Long before I arrived in La Rochelle, I had heard tons about this famous and beautiful island off the coast of my town here. It's one of three islands off the western coast of France by La Rochelle (the others being Ile d'Oleron and Ile d'Aix), and it's fairly accessible regardless of season since you can access it via boat or bridge from the mainland. So my friend and I decided to make a day of it and take our bikes out to see the island.
Île de Ré, much like La Rochelle, flip-flopped from French to English rule since its early settlement. The main port of the island, Saint Martin de Re, was fortified by the French in 1681 as part of a ring of forts and citadels built to protect the military harbor of Rochefort. Now, the city is a World Heritage Site and is very similar in both look and feel to La Rochelle's Vieux Port. It's a naturally popular tourist destination, although I would say it tends to attract the more ritzier crowd than La Rochelle, judging by the number of expensive cars and fancy boats I rode by while touring the island.
Biking up the coastline of the island...nothing but ocean and sand pathways stretching as far as you can see
Chilling with Marta in a couple alcoves in the ruins of the Abbaye Notre Dame de Ré
While biking into the old fortified port town of Saint-Martin, we saw a mini festival going on, complete with carousels and donkey rides. Not sure if these pant-wearing donkeys are a local custom or maybe they were just cold?
The sea is really low in the morning and early afternoon, and the beach was covered with humongous jellyfish (or, at least that's what I think they were). It felt like we were stepping on jellyfish potholes all over the sand.
On our way home!
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