Saturday 10/30/21

The forecast changed today, and it’s turned into a lovely warm sunny day. I started out with a tour of the market in La Rochelle, substantially busier and with more vendors as it is Saturday. Then off to Pl Verdun where I found the appropriate bus to Ile de Re. Note to others this is a regional bus, white with red not yellow like the city buses, with your back to the carousel and the church to your left, go straight to the top fo the square to find the #3, should say Vers Ile de Re on the stop. It’s just over an hour ride to the main port town on the island, Saint Martin de Re. Lovely little cobblestone street port town, kind of reminiscent of Cassis, if you been there. Lots of outdoor restaurant and terrace seating. The town was fortified to keep out the Protestants during the Hugenot rebellion of the 1620s and had a prison that transhipped prisoners to French colonies in various places. Fortifications are still here and have been turned into parks. The whole island is set up for extensive bicycling, because the weather was very sketchy when I left La Rochelle, didn’t even try for that. After much strolling around and reading of menus, I found an appropriate looking restaurant on the little island in the center of the harbor and had a lovely lunch of Oysters, skate wing salad, and some fish, probably won’t be eating much dinner tonight. (You know you’re in a French place when the dining room guests have dogs!). Anyway, sitting on a lovely terrace with coffee as I write this and will take the bus back in about an hour.

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