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| The coastline near Royan. |
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| A tidepool--really amazing at low tide! |
More exploring the Aquitaine region! Most of the coast is rocky cliffs
or estuary from the rivers that empty into the sea here, but in the city
of Royan, which is near to Bordeaux, seems to be the largest city in
the area, there are proper sandy beachs.
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| A view of the ancient Hermitage St. Martial. |
Yesterday we saw an ancient hermitage that has been carved out of the rock. It has rooms for a few monks, a kitchen, dining area, and a small chapel. There is also a narrow stairway that leads up from the top of the cliffs to the bottom, which would have been right at the water, but the coast has changed over time, and the water is now about 1 or a 1
.5 miles from the cliffs. The hermitage is said to have been from the 2nd century, though Christianity didn't come until the 4th. It might have been a pagan site before the Christians came.
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| Look carefullty in the center-there's a crab! |
Today we went to the cliffs around Royan, where there are German block houses from WWII. They are small on the inside, and dark. They were built as bunkers for soldiers to watch the harbor. This area has been fortified since the late Medieval period, and older fortifications can still be seen. After looking at the block houses, I went down to the beaches. They are a bit rocky, but very sheltered by the cliffs, so they are great for beach combing. I found lots of bits of sea shell, and beach glass. I also found several live oyster, though they were too small to eat so I tossed them back, and a small crab in the rocks that was not happy to see me. My best find of the trip was a perfect scallop shell.
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| A view of the Hermitage site at sunset. |
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| My favorite seaside find so far! |
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| Fiona looking over the Beaumont. |
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| The Tower of Beaumont. |
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The very curious Roman sign posts
and markers--are they the originals? |
We also climbed up to see the tower of Beaumont, which is one of many odd relics of the past scattered about France.
Nobody is quite sure exactly what this odd conical tower was used for. It is very old, but the common belief is that it was used as a smoke signal, similar to a lighthouse. A fire would have been lit at the bottom and the smoke would travel up the cone and come out the top. The tower is certainly sited up very high on the cliffs, and would line up with the entrance to the harbor if the coast hadn't changed over the centuries.
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| The Royal fountain. |
We went to see the Ile Madame, which is were the Marquis de Lafayette set out for the Americas. The Royal Fountain is also there. It was built by one of the kings of France to bring fresh water from inland down to the coast for ships.
Click onto any photo
for a larger view!
