We travelled to La Rochelle on Friday and spent the night there, staying in a hotel in the old town centre. The town is built around a port and, although we didn't have a chance to explore the nearby Ile de Ré and other iles, we had time to wander around and explore the truly magnificent towers of La Rochelle.
On the way through town to the towers, we happened across a market where there was a secondhand vinyl seller. Oh my goodness, is nowhere off limits for these guys! The seller was, I'd say, in his mid to late 50s, and he said he'd moved to La Rochelle two years ago. He said, "There's the sea, the countryside and a town that's just the right size," and he was incredibly happy to be there. Some Rolling Stones 45s changed hands and have continued the weekend outing with us!
Back to those towers ... there are three towers. The tower de la Lanterne and Chaîne towers are linked by land, with a walk around the harbour entrance to access the Saint Nicolas tower. These stone towers were landmarks for navigation (and still are!), originally built in the 12th to 14th centuries and rebuilt and restored over subsequent centuries. The towers have seen a range of uses ... powder stores, prisons for rebellious sailors and soldiers, guard quarters, royal residence. The walls hold more than 600 graffiti inscriptions made by prisoners - depicting their names, regiments, ships - and, in one room, a chequerboard skillfully carved in the floorboards. The Saint Nicolas tower, which was used as both residence and guard quarters, has intertwined, spiral stone staircases, designed so that soldiers and residents didn't need to cross paths when moving within the tower.
The towers have been restored with care and without losing their sense of history ... there is a display where you can try to engrave into stone, so you get some appreciation for the effort and time it took for the prisoners to complete the graffiti that they did. In the Saint Nicolas tower you can still walk the spiral, entwined staircases ... ducking as you go, the stone ceiling is so low!
Dinner Friday night was burgers, and a craft beer produced by the science department at the local university! Loved it!
After walking those three towers, I thought I'd be happy not to see another stone step this weekend ... but, ummm ...
2 comments:
Hi Sally & Brent,
What a good week-end. The 'photos are great. Loved the idea of the chequerboard carved in the floorboards.......Love, Lils
How gorgeous is the ship on the sea carving. Like I say, whether you are a prisoner or not, it is always good to have a creative project to while away the hours,
Fi
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