Thursday, May 27, 2010

Île de Ré…..s’il vous plait


Long golden shorelines empty of people, dunes scattered with long grasses and flat, round pebbles, the sound of the Atlantic crashing onto the beach, welcome to the Île de Ré.

This tiny island, just a few kilometers from La Rochelle, is the darling of chic, wealthy Parisians and touring gourmands. It is blessed with plump crustaceans, a wealth of fat, briny oysters and it’s own hand-harvested, internationally exported delicacy: Fleur de Sel.

This is the place where the beautiful people sit on the quayside of the charmed capital, St Martin de Ré, sipping ice-cold glasses of Chablis, whilst dining on plates of fat langoustines glistening in the hot sunshine, their large Chanel sunglasses perched atop their well-coiffured heads, incurably clean, stripy Breton tops and strappy heels slap their well-toned ankles as they artfully glare at one another whilst sucking out the fat, white flesh from their grilled and buttered crustaceans.

Chic boutiques line the stone clad streets, artfully arranged lobsters, organic breads, gourmet cheeses and fine saucisson array the stone slabs in the covered market. In the small port, gin-palaces adorn the water while envious mortals stare down at the fibre-glass boats as they take long licks of their sweet caramel fleur de sel ice-creams. It is indeed French heaven and all yours for just nine Euros, curtsey of the toll bridge.


In need of fresh salty air and escape from the family head-quarters we flung some trunks, a tent and the children in the car and went in search of our own piece of heaven. At the north of the island we found a small campsite, nestled next to a spectacular beach, seemingly untouched by human hands. We spent several days there holed up beneath some pine trees, the sea just yards away. Every morning and evening the tide went out leaving myriads of rock pools perfect for the children to poke and peer, however the waves were to big for swimming.

On our last day we went in search of the perfect beach and found it in the south, next to the village Le Blois Plage en Ré. Far more gentle, with a long sweeping beach and shallow waters the children up and down the coastline pottered and played well into the late evening sunshine.


Bonsoir Île de Ré.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi there, I am a friend of Helen and Simon and when I mentioned a plan to go to Sarlat for a week with friends and then Les sables or similar for a week afterwards in July, Helen mentioned your blog and the campstie you went to in ile de Re... it looks amazing - can you tell me what it is called? We have a baby just a couple of months older than Gabriel and were hoping for some splashing in the sea and probably plenty of sand eating. Have fun when the guys come to visit this week - Gabriels a giggler! Claire

June 8, 2010 at 4:09 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hi Claire -
Great to hear from you and I'm so glad you enjoyed the blog. The Ile de Re is indeed fabulous, although during July and August it is very, very overpopulated as the French all take their annual vacations - so beware the beauty may be slightly lessened due to the sheer amount of traffic and tourists. The campsite we stayed on is here http://www.lesbalconsverts.com/fr. This may also help you the official tourist boardhttp://www.holidays-iledere.co.uk. The campsite we stayed on is great as it is right on the beach, but not good for swimming. This beach Le Blois Plage en Ré in the south is better for swimming, and although there are less rock pools, there is more people and it is more of a family friendly. Have an amazing trip et bon voyage!

June 9, 2010 at 8:32 AM  

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