La Rochelle : Belle Et Rebelle

Have you ever heard of a town named La Rochelle? No, it’s not about a chocolat producer town located somewhere in Switzerland. It is neither about a town called New Rochelle in New York, United States (although it has some connection historically). It is about a nice touristique town located in Southwest of France.

Oui! Mesdammes et Messieurs, bienvenu a La Rochelle!

Also known as “the rebel city”, it has shown its uniqueness: democratic ahead of time, Protestant while the rest of France was Catholic, protected by kings while the country suffered from overtaxing…

So, where is La Rochelle really located? From Paris (you have to travel to South), it will be about 500 km. If you come from Spain, it will be also about 500 km from Barcelona the nearest city to the border. And how can we reach La Rochelle? You might ask. If you drive, you can reach La Rochelle by Autoroute A10 (highway) from Paris. But to most visitors coming from outside of France territory, the practical transportations are either aeroplane or train (another possibility is by boat if you try to enter France soil illegally :) ).

There is a flight (Air France) scheduled from Paris and you can land either at La Rochelle (Aéroport de La Rochelle) or Bordeaux (Aéroport de Bordeaux-Mérignac). The second mode of transportation is train, which is as convenient and efficient (only less faster) as aeroplane. If you are in a hurry, the plane will carry you for about 45 minutes. But if you prefer a relaxing, sight seeing journey, then choose SNCF aka train. There is a choice between express train and TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse – High Speed Train). The fastest train from Paris will reach Le Gare de La Rochelle in less 6 hours.

What’s so special about La Rochelle? This might be your next question. Well, how about a view of Atlantic Ocean from a restaurant. Yes, the town is located facing the ocean. Which mean it has some old building like ports, castles, and islands not far away from its’ beaches. Wow! You are now getting interested? The area is quite warm throughout the year due to the influence of the Gulf Stream waters, and insolation is remarkably high, on a par with the French Riviera on the Mediterranean Southern coast of France. In other words, it’s not too cold in winter and not too hot in summer. But beware, sometime it can be very windy during autumn and it can reach 160kmph!

Eventhough it is a small town (about eighty thousand of population), it will be crowded with tourists between May and September of the year. This is the town where everybody likes to go during summer. And everybody means every nationalities and races of human being! Just imagine, La Rochelle welcomes about three million tourists per year. In case I didn’t inform you, this is where I stayed for about 3 years to finish my degree.