On La Rochelle
Lera(hen3ry)
Malcolm Cann
Sat 16 Jun 2007 23:02
I went to La Rochelle deliberately because everyone had said "You must go to
La Rochelle".
When I arrived it really was chaos and that is the impression the marina
(Port des Minimes) leaves on me.
The town is very pretty and very quaint but all geared up to take money off
the tourist, since I used to live in Stratford-on-Avon I've seen it before
and I don't particularly like it. The idea of a "Bus de Mer" is quite nice
but its only so that tourists can park at Port des Minimes and catch the bus
to town. Parking doesn't cost anything, so its a"Park and Ride" system for
boats and cars all together.
If you want crusty old places and museums La Rochelle will suit you for
a week. I was there 4 weeks because of weather and catching a French bug, it
gets very boring.
The Marina was a chaotic place with the gangs of "Seadoo" riders, I must
liken them to the rockers who used to ride around on powerful motorbikes
making lots of noise. Who appear every evening about 1800 and every weekend
all the time. "Seadoos" don't seem to move until they have been revved for
about 5 mins, and then they crawl out of the Marina leaving a huge wash.
Because LR is in a large relatively shallow bay, these people seem to think
they are safe!
From where I'm sitting this all makes La Rochelle frenetic and not all
that well organised, after all I found me a berth after they had said I'd
have to leave the current one.
Sum up with crusty,pretty ancient old town with a frenetic Marina, the
ones in town don't count because the casual visitor doesn't go in them.
End for today.