Short road trip to the Atlantic

At a loose end for a couple of days, we decided to take a short road trip to the east and visit a few places we have previously visited place another location we hadn’t ventured to before – Île d’Oléron, a popular holiday island off the coast of the Charente-Maritime department.

entrance to the Old Port at La Rochelle.

Our aim was to drive from Verteuil to Cognac, then Saintes, then Royan and onto Île d’Oléron to stay the night. The next morning we would drive to La Rochelle and then onto Île de Ré, another island off the coast, before driving west back to Verteuil.  All up, non-stop, this is just a six hour drive.

The town of Cognac is only 55 minutes or 80km south-west of Verteuil and also sits on the Charente River.  The town gives its name to one of the world's best-known types of brandy or eau de vie. Cognac must be made in designated areas around the town of Cognac and must be made according to strictly defined regulations to be granted the name Cognac.  There are a number of Cognac houses that all have visitor centres.  Cognac is a lovely town with pedestrianised streets in the centre, quaint and clean, with groupings of ancient half-timbered houses.  We walked around the centre, had a coffee on the edge of the Place François I, and wandered along the river past the St Jacques gate constructed in the 13th century, the only remaining opening to the previous ramparts.

Less than 30 minutes away and also on the Charente River is the town of Saintes.  Now in the Charente Maritime department, Saintes has a long history.  Of most interest to us is the first century Roman amplitheatre and the dedicated auberge to pilgrims of the chemin de St Jacques (camino).  After a lunch of galettes and crepes we were on our way again to Royan.

​This was the second time we had visited Royan, but the first in warmer months.  Royan is a seaside resort town on the Gironde estuary near the Atlantic coast.  For this visit the sun was out, kit was warm and people were braving the waters.  The town has a feel of old-world Noosa (for Australian readers) – lots of palm trees, shopping, bars and restaurants.  

Marina at Royan

Our favourite memory of Royan is learning that it is always important to check when you are ordering take-away pizza, to ask for the pizza to be cut into slices.  It is not unusual in France for pizzas not to be cut into slices.  I remember sitting on a concrete bench on a grey, winter day, overlooking the ocean, making a slimy mess of a beautiful, very cheesy pizza, pulling it apart with our hands, not having had the where-with-all to take serviettes from the vendor.

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Notre-Dame de Royan church

Royan is also notable for its architecture.  Allied bombing between September 1944 and April 1945 destroyed the town. Known then as the "martyred city", it is a showcase of the 

Interior of Notre-Dame de Royan church

modernist architecture of the 1950s. It’s previous main church was destroyed in the bombing and was replaced by the eye-catching Notre-Dame de Royan.  Completed in 1958 and built entirely of reinforced concrete, it looks amazing from both outside and inside.  The church was classified as a historical monument in 1988.

One hour north west and we crossed the almost 3km long bridge to the Île d’Oléron, where we will stay the night. Very popular with French holiday makers, it is a long, narrow island, and has one main road up the spine of the island which I imagine is a bit of a headache during the busy summer holiday period.  The island is very flat (there is a lot of cycling going on here) and has a thriving oyster industry.  This was our first visit here.  There are about three little villages on the island - we stayed at Saint-Pierre-d’Oleron which is a vibrant village with lots of restaurants and cafes.  It’s a relaxed, low-rise, sea-side strip, reminiscent of 1980s Bribie Island or Caloundra (another Australian reference).

Bridge across to Île d'Oléron.

​The next morning we are off to La Rochelle, a city on the Atlantic coast with a long history.  There is significant Roman history, links with the Knights Templar, a significant role in the Hundred Years’ War and the French Wars of Religion, the Huguenot rebellions and with Nouvelle France in North America.  It was a German stronghold in WWII, hosted a submarine naval base, and was the last French city to be liberated at the end of the war.  I recommend watching the 2018 TV series Das Boot on the streaming platforms – La Rochelle was a prime location. 

You can spend an interesting couple of hours wandering around the centre, with its white stone buildings and colonnades, and along the old harbour front.  Hundreds of restaurants and cafes to choose from, specialising in seafood, oysters, moules frites and Charente pineau.  Take a hat, sunnies and sunscreen – the sun beating off the white stone can be vicious. 

Our original intention was to use La Rochelle as a jump off platform to Île de Ré, another Atlantic holiday island accessible by a long road bridge just to the north of the city.  But the day was getting on and we have already visited Île de Ré a number of times, so we pointed the car east and wound our way along slower, secondary roads back to Verteuil.