Day 044 - Île de Ré 🏰⛵️🇫🇷

Day 044. A sunny day trip up to the Île de Ré. The Île de Ré is a long, flat island off La Rochelle, joined to the mainland by a three-kilometre bridge, and it runs on a particular kind of restraint: white-washed houses, green shutters, hollyhocks in the gutters and a building code that keeps it that way. It's thirty kilometres end to end, laced with over a hundred kilometres of cycle paths, and most people get around on bikes rather than in cars. Salt marshes, oyster beds, vineyards and wide tidal beaches fill the space between a dozen small villages. We spend our time in Saint-Martin-de-Ré, the island's main town. It's a fortified port, ringed by star-shaped Vauban ramparts built in the 1680s and now UNESCO-listed, with a harbour basin at the centre that fills and empties with the tide. Narrow cobbled lanes of white houses radiate out from the quayside, and the whole town is set up for wandering rather than arriving anywhere in particular. We hit the market for treats, then stop at the Tintin shop, a small store stacked with Hergé books, figurines, prints and merchandise. Owen is in his element, having been on a steady Tintin build since Brussels. Lunch is on the patio at Brother Burger on the harbour, and we finish the day back at Châtelaillon-Plage for the sunset. 📍 Today's stops Île de Ré Saint-Martin-de-Ré and the Vauban ramparts Saint-Martin market Tintin shop, Saint-Martin-de-Ré Brother Burger, Saint-Martin-de-Ré Châtelaillon-Plage at sunset 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 We're a family of four from Halifax, Nova Scotia, spending a year travelling through Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Hawaii, French Polynesia, New Zealand and Australia. New videos every day of the trip, so subscribe to follow along. #IleDeRe #SaintMartinDeRe #LaRochelle #France #CharenteMaritime #Tintin #FamilyTravel #Sabbatical #TravelVlog #TravelWithKids