La Rochelle

          I come to you today with a post about La Rochelle. I will tell you quite briefly about this city, which you know for certain from history, whether in high school or from our beloved subject "History of France". 😅 La Rochelle, Richelieu, Siege of La Rochelle - these are three associations that connect with each other and you probably associate this city with it. And if it is not certain now, when I show you a painting by Henri Motte, showing just the Siege of La Rochelle, everything will remind you:

And what? Do you know what city I'll write about today? I hope so, so let's get to the point for not to write a long dissertation 😇

          As you know from last semester, I lived in France when I was a child, so I don't associate this city with history, but beware ... with fireworks. Yes, with fireworks on the occasion of July 14 - Bastille Day. I was on it twice, once with my grandparents and the next year I was with my parents - I will tell you so - I have never seen such an event in my life. It is a city that is currently famous for the entire department and the surrounding area with these fireworks. Probably each of you has already seen fireworks in your life, but I thought these 12 years ago that there are the most beautiful fireworks in the world, haha. See for yourself and jugde it:

          Getting to the point, to the place, monuments worth visiting, I immediately say that the pictures are from the internet, because oddly enough - until I saw the pictures on the Internet from La Rochelle I did not associate it with these monuments, but when I saw them I recognized it "I was here!". The first obligatory aspect to highlight is that this city is somewhat a remnant of old La Rochelle from even the Middle Ages, and not to mention the times of  Richelieu (1628). The first point on the tour plan is the city fortifications, i.e. the Saint-Nicolas Tower, the Tower of the Lantern and The Tower of the Chain which are located in the old harbour. They are majestically great. They make an impression on man.

These are three towers located on the sea side of La Rochelle and were in the forteenth / fifteenth century perhaps a lookout.

The next point worth seeing is the City Gate of La Rochelle, called "City Gate of Grosse Horloge". Hmm, you wonder why Grosse Horloge? Simple. It has a big clock at the top, hahaha.

Then we have the town hall. It is difficult to capture it in photos because it is enormous, and it cannot be captured in one frame. I could add you and add these photos of this city hall to show it in all its glory, however, I would have to add these photos probably about 30, because every inch of this building is worth photographing.

La Rochelle has numerous museums to explore, like natural history, etc. In addition, you can visit many remains of defensive walls as well as churches. I will mention here some names of cathedrals and I will post pictures without describing them, because this post would leave a huge dissertation about La Rochelle and that's not the point, haha. See these photos yourself and rate if you would like to see them live 😎

1) St. Louis Cathedral

2) Saint-Sauveur Cathedral

3) Notres-Dame-de-Cougnes Cathedral

          At the end, many people who come to La Rochelle combine this with a trip to the island of Ile-de-Re, because these two places are relatively close. And the culmination of a trip to La Rochelle can be seeing Fort Boyard from the beach - fortification on the ocean. Finally, I will add a picture of this Fort. Doesn't he impress you?

          To sum up quickly, I think this is another place worth visiting. Today's post is very long, but in the rematch the next post will be short because it is more of a memory for me than recommending you to see any monuments. In this place I say goodbye, until next week!

Vouvant

          Today will be about the city called Vouvant. It is the only fortified city of Vendée still preserved. Immediately, as long as I remember - this is another city from which I do not have photos in the family archive, because they are "lost", so I will upload photos from the Internet, or Wikipedia, depending on which photos will be nicer 😉
          I don't have much to write about this city and describe what I saw, because the photos I will add will show you how beautiful this place is. I don't have much to describe, because I visited this place with my family by accident looking for a zoo in the town next door - Mervent, which I will tell you in the next post.

I present you the Melusine Tower

This tower is very high, because it is up to 45 meters high, and for those who are not afraid of heights you can enter and admire the spreading views of the entire city and even the cities neighboring the borders of Vouvant.

Here is a bridge from the Middle Ages, also called the Roman bridge

Church of Vouvant - His Portal - The nave Théodelin

Is this not a beautiful church?

It is a church classified as historical monument. The portal above the door dates back to the 11th century.

Being in Vouvant you can also visit the atypical garden, the so-called The Garden of Senses, which consists of beds of various plants. I know that I have already shown a similar garden in the post about Fontenay-le-Comte, but I personally like my mother very much captivate such places, so I would not be myself if I did not show you how it looks in the pictures:

          I think that I briefly described you Vouvant and thus I encouraged you to visit it in the future. In addition to monuments, places to visit, the city often organizes many cultural and entertainment events for both residents and tourists. I recommend it to you ! 🙏

Chaillé-les-Marais & Vouillé-les-Marais

          Hi! Today's post will be rather very short, because I will write about two places that are located next to the town in which I lived. And why do I want to mention them here? Well, I have a fondness for them that because my cousin was baptized in the church in Chaillé-les-Marais. And also because I was very often on bike rides in Vouillé-les-Marais, and oh god, how good the blackberries grew on a ditch along such a dirt road, yummy.
          Therefore, as I already mention Chaillé-les-Marais, I will add here a photo of the church I am talking about:

I will not show you family photos from the inside of the church, because you understand - not everyone in the family can wish it 😊

          Bicycle rides? Oh yes. I have often written to you here that my parents in my childhood probably chose to eradicate excessive energy from me and my sister, which is why we often went on full-day rides several kilometers long (now I do not have such health condition - I will not ride a bike more than 2.5 km, hahaha)

As I mentioned before, it was in Vouillé that I discovered with my parents such an unpaved field path at which large, delicious blackberries grew every year. I used to go there with my mother to collect them in a bucket and then we made blackberry jam or juice into jars for the winter.

          These two cities arose in wetlands, so an additional advantage to see in these towns are numerous lakes, ponds, etc. In these two cities there are a lot of such places, as I added above - perfect for picnics, walks, sitting in nature, in peace and quiet.

          Despite the fact that there is nothing to explore in these two cities, I still remember them very well, because of the bosom of nature ubiquitous in these cities.

Île de Ré

          Hello! Looking through family photos, I came across photos from the island of Île de Ré and I thought that despite the fact that in the last academic year I already wrote about childhood memories such as a family trip to this place, I found that it would be worth writing a short post about this island - after all I was on it, and this is the topic of this year's blog, haha. Today's post will not be long because I don't want to duplicate my thoughts from that post. Starting, I will show you photos of the bridge, which as I mentioned then - I walked it with my family on both sides on foot, doing 3 km one way, so a total of 6 km + all-day walk around the island.

Unfortunately, only such photos from this island are available for public, the rest are photos on which I am with my family and we prefer not to show them, because they are not favorable for us haha.

          I will mention that in addition to the beautiful island (it should be called by name, it is very pretty and charming island) you can visit numerous museums and places such as Saint-Martin-de-Ré. It is a fortress city from the 17th century and it is a UNESCO monument.

In addition to such a beautiful city, you can see there a great lighthouse, which I did not climb because of the number of stairs (257) and because I have a fear of heights.

At the end I add to you a photo that will always remind me of French houses - pink mallow and blue / green shutters.

          I think that by devoting my time to this island twice, you may find it worth visiting. Relax, the bridge can be overcome by car, because my parents like to walk a lot, they decided that we will not use this option and we will go on foot 😎