La Rochelle

Three towers guard the old harbour mouth: the Tour Saint-Nicolas and the Tour de la Chaine, between which a chain was drawn at night to close the port, and the Tour de la Lanterne, which served as a lighthouse and then a prison and carries graffiti cut by prisoners over centuries. La Rochelle was a Protestant stronghold and endured a fourteen-month royal siege in 1627 and 1628 that reduced the population drastically. The old town is threaded with arcaded streets, built so merchants could trade and shoppers walk out of the Atlantic rain. A large aquarium sits across the harbour.

History

The Romans produced salt along this coast, and villas have been found at Saint-Éloi and Les Minimes. The name first appears in 961 as Rupella, "little rock"; the harbour grew after Duke William X of Aquitaine defeated Isambert de Châtelaillon in 1130 and destroyed his port, and in 1137 William made La Rochelle virtually a free port with the rights of a commune, which his daughter Eleanor confirmed, the town gaining its first mayor, Guillaume de Montmirail. Under the Plantagenets from 1154 until Louis VIII took it in 1224, it traded with England, the Low Countries and Spain, and Henry II built the castle of Vauclair in 1185; it was also the main Atlantic base and fleet harbour of the Knights Templar, whom Eleanor favoured in her charter of 1139. It became royal property in 1271 (Wikipedia, La Rochelle).

What you'll find

• The three harbour towers - chain towers and the lighthouse-prison.
• The prisoners' graffiti - centuries of carving inside the Tour de la Lanterne.
• The arcaded streets - covered walkways through the merchant town.
• The aquarium - a large modern aquarium across the basin.

When to go

April to June and September to October; July and August are busy with island traffic. The Francofolies music festival fills the city in July. Rain is frequent year-round.

Good to know

Tower visits involve many narrow steps. The aquarium is popular and queues. Summer traffic to the Ile de Re backs up on the bridge road through the city.

Nearby

The Ile de Re lies west over the bridge; Rochefort is south.

Key facts