Ile de Ré: Re-visited

It is always fun to discover new places during your travels, but it is also great to return to the ones you have learned to love. Certainly for us, Ile de Re is one of those places. Last year, we wanted to drive along the Normandie coast and see new places. We visited Mont St. Michel and stopped at a few other coastal towns. Later, we decided to stop in Ile de Re and we ended up finding a great room in St. Martin. This is Martin's first visit to Europe and we knew he'd enjoy it here since we had told him about it, and had sent him photos from our visit the previous year.

 

Isle de Re is a very small island and you can get to it via bridge. It is only 30 kilometers long and  5 kilometers wide. For more information, visit their official web site.click here Ile de Ré We were pleased to see that their web site, borrowed from our blog one of the photos that we took and posted last year. This petite island is known for its holly hocks, which grow all along streets and alleys and seem to sprout out of nowhere. It is also known for its oyster farms and of course, its beaches and other beautiful sights. It's a very bike-friendly island and everywhere you look there are folks enjoying the day riding their bikes. 

 

We felt very lucky that we were able to get a room at click here La Jetée, which is a small but beautiful hotel right in front of the harbor. The rooms are airy and

pleasantly decorated and there is a fabulous court yard in the middle of it. Perhaps because we were there just before their high season, but we found the rates reasonable considering the location. The views of the port from our window alone are worth the price.
 

Look at  the elegant simplicity of the houses with their traditional French shutters.

We walked around St. Martin, but also made time to visit a few beaches and other parts of the island.  And even though we did not come here to shop, but to enjoy, we actually ended up finding a few items to add to our collection. (will post about our finds and share photos in our next posting) Martin was ecstatic to find out that he has his own pub in the Island.

Here's to you in gratitude for following our trek and our blog

Team Atelier

Next posting: "Treasures Found Along the Way..."