Fouras - family time on the west coast of France

Fouras is located in the department Charente-Maritime on the west coast of France, 20 km south of La Rochelle from where many Huguenots departed to SA.  And the place where many of JL's family live/retired, despite having their roots in Paris.  JL's grandfather used to take his family there for holidays, so the family has a long standing relationship with the village. Hence it was quite appropriate to have the family reunion at île d'Aix last year, attended by almost 150 family members and in-laws! 

I remember the first time I went to Fouras with JL. We've met one or more family members around almost every corner while walking through the village.  At the end I was convinced half of the village must be related to him!

When we are in Fouras we always visit JL's brother and his family.  Sonia always prepares very interesting things for apéritif, I think I must stay a few days in her kitchen to acquire her skills!  The two girls, Neyla & Lina, are very talented and love to sing and dance for us.  And then we get the two brothers to showcase their singing talents by doing karaoke for us.  I love spending time in Fouras.  With my family so far, I think I am fortunate to be able to say that I do have a wonderful family in France too.

Above: having a family dinner

Below: the 2 brothers singing for us

Fouras is a lovely coastal village. At one stage it was so popular with Parisians, that there was a big sign on the station in Paris indicating the direction for Fouras (it was the days before many cars and the journey by train took 7.5 h!! - as reference, it takes us 7 hrs max by road and we live further from Fouras...).  Fouras has 4 islands in its vicinity - île d'Aix from where Napoleon was deported to St Helena, île Madame (connected by a path to the mainland that is covered by the ocean during high tide), île d'Oléron and île de Ré.  The full name for Fouras is actually Fouras-les-Bains, but the les-bains is hardly used any more.  You still find lovely houses dating from the days when Parisians flocked to Fouras, similar to those that you'll find in some other popular coastal villages not too far from Paris. 

The market is hosted in two buildings, one for fish and seafood, as one can expect from a coastal village.  Fouras is known for its good quality mussels and oysters.  The other building hosts the vegetables, meat, cheese, etc.  It can get quite busy on a Saturday morning with parking a problem, like in many other French villages. 

My model getting tired of posing for photos...

The carousel on the small square in front of the two market buildings, you'll find one in almost every village or town in France

The exterior part of the coffee shop in front of the fish market.  This was still early in the morning (like the photos above), but a bit later you'll hardly find an available seat (and can hardly move in the fish market).  And we know when we go to the market later in the morning, we'll find Philippe & Sonia having a coffee at the coffee shop with its notice on the door that the staff can speak English....  And we'll definitely bump into other family members too, able to pick up on news and find out who is in Fouras for the weekend.

Above and below: the commercial centre

With the Charente river flowing into the Atlantic just south of Fouras, the area is surrounded with marshes where you will see some cattle grazing.  It is easy to cycle in the area, as there are small roads through the marshes and the area is quite flat. 

In the surrounding area you'll find maize grown for cattle, not that this year's crop was good due to the drought (can you spot the cattle in the photo above?)

And if you do not want to cycle, you can choose to go to one of the five sandy beaches, the northern beach popular with kite-surfers and wind-surfers.  And of course, you'll see fisher boats everywhere.  One activity we haven't tried in Fouras yet, is to kayak in the ocean.  Perhaps next summer.  Despite Fouras having mild winters, I do not think I want to kayak in winter in France!

Below: this is very typical of the Charente-Maritime, small cabins for fishermen

Above: Fort Vauban (Vauban was an important man in France, designing many forts, but more in another post..).  It was originally a medieval fort, but as in the case of many other forts and châteaux in France, destroyed, rebuilt, altered etc.  It is on this beach that we were watching the fireworks display I've described in the summer time post.

Another main attraction is Fort Boyard, today famous for its television game it hosts with its 'father Fouras'.  Participants arrive with their camera crew from other countries to copy this popular French adventure game which really contributed towards the awareness of the Charente Maritime, which is in  my opinion still less populated by tourists in comparison to Provence, fortunately (with the exceptions of île de Ré and île d'Oléron...).  Below is a photo I took at the fish market, the stand having a painting of Boyard on its marketing sign.  You can see it is a fort completely surrounded by water.

The fort is situated between île d'Aix and île d'Oléron.  Even though it was envisaged in the 17th century, construction (on a sand bank) only commenced in the 19th century (constructed from 1804-1857, with interruptions in between).  It was constructed to protect the coast and the important navy base in Rochefort (close to Fouras) from the English.  I managed to get a good aerial photo on internet that will give you a better idea of the fort!