Ile de Re - post 2

La Couarde sur Mer & La Flotte

Today we did two cycle rides around the islands. This morning we cycled to across the island to La Couarde and this afternoon we cycled along the coast to La Flotte.

The cycle ride to La Couarde took as across the island to the otherside cycling alongside vineyards and through forests. It was nice to get away from the coast for a change and cycle inland. We passed a pretty windmill on route too! La Couarde was a lovely village with quaint gifts shops, bakeries and restaurants. There was also a salon de thé, but it was quite expensive. We explored the village and headed to the beach, the sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky. The beach was vast and beautiful with golden sand and also rock pools to explore. In the height of summer I can imagine the beach full of people in their swimwear, however today we pretty much had it to ourselves! 

In the afternoon we headed along the coast towards La Flotte, we passed through La Flotte onto an abbey which is in ruins, again the scenery was beautiful and the warm sea air/breeze was nice. We then headed back to La Flotte for an ice cream and drink at La Martinière (blog to follow!). I opted for 3 flavours - salted caramel, creme brûlée and chocolate, delicious!! La Flotte is a beautiful harbour village with lots of cute gift shops, boutiques, clothes shops and also a cupcake shop called La Suite Cupcake. La Flotte is my favourite place so far on the island that I have visited! 

Until tomorrow :) xoxo

Ile de Re - post 1

For the Easter break my family and I are visiting the Ile de Re. The Ile de Re is an island off the coast of France, and is simply beautiful.

You can only get to the island by boat or bridge, and it's costs €8 off peak to cross the bridge and €16 at peak times. 

We have been here since Saturday and I thought I would do my first blog post about it! 

The Ile de Re is a very flat island, therefore most people own bikes and travel everywhere by bike, we have hired bikes for the whole week, and have not driven anywhere! 

We are staying in the town called St Martin de Re and it is beautiful, it is right on the coast, has a stunning harbour, lots of cute shops, restaurant and ice cram parlours and also a sandy beach - Plenty of opportunity to take some gorgeous photographs.

Today we cycled from our town to a place called Loix (see map), a village along the coast from us, the whole cycle was 24km in total. Despite the strong winds battling against us it was a beautiful sunny day and a lovely bike ride. We took a picnic with us and ate it sheltering away from the wind and also had a drink in a cafe in Loix. The views on route we gorgeous, with views of the choppy sea, pretty villages and oyster farms too. We even passed a trendy oyster bar where you could eat your oysters whilst looking out to sea!

In the evening we went out for dinner at a typical French restaurant. The restaurant was called Cote Jardin, and we sat outside in the covered, heated garden. In the summer the garden is not covered and you can enjoy sitting under the vines and trees. For starter I ate pork terrine with French bread, this is my favourite kind of starter as I adore terrine and pate. For main my sister and I both enjoyed the steak (medium). This was severed with potatoes, salad and a delicious sauce. The steak was cooked to perfection and utterly divine! For dessert I enjoyed melt in the middle chocolate pudding (moelleux au chocolat), again this is one of my favourite puddings. I even cook a superb version myself (recipe to follow when I return to England!). The chocolate pudding was served with cream and creme anglaise. 

See you tomorrow xoxo