Ile de Ré

Ahh, Ile de Ré. The first time I heard about this place was when my friend Amanda told me it was a place she always wanted to visit. I had never heard about it before then. Amanda grew up and now lives in one of the most beautiful, special places - North Haven, Maine so if Ile de Ré intrigued her then it must be exceptional. And it was! 

You know the expression 'such and such, on acid"? meaning, a place, person or thing (such and such) in a new bizarre, freaky form. Well Ile de Ré is Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard ON EXTASY (the drug that makes everything lovely and wonderful and inspires great affection. I haven't taken the drug myself but to me Ile de Ré was unbelievably beautiful, charming and I couldn't love it enough. 

The colors (sky, flowers, sea, window shutters), the fresh air, the miles and miles of car-free bike paths, the salt marshes, bird sanctuaries, immaculate cobble-stoned streets, the seafood, the lack of high buildings, lack of English-speaking tourists (it was us and the oyster-loving French-trés authentique!), and the LIGHT. ohhhh, the lovely LIGHT.

I could get annoyed by all the perfection but this was sincere and it was real. Dave and I rode our bikes for hours, stopped for oysters, various snails and shrimp and Rosé for lunch, rode some more, then came home to relax in our cute hotel room until dinner. Then we'd ride bikes some more, people-watch (lots of very casually-chic people with their equally casually-chic children), and marvel at how much we loved this place. 

Oh yeah, and the people were so nice, even when our French was awful. 

And now, some photos:

Riding through the vineyards. The local "drink" was a sweet wine made from the local grapes, mixed with something like Cognac. You could get a red or white version. They served it as a thick, sweet aperatif. Pas mal...

A small vegetable stand.

I couldn't get over the color combo of this golden yellow bloom with the blue blue sky.

Bike paths EVERYWHERE!

Vineyards and rapeseed (yellow flowers) along the bike path...

Salt vendor:

Tanks of oysters

Our lunch stop. It was us and the chic French. Everyone was eating oysters and other raw seafood. The waiter/owner was a little gruff at first (we were late for lunch) but in the end he was very kind.

Salt to be harvested...

All the bldgs were some shade of white or gray and the shutters were almost always a shade of green, blue or gray. And of couse terracotta tiled roofs.

Her bike box says "Big Fruit". I liked that. I wonder if she knew it said that.

More rapeseed in bloom along one of the salt beds

Even some forest on the island, and of course with lots of bike paths!

Gigantic beaches, plenty of space for everyone!

Yes, there is a cute little dog in the box. 

Flowers flowers flowers

I hope the postal workers here enjoy their routes. 

ROSES! eveywhere were gorgeous ROSES!!!  It seemed that they grew so effortlessly. I imagine that in a couple of years this wall will be covered by this rose vine. 

The capital city of the island - Sainte Martin. 

Still pining for two more of these chairs - but with arms.

French preppies.

Young chic dad

Loved this gate. 

Ah, the simplicity of green and white. A winning combo.

Old stone walls (similar to what are in Luxembourg City) surrounding parts of the city. 

Roses, roses...

I would love to come back when all of these hollyhocks are in full bloom. I bought many postcards with rows and rows of these flowers. i think they were the official flower of the island. they were planted EVERYWHERE.

Wish i bought this kitchy box of salted caramels. SO wish i did. what a great little sewing kit  or first aid kit box, no?

An early-blooming holly hock at our cute little hotel. 

Island cat!

Rapeseed (makes canola oil) in bloom. 

our lunch stop with the chic customers and rustic owner

lunch! i had never eating those whelks, raw, before. They were quite good. 

The other customers. You can't see it in these pics (I can only be so brazen when taking pics like this) but several men were wearing pink shirts and loafers, drinking Rosé. I loved the Frenchness of that. 

Bikes definitely outnumbered cars here. For sure.