PV Holidays Residence Maeva Le Fort de la Rade

I told you! This is about charm!

by Norali

First, enlarge the pic to see details of the pavillion of the market...

The market is a bustling one, located near the main shopping street... and vice-versa. Neighbouring street is the main one for shopping... Rue saint Yon, if I recall it right.

Around the market, still some ancient houses and buildings with their Middle Age architecture. Half wood lumbered facades.

The whole La Rochelle is like that. Elegance, charm of an old lady sure of herself and who had seen a lot in her life... glory, treahison, starvation... but stood head above water and now spoilt her kids with her experience, beauty, culture and wealth.

I guess I could see and seize that atmosphere because I discovered it in end of september. After the high season, hot summer and its hordes of tourists, the city knew a relief... slowly digging into "la rentrée". Still, the weather was fine and I valued walking in the streets in daylight, having the wind on my face in the evening.

In fact, I saw there the last tourists of the summer season and many locals. Amongst the later, uni students I spotted in the streets who are going to integrate the complex.. I recognized them with their tan, some good-looking hunks with bermuda shorts looking for stationery items... some with physics books... The city that counts approx. 70 000 inhabitants is seen as small though it comprehends a huge university complex with a known engineering school. That's something that stroke me a lot in La Rochelle.

The students can rent their apartment along the Minimes area, not far from the first marina in Europe, built in the 70s. Can you imagine? Studying with your feet in water. I used to dream of that...

Wink to my Belgian friends

by Norali

I was walking backside the Gabut area when I discovered this... Enlarge the pic!

I didn't have the idea of asking about the "patrons"... They are surely from our little flat country's capital city, eh!

I spotted the building and everybody around looked at it. Only my family laughed!

Châtelaillon- Plage

by Norali

Its name means Châtelaillon beach.

I am proud of this pic since I made it from a disposable cam... and that I could seize the vibrant blue with clouds, contrasting with the bright pastel tones of the houses...

No more than 3 storeys for a building - soft colours.

See? even Châtelaillon hadn't escaped to the arcades... For me, they are charm to be preserved.

Like a secret has to be kept and you have to get close to see it all. Like sheer clothes, you see but not everything.

Kind of stuff I' ve never tempted to experience. I don't understand the excitement of going to casino.

I like playing but not this way. What I say may sound rather plain but I prefer the Stock exchange, Word games, poker... you know, those kind of stuffs.

Playing with humans (and even animals) is also nice... testing them, checking how they react to things you do/ say. Much more interesting for me than hoping for coins to fall from a slot machines and making noises that warn everybody about your gain... well, to each its own.

The building is kind of nice, though. The ardoise roof contrasts with the pastel surroundings.

Even apartments are nice, pastel tones as villas.

See this beach? This is thanks to artificial stranding. Châtelaillon used to be an important city in the past (capital city of Pays de l'Aunis, a province). But sea attacked the city. The original city (with forts, houses, churches) disappeared in 1784. Only Vieux Châtelaillon was preserved. It's sad to imagine that the gallo-roman city just vanished in thin air - or rather massive sea. End 19th century, the coast was a succession of dunes.

Then, a railroad company gave it a chance by granting it with a train station. The city had its renewal then. Villas were built along the dam (itself, built in 1921) to grant the city with the amenities of a beach resort. Yet, this didn't stop natural phenomena to occur: sand was gradually taken by the sea. Hence, the artificial stranding. Ironically, neighbouring Antioche area suffered from reverse phenomenon: too much, and more and more, sand. Sand was then brought, in 1987, from Pertuis d'Antioche to Châtelaillon-Plage. What would be a beach without sand? This was the city's second rebirth.

My impression while walking along the beach was, though, a feeling of immensity... A nice perspective to see the resort in a soft curve.

(Infos are from varied sources: Emma, my friend and figures from the net).

Pastel tones even for shops... Shops like this one just sell usual stuffs for the beach and beach activities: toys, marine clothes, trinkets....