Posts Tagged ‘Saint-Martin-de-Re’
donkeys and a walled town 6-7
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walls of Saint-Martin (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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My virtual bike trip on June 3 began with a surprise. Along the busiest part of the road, not far from the gates to the walled town of Saint-Martin, cars were stopping along the road to see a herd of donkeys! …
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donkeys near Saint-Martin (image from Street View)
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A herd of donkeys were also huddled near the moat around Saint-Martin …
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a herd of donkeys near the entrance to Saint-Martin (image from Street View)
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Although I didn’t travel into the town (no Street View), a bit of looking at some of the images on Google Maps showed a town of narrow cobblestone streets and a beautiful harbour area …
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entrance to walled town of Saint Martin (image from Street View)
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The map below shows an aerial view of the town, and the citadel to the right …
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map of Saint-Martin (map from Google Earth)
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In the country-side to the west, there are acres of vineyard …
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vineyard near Saint-Martin – the poster on the ruin across the road announces an antique sale! (image from Street View)
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and more acres of vineyard … the Internet tells me that this is part of the Pays Charentais, producing mostly white table wines …
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future bottles of wine (image from Street View)
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Best View: a building along the road to Saint-Martin-de-Ré … more watercolour work …
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June 3, 2013 ‘on the road to Saint-Martin-de-Ré’ Jane Tims
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Copyright Jane Tims 2013
a citadel and a walled town 6-6
bright whites and blue-greens near Saint-Martin (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Earth)
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Another day on the flat, flat island of Ré. I saw more poppies …
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poppies in a field near Saint-Martin (image from Street View)
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huge vineyards …
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a large vineyard (image from Street View)
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and more vineyards …
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a vineyard near Saint-Martin (image from Street View)
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Although Street View doesn’t allow too close a look, I reached the fortified town of Saint-Martin-de-Ré. The major feature was the wall, around the citadel …
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white wall around citadel at Saint-Martin (image from Street View)
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and enclosing the town of Saint-Martin …
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walled town of Saint-Martin (image from Street View)
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Ile de Ré has been of strategic importance throughout history and is extensively fortified. This includes the citadel at Saint-Martin-de-Ré which was built around 1620 during the Wars of Religion to protect Catholic Saint-Martin from the Protestant population of La Rochelle. The Citadel was also used as a prison in the 18th and 19th centuries …
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map of citadel (map from Google Earth)
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On my next bike trip, I’m looking forward to a closer look at the walled town and its population of donkeys!
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Best View: a courtyard in La Flotte, and some practice with my watercolours …
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May 28, 2013 ‘walled courtyard in La Flotte’ Jane Tims
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Copyright Jane Tims 2013
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