About this time last year my best friend and I took a short break to La Rochelle in France. The destination was chosen purely for the super sweet price for flights to get there and the fact that I’d never been before and wanted to explore more of France! February might seem like an odd time to go for a city break on the west coast of France but with a jumbled uni/holiday schedule, we had to take our holiday breaks whenever we could.
For February we were actually extremely lucky with the weather and enjoyed the sunshine every day (at some stage at least)!
After arriving at the tiniest airport we’s ever come across (although apparently the largest of its region), we spent the first day wandering the streets and getting to know the place.
La Rochelle is known for being a lovely old harbour town, with it’s most famous landscape being the harbor towers which mark the entrance to Vieux Port (literally translates to ‘old harbour’).
At night the harbour is illuminated and clearly exhibits all of the wonderful restaurants and bars that line it.
Remember that game you played as a kid…stuck in the mud? Yeah I think the sailors around here might also know a thing or two about it.
The daytime sunshine called for moments like this where you just stop, drink coffee, chat and look over the magnificent view ahead…glorious!
For moments when the weather wasn’t quite on our side though, La Rochelle has an AMAZING aquarium right on the harbour. I highly, highly recommend!!
Just to give you an idea about the size of some of the tanks there here’s my (tiny but still..) Italian friend standing in front of one.
Look at the face on that! Love these guys, they look like such predators from the top but you see them from beneath and you can’t help but laugh out loud!
After the aquarium we took a very moist walk down to the end of the harbour.
Which called for a selfie opportunity at the end!
And a short climb up this thing…
And just like that it was la lunchtime!! One of the strangest salads I’ve ever eaten, but nevertheless, delicious!
Since I completed my 5 a day goal all in one bowl, the occasion called for dessert!
La Rochelle is a very historic and cultural old town and I would recommend a visit to anyone who has the spare time. A few days is enough but being in a place like this really helps to put things into perspective for me about the world being a huge place with so many beautiful places to see!
Head in a Glass 