The Pearl of the Atlantic — a Protestant stronghold twice besieged into famine, the 16th century's greatest port of religious refugees, and today a city of arcaded streets, three medieval harbour towers, and the most beautiful old port in France with direct ferry access to the Île de Ré
La Rochelle (75,000; metro 210,000) on the Charente-Maritime coast is one of the most historically charged cities in France — its triple-towered medieval harbour (Tour Saint-Nicolas, Tour de la Chaîne, Tour de la Lanterne) guards an old port of extraordinary elegance, surrounded by the arcaded Rue du Palais and Rue Saint-Jean. The city was a Protestant stronghold during the Wars of Religion; the Siege of La Rochelle (1627–1628, directed by Cardinal Richelieu) killed 22,000 of the city's 28,000 inhabitants by starvation. The Île de Ré — white-sand beaches, salt marshes, cycling tracks — is con…
La Rochelle received its city charter in 1137 and grew into one of the most prosperous ports in medieval France, trading salt, wine, and wool with England and the Low Countries. Its embrace of Protestantism (Calvinism from the 1560s) made it the principal Huguenot city and stronghold — it received thousands of Protestant refugees and maintained a powerful autonomous city government that defied the French crown. The 1627–1628 siege ended with the city's capitulation after 14 months; Richelieu demolished the city walls (except the harbour towers) and permanently reduced La Rochelle's autonomy.…