La Rochelle

Our visit to La Rochelle was photo-heavy. Being a lovely bright sunshiny day helped!
It was founded in the 10th century and by the 12th century was already an important harbour. In its early history there were a couple of periods when it was part of England's territory in France, and it was the last city to be liberated from the Germans at the end of WW2.

The big clock tower at the entrance to the city from the harbour front is a pretty dominant feature - first seen from inside the city (as our bus dropped us at at square fairly near the centre), and then from outside the city walls.

 

A shop just beside the clock tower inside the city walls (l'horloge is French for clock)  - great graphic design:

Another feature of the city is the stone arcades along some of the streets:

Guy-Victor Duperré (1775 - 1846) was an admiral and three times the Naval Minister for France. His name is one of the names inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. I can't believe I don't have a  digital photo of the Arc de Triomphe to link to  - it's definitely time we paid another visit to Paris.