La Rochelle to Amboise

Day 6: La Rochelle to Amboise

I chose La Rochelle simply because we needed a way to break up the seven and a half hour drive between San Sebastian and Amboise.  But, we loved La Rochelle.  I was really disappointed we didn’t have more time to spend there. 

La Rochelle is a port city with three towers (two medieval towers from the 14^th century and one from the 15^th century).  It was a beautiful place to just wander around, since it was right on the water, and full of towers in addition to the three main ones.  And the port and rows of boats never seemed to end, which made it an even more exciting place to explore.  Away from the water, the charming streets and alleyways were a joy to explore.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to explore the local parks and beaches, so I’ll have to go back someday. 

We spent a few hours wandering around and taking pictures from different vantage points and then opted to brush up on our World War II history by going to the Bunker Museum. 

First a little background, before we get too deeply into that.  La Rochelle was occupied during World War II by the Nazis, who housed some of their submarines there.  They built this huge concrete complex to house their subs, and some members of the resistance managed to send the plans to London.  The Allies decided to wait until its completion to strike, which was a big mistake, because by then it was nearly indestructible.  A lot of civilian casualties were also lost in those bombings.  Since the target was away from the towers, the towers remained intact, but huge portions of La Rochelle were destroyed during the war. 

During those bombings, the Nazis hid out in the bunkers that now make up the Bunker Museum.  It was eye opening to be standing in the areas that the Nazis were protected in, and also hung out and drank in.  Through reading the printouts they provided, and watching some videos spread throughout the exhibits, which were subtitled in English, we learned a lot about how the region had been affected by the war. 

After the museum, we headed back towards the towers, and I climbed both Tower of the Chain and Tower of the Lantern quickly (fun fact: it’s free if you’re under 25), before we got in the car to head to our next destination. 

The towers were really neat to examine, and they gave a great bird’s eye view of the city. 

Overall, La Rochelle was the perfect blend of a beautiful waterfront city, medieval history, a World War II historical site, and a modern city with tasty food (and not just the macarons).  I was sorry we didn’t have time to go to the island nearby where their donkeys literally parade about in costumes, or visit the beach. 

But there’s always next time! 

Our only regret about La Rochelle is we never really spoke to anyone.  Everywhere else on the trip, there were other English speaking tourists — Americans mostly, and we tried to talk to the locals too, but in La Rochelle, even in the bunker museum or up in the towers, we didn’t really talk to anybody. 

I’m not sure what that was about.  Maybe if we had had more time or more French?

From there, it was time to head to Amboise in the Loire Valley - our final region of the trip.

It was about a three hour drive from La Rochelle to Amboise, and the last hour, despite a few wrong turns, was a beautiful journey through the countryside, complete with an amazing sunset.  

We checked into the Chateau de Pray, a charming chateau 2 kilometers outside of the town of Amboise, equipped with walking trails through the woods, a gastronomic restaurant, and a pool.

The Loire Valley is full of chateaus, some of which are hotels and others private residences, but most of the ones people come to see have become tourist sites (Although in some cases the families who own them live on one side while the other is toured by the public; I suppose without tourism, the upkeep has to be pricy to bear alone).

We were directed to Amboise for dinner.  I had a delicious appetizer of a semi-frozen cantaloupe with red wine in it.  Wasn’t expecting it to be good but I can’t wait to go home and try (and fail) to recreate it.

Mom had foie gras (I swear she loves that stuff and it’s not too bad) and we both had duck for dinner.

Dessert was passion fruit, pear and I believe, cherry sorbet.  Yum!  All the French people at the table next to us were oohing and aahing at my beautiful dessert.  Tasty food knows no language barriers :)