La Rochelle

La Rochelle is a gem. I am amazed by how close it is to what we had imagined and wanted. The city publicity bears the tagline:"La Rochelle . . . belle et rebelle."  It has a long history of rebelling. In the 16th and 17th centuries it was a Protestant stronghold and payed dearly for those convictions: the city was destroyed during a long seige by the king and a large percentage of the population died. Now its rebellion is along environmental lines. By great, good chance the Rochelais elected a charismatic, visionary mayor, Michel Crépeau in 1971. Referred to by our friend Valérie as "notre chèr maire", he remained in power until his sudden death in 1999. He pushed La Rochelle forward with great creativity. This was the first city in France to have both bicycle (1976) and electric car rental (1995) programs. Maire Crépeau blocked development along the seaside, increased the amount of green space and developed pedestrian walkways in the old city as well as one of the first recycling programs in France. He also successfully lobbied for the establishment of the university. "While others were building freeways, we were introducing bicycles.", the current mayor said recently. Now there are solar powered boats and buses, all part of the large integrated "agglomeration" that takes in 18 different communities. 

Because of its harbour, La Rochelle has been for centuries a rich, trading city. This accounts for the large and beautiful homes and general prosperity over the years. All this history seems to be in the blood of the rochelais who hold their heads high, and as one person said to me, act like they're rich and powerful even though they are not.

 







The old part of the city is remarkably well preserved with lots of renovation and restoration happening inside the old facades. We wonder about the permit regulations! Care is being taken to preserve the old buildings or at the very least their facades. In spite of the economic downturn, there is lots of construction going on. M. Grue (see View from the Top) is helping to build 34 new apartments inside the walls of an old convent. At our corner, the inside of a building has been gutted and is slowly being renovated. Every walk we take is full of beautiful, unusual or funny sights. One great delight is the arcades. We have been told that La Rochelle developed differently from most towns, without a market square and so merchants began building wooden roofs outside their shops to display their wares. As this custom developed, they began to be joined together into arcades. Then as the city became more prosperous, the wooden arcades were replaced with the stone ones we see today.  

Sprinkled through the city are old timbered houses that in the past anchored the wooden arcades. Some of the very old massive beams are still contained above the “new” stone ones. We can walk almost everywhere under cover. So it makes me wonder why the Rochelais neglected to take this clever architectural detail with them to New France—the Toronto PATH revised and much prettier! 

There are some very grand “hôtels particuliers” concealed behind massive gates and stone walls. Once family homes of prosperous merchants, they are now mostly offices or divided into apartments. Once in a while the gates are open and we can peer into the courtyards, cobbled and now used for parking. Only a few are enhanced with flowers and trees in pots. Generally, the doors to most people's living space open directly onto the sidewalk. Sometimes the door opens into a hallway like ours but we have also noticed long passages that lead to small courtyards well hidden from the street. It seems that the population density is high judging from the number of doorbells beside most of the doors!


The pace of life here is slow and casual. I find myself still racing--in La Rochelle terms--down the sidewalk passing everyone else. The cafés are always full, people actually sit on the benches in the parks and enjoy the views. The man who owns the local bicycle shop has just returned from visiting his son in New Jersey. He said when he got back to Paris, he found it cool and slow and La Rochelle? . . .  "Eh bien . . ." and then, the Gallic shrug!