La Rochelle & the Ile de Ré

After our stay with Maje in Moliets-et-Maa, our journey in France continued. We rented a car in Dax and drove north to visit a bit of the Charente-Maritime region. We initially thought we’d stay in La Rochelle and spend a day on the Ile de Ré, but the more I researched the area, the more attractive the island became as a base. And what a gem it was.

Now accessible by a bridge, the island used to be accessible by ferry only. There are 10 small villages on the long, skinny island. We stayed at a family-run hotel in Le Bois-Plage-en-Ré, which put us near the center. The first thing we noticed was the infrastructure – the roads and segregated bike lanes were well-maintained and well-marked. The second was the persistent breeze / wind, which certainly made sense due to the island’s shape and Atlantic exposure.

Although we arrived in the off-season, most things were still open. But we were disappointed that the local ice cream chain had shut down shortly after we arrived. Reservations were smart for dinner each night at the most popular places, even though the crowds had thinned.

We spent our first day full day in La Rochelle. As we left the island, we noticed a lot of traffic coming over the bridge. As it was Saturday, there were a lot of weekend sports enthusiasts (bikers, surfers, etc.) coming to enjoy the island. Our first stop was the city’s Marche Central. These markets are the best! At this one you could get 6 oysters and a glass of wine for about 5€ and eat them standing up at a small table. Having already eaten breakfast, Jeff took a pass, knowing that there would be many more opportunities to eat oysters. The pastries and fresh produce did not disappoint. It’s fun to wander through these markets even if you don’t buy anything.

As a coastal maritime community, La Rochelle has quite a history. Highlights include (1) its role as a Huguenot power center until 1628, (2) as a base for trade and immigration to the French New World (Quebec), and (3) as a WWII U-boat headquarters. We focused on the third.

At the Bunker Museum, situated in a building used by the Nazis to house their submarine officers with an underground shelter, we learned about La Rochelle’s Nazi built U-boat base that was impenetrable to Allied attacks and the impact this had on the city, one of the last to be liberated during the war. The fully preserved underground bar with sea themed ceilings was fun to see.

We walked around the old town of La Rochelle, which is well preserved as the Allie’s focused their bombing on the submarine base in the port. Since the base turned out to be indestructible, parts of several movies, including Das Boot and the original Indiana Jones movie, were filmed there. Unfortunately, however, you can no longer visit the U-Boat base as it is now on private industrial property.

We spent a full day biking around the Ile de Ré on a route that took us to La Flotte, Saint-Martin-de-Ré, Loix and La Couarde-sur-Mer. We were glad we had e-bikes as the winds were strong along the coastal trails.

It was a sunny, yet cool day. Each stone village was charming and unique with a church and main square. We had breakfast in one village, lunch in another, and enjoyed seeing the extensive salt flats and marshes, and biking through the scenic vineyards.

The next day we explored the rest of the island by car, allowing us to get to both ends in one day. On the west end, we saw the Phare des Baleines (Lighthouse of the Whales) inaugurated in 1849. On the east end the L’Abbaye des Chatelier (Abbey of Chateliers) built in 1556 by Cisterian monks, who settled on the island and developed its salt and wine trade, which exist to this day.

Of course, we stopped at the wine cooperative to get some wine to bring home. The local sparkling was impressive. And each night, we debated whether French food is better than Italian food. While there we settled on French food, but as we’re going to Italy next week, the debate will be reopened.

The trip to France was a great respite. But we were happy to get home so that we could watch the remainder of the MLB playoffs on a bigger screen than my laptop. We look forward to getting back to France soon.

Adieu,

Shana & Jeff

Southwest France

As our regular readers know, we really enjoy spending time in France, and we plan to continue visiting new areas. France is big -- we have a lot left to explore. And so many areas with wine!

A friend of ours invited us to spend a few days at her house in a small town called Moliets-et-Maa in the Las Landas region of southwest France, which is about a 90 minute drive north of San Sebastian. We were happy to say yes.

Moliets-et-Maa is a beach town that is clearly seasonal. We were there after the summer season ended,  so there were very few people. Most of the restaurants and stores were closed, or only open limited hours, which was fine with us. Frankly, we would not want to be there with the crowds, especially in August when it seems everyone in France is on vacation. 

We spent a lot of time just walking on the nearly empty (giant) beach, and around the nearby small towns, enjoying the good weather.

You might note the dog in the top left photo above. That is the adorable Oliva, who joined us for the visit. She very much enjoyed being on the beach, especially running with the bigger dogs (although she clearly preferred chasing to being chased), and collecting treats from their owners.

Our friend, Maje made many good meals, including BBQ ribs, but for me the best part were the ubiquitous oysters, which are a specialty in this part of France.

Basically, we spent a few days relaxing and doing very little. Even Oliva calmed down enough after a long walk to relax in the hammock.

After leaving Moliets-et-Maa, we rented a car and spent a few days in La Rochelle and the Ile de Re, but more on that soon. For now, here is the sunset from the beach near Maje's house.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana

The Galapagos Islands: Our Final Thoughts

We wholeheartedly recommend the Galapagos as a destination. As you can tell, we were extremely satisfied with all aspects of the trip. With such an active itinerary, the trip sped by, so much so that we would have appreciated a few more days exploring – even more cold water snorkeling! I’d consider returning, although we have so many other trips to plan that we don’t see that happening soon. Here are a few last reflections on the trip.

I’m currently reading “The Beak of the Finch,” by Jonathan Weiner, a fascinating book about Darwin’s theories and how the Galapagos continue to serve as an evolutionary laboratory for scientists. While perhaps it would have been better to read it before the trip; I think I’m appreciating it more after.

Perhaps you noticed that we didn’t spend much time describing the specific islands we visited. For some reason we did not think of them individually – except for Santa Cruz, where we spent the day on land, and Baltra, with the airport we used. We were so wrapped up in the flora and fauna that we didn’t focus on them by name, but on what we would be doing there.

Geographically the islands sit at a confluence of currents, creating ideal conditions for thriving wildlife. Being volcanic, they are ever-changing. Many walks were over lava, which eventually allows life to succeed. We enjoyed a hike on Santiago from Sullivan Bay, on a lava flow from 1897, where the conditions appeared otherworldly.

The scenery on the other side of Santiago was markedly different. In fact, until I re-reviewed the details of our itinerary, I hadn’t realized we hiked Santiago twice.

On that hike we saw extensive wildlife, while the Sullivan Bay hike offered almost nothing.

We’ve already mentioned the expert naturalists, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the rest of the crew – all of whom are from Ecuador. The ship’s captain was a woman who was kind enough to arrange a tour of the ship’s desalination plant / engineering level for me. I was the first person to ever ask to see how the ship supplies all the water it uses! It was so interesting – and I did nearly the entire tour in Spanish.

I did get a photo with the captain and 2 new Seattle friends. 

And I love this selfie of our group waiting on a narrow pier to be picked up by the amazing zodiac drivers.

I realize that I never said which was my favorite Galapagos bird. It’s a tough choice, but it’s the Red Footed Booby who is quite elegant. But the sea lion pups still win as my favorite animal.

We’ll close out this post with some favorite scenery shots. One that combines the zodiac, rocky coastlines with small beaches, birds, and sea lions – the trip encapsulated:

Another on a lava laden beach with a different island in the background:

Finally, the view from the top of Bartolome towards Santiago on our last late afternoon of the trip. A fitting way to finish.

Thanks for following along,

Shana & Jeff

The Galapagos Islands: Ugly Creatures

Many of the birds of the Galapagos are cute including the boobies (especially the masked Nazca boobies), and the sea lions are adorable (especially the babies), but there are also many interesting creatures that are let us say, less attractive. This post is dedicated to them.

The most famous of these creatures are probably the giant tortoises. We spent a day off the ship starting with a visit to the Charles Darwin Foundation where we learned about their breeding program to maintain giant tortoise populations. When people began to visit the Galapagos, giant tortoises were taken as food, and because the females were smaller (about 200 pounds compared to 400 for mature males), most of the animals taken and eaten were females, which caused several sub-species of the long-lived giants to go extinct.

Later, we visited a location where the adult tortoises travel through on a consistent basis, and got to see a lot of them. They are very impressive creatures. And they can move faster than you think.

The other turtle species we saw were the Galapagos green sea turtle, which we saw on many of our outings, including while snorkeling. In fact, on one snorkeling adventure, there were so many turtles that it was hard to avoid touching them. Shana managed to run into one while we were moving backwards to avoid a shallow area and the rocky coast.

Moving further up the "ugly" scale, there are two different types of iguanas in the Galapagos: land and marine. The Galapagos land iguana is similar to iguanas in other parts of the world, and can grow quite large.

If you look carefully at the photo on the left above, you can see two iguanas, in the foreground is a male, while a female is just entering her den near the scrubbrush on the left.

Unlike the land iguanas, marine iguanas are unique to the Galapagos. Darwin called them "imps of darkness," and they are like mini Godzillas. They eat algae in the ocean, but come out of the water to rest and warm up in the sun. While we did see a couple while snorkeling, we saw many on the land. As you can see, the marine iguanas literally pile together in order to warm up in the sun.

Nonetheless, we did sometimes see individuals alone, often heading toward or away from a mass of others, but sometimes simply staying warm on a lone rock.

The number of these creatures that we often saw in one place was impressive. One of our fellow passengers provides a good counterpoint to the mass in this photo. All of the lines in the sand are from their tails.

The final creature we saw all over were the Sally Lightfoot crabs. As they age, the colors of these crabs become very vibrant with a red/orange base, but including many greens, blues and other colors. In reality, the crabs were not really very interesting, but they were very common and provided a backdrop on many of the islands we visisted. They are impressive for how they can hold on to the rocky terrain.

So, while not as cute as the birds or sea lions, we wanted to make sure that the tortoises, turtles, iguanas and crabs got their due as they definitely added to our learning in the Galapagos.

More soon,

Jeff and Shana

Birds, Birds, Birds – So Many Birds!

Full disclosure – we are not birdwatchers. And Netflix’s terrific show “The Residence” didn’t convince us to take it up; neither did this trip. Yet the Galapagos did provide a lot of inspiration and respect for avian diversity. Honestly, I broke out laughing when I saw Jeff taking photographs . . . of birds! He never takes photos, much less of birds. So that tells you how intriguing and impressive the birds are.

It’s hard to know where to start. Obviously, the Blue Footed Booby was high on our list of “must see” creatures. And we saw one on the first day – what a relief. But in the end, the Blues (or Bloobies as one naturalist jokingly called them) were not even my favorite bird of the trip. Although watching them dive into the sea as they hunt is mesmerizing. They do seem to have the best talent agents though, based on their representation in all things souvenir.

There are 3 types of boobies in the Galapagos, and each has its own “look.”  The Blues seem like the conspirators of the islands, or perhaps the secret service. They have a very serious and skeptical gaze. In the photo below, they seem to be plotting with one keeping a lookout. The Red Footed Boobies are multi-colored and perhaps the prettiest birds we saw.

Then there are the Nazca Boobies, named for one of the tectonic plates that the islands sit between. (They are sometimes referred to as “masked.”)

The Nazcas are vocal and bossy and appear mischievous, like the lemurs in the animated film “Madagascar” – you’re waiting to see what they might do next.

The pelican is also fun to watch diving to catch fish, albeit a much shallower dive than a booby, but you can see pelicans in many parts of the world. We did see a baby pelican in a nest for the first time, and it was quite noisy.

We also saw the Great Blue Heron and Lava Heron, both of whom are elegant.

One of the most amazing things about all these birds is that they are not afraid of people. They don’t fly away as you are walking among them or near their nests, even with a fledgling inside. They practically pose for photos.

The second photo above is a Nazca that had adopted and was raising a Frigatebird chick. It’s an unusual situation between 2 distinct species. But nature has a way and never ceases to amaze.

Swallow-Tailed Gulls are nocturnal, note their distinctive eyes. The pairs generally stay together year after year.

This was the only type of bird that took umbrage to our presence and squawked at us to move along after our group had remained close for too long.

While kayaking and snorkeling we saw Flightless Cormorants who are very good swimmers and divers.

We saw several other types of birds that I didn’t even photograph. Some are just too elusive to capture, especially when you’re relying on a phone. We were lucky enough to snorkel with Galapagos Penguins, who are swift and nimble in the water. And the binoculars came in handy for getting a glimpse of a Galapagos Short-eared Owl.

While the birds in your neighborhood may seem less interesting than these, keep a lookout, as you never know what you’ll see!

Shana & Jeff