famous ones.

You can also go on a cruise to see Fort Boyard, the Fort that hosts the famous TV game. However, you won't be able to go on it.

In the summer, you can also enjoy the music festival "Les Francofolies", bike to the Island of Re, have an ice-cream on the Port, stay late in the Aquarium, go to the beach, visit other nearby places, etc.

If we had had more time, we would also have visited the City Hall, gone on top of the 3 Towers, done more shopping under the arcades, tried other fish restaurants, won the jackpot in the Casino and tried many more pancakes!

I guess summer is a good time to go, but if you want to avoid the mass of tourists, April and May must be the best time, as the weather is great and the attractions open. We went a bit too early, but never mind, our time was lovely.

Now, what can I say to convince you to go to La Rochelle? Well, if you choose your dates well, you can do all the things I have listed for only £30-return! (Check around the 5th of April, prices are really good at that time). You could also stay a few days and head off to Poitiers, like we did… I guess I will have to write another review now!

Thanks for reading!

~ The planning freak! ~

PS: I will publish my own pictures as soon as I get them developped! 

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