La Rochelle, France

La Rochelle, France                                                            Wednesday, June 8, 2022

            This is a new port for everyone, I think, so nobody quite knows what to expect.  The cruise ship offered a few tours for today, but we chose to go it on our own.  We caught the first shuttle bus for the 6-mile trip toward the city, winding through old houses that must have been fishing villages.  Had to make a tight hairpin turn which turned into a 16-point turn due to big bus, too many cars parked legally, and three layers of brick under a tree on the curb.  Driver got a deserving round of applause.

            He let us out just where the map showed us, but it looked like a half of a roundabout with water in the distance.  We all walked a couple blocks and immediately saw the first of three medieval towers with gray clouds behind.  Climbing up to walk along the wall toward more towers and the city, we looked around and took lots of pictures, one of which is Europe’s largest marina which can hold up to 6000 ships.  White tents tempted us to see market stuff, but Jerry and I spotted a boat trip that intrigued us—even though we couldn’t read the French—so we paid for the two-hour-plus trip and clambered aboard with about 35 others.  An English vocal guide was available on my phone, so we got onto wi-fi at the signal of when the speaking started in French.  Heh.  The written material wasn’t plentiful, but we were able to get the gist.  We probably retraced our entry route into the port as we headed back to sea with glimpses of Insignia parked to the left of the port.  Pretty rocky ride. 

We were headed to Fort Boyard and the Island of Aix.  Who or what is this?  Let me answer a question with a question:  if you are Louis XIV in the 18^th century and you know that your artillery doesn’t go very far, where do you creatively build a fortification between land and sea that can fire on ships while also in the water?   Answer:  you build a fortress IN the water!  Far enough AWAY from shore that ships can sail around it…and you name it Fort Boyard.  In fact, when the military engineer first learned of the idea, he said, "Your Majesty, it would be easier to seize the moon with your teeth than to attempt such an undertaking in such a place." Napoleon took up the idea again in 1800. It is built like a tall, narrow stadium, according to Wikipedia, “The walls were built 20 m (66 ft) high. At the center is a yard, and the ground floor provided stores and quarters for the men and officers. The floor above contained casemates for the emplacements of guns and further quarters. Above that were facilities for barbette guns and mortars.  The photos are pretty unique.

As with many other unique sites around the world, it has been used as a movie set and for a number of years during the 1990s as the site for a rather comical French game show of fear and adventure, physical and mental challenges, (precursor of Survivor) named for the site.

After taking an entire roundabout of the fort, our tour went a mile or so further to Aix Island to let off and gain passengers who either lived there or had spent part of the day on its beaches or restaurants.  We waited on the boat then motored back.  During part of the hour-long trip, we watched scenes from the game show on the screen inside where we were sheltered from the wind.

Back in La Rochelle, we continued our city search, looking at surprises along the way and finding our crewmates at most of the sites.  One stop turned out to be the longest running Parliament in Europe.  Searched for the Protestant Museum, but found Marilyn and Charlie there with the doors, locked.  Oh well.  We ambled back to the pick-up point, stopping at a chocolate shop and a few other shops, then back to the ship.