La Rochelle for the second time

Mileage: 159435

Now it should finally work out with La Rochelle. We headed to the parking lot at the main train station, parked Gary there, and walked the few steps over to the harbor.

At the 'Tour Saint-Nicolas', we took our first photos, but not of the tower, rather of 'La Belle du Gabut'. This former industrial complex had been functioning as an alternative cultural and event area for some time and greatly reminded us of Leipzig's Feinkost and Werk II. Unfortunately, we didn’t find anything suitable at the stalls that we wanted to buy, but we took the spirit of the place with us.

Then we turned our attention to the historic city and visited the sights one after another; there were quite a few towers here. We had already visited the first and most famous tower, so we continued along the harbor with the 'Tour de la Chaîne', 'Tour de la Lanterne', and the tower of 'Église Saint-Sauveur'.

Then we headed from the harbor into the city, but the theme followed us here as well. Walking between the predominantly well-preserved buildings made of local limestone was very pleasant, as the columned arcades created a pleasantly cool climate. The town hall presented itself once again with a tower and the two striking Gothic-style gates, which of course remained closed on Sunday.

In the little streets, many old half-timbered houses were well preserved, with the timber framework often dressed in slate tiles here.

At the end of our tour, we encountered two more towers. The clock tower above the 'Porte de la Grosse Horloge' and the lighthouse with the green cap, which was not found on any map and in any description, and perhaps was just a harbor signal.

After our city walk, we picked up Gary again at the train station (this building also had a tower with a clock, of course) and continued to Fouras. We had had enough of cities for now; it was back to the sea. Fortunately, our parking spot for the night had its own beach access, which we of course took advantage of immediately upon our arrival.