FRANCE 2013: ROCHEFORT

The Square (Rochefort, France) 

I have to admit Rochefort on the west coast of France had little to show for the two hour drive from our rented gite in Bedenac just north of Bordeaux. The main attraction is an exhibition based around what appears to be a very slow restoration of an old fashioned sailing vessel and the old rope making factory. Neither of these appealed to me I’m afraid and the National Maritime Museum next door was a bit of a damp squib too.

The architecture in Rochefort was notable alright and the grid system layout of the town, a familiar landscape to New Yorkers, made it easy to navigate the bright streets. As with most of France on-street restaurants were the order of the day and the fair on offer was varied.

Don’t get me wrong it’s a pleasant town with a typical laid back French approach to everything, the shopping opportunities are quite good with a lot of the national and international brands represented, and the respect still held by the locals for the role of the Resistance movement during WW2 is evident in the monuments and place names, but for some reason it just didn’t appeal to me. As with everything else this is just an opinion and you should try it for yourself and decide.