La Rochelle

La Rochelle light house

La Rochelle is the largest French port on the Atlantic. Founded about 1000 AD, it became famous for exporting wine and salt. Later, its western location gave it an advantage for trade with Africa and North America. The towers at the entrance to the port and the clock tower are what is left of the original walls. What looks like a church steeple is actually an ancient lighthouse. Henry IV stopped the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants, and La Rochelle became primarily a protestant town. They tore down the Catholic churches to fortify the walls. In 1628, the town was laid under siege by Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu to return this town to Catholicism. After a year of siege, the city was starving, 20,000 had died, and the town surrendered. Many of the Protestants left town, rather than converting. They left for South Africa, Northern Europe (Hugenots), New France (Quebec) and America (New Rochelle in New York). Today, the town is only 2% protestant, similar to the rest of the country. 

Orphan heading to New France

We visited the town hall, with its statue of Jean Gaiton, the mayor during the siege, in front. Then to the colorful marketplace with fish, meat, vegetables, and fruit. After a pizza lunch, we decided to take a boat trip tour to Fort Boyard and the isle of Aix. Fort Boyard was built between 1809 and 1866 to defend the islands from the British. It was a unique building meant to be a fort with canon, but by the time it was built it was pretty much obsolete, so it became a prison. Today, it is most known as the location of a popular TV game show called oddly enough "Fort Boyard".  The weather was threatening so we didn't spend any time on the island which has beaches, and lots of walking and biking paths. On our return to the harbor, the weather improved, so we stopped for a drink in the sunshine. 

Fort Boyard