Visiting France's Hidden Beach Resort at the Sables d'Olonne (Vendee, France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
My husband Laurent and I left the Charente-Maritime
département the next day to visit the Vendée département. We knew we had entered the Vendée when we
passed the département’s symbol: two superimposed hearts with a crown and cross
on top of them. The Vendée was the last
royalist region to rebel during the French Revolution (1787 – 1799). The Vendéens paid dearly for their allegiance
to King Louis XVI (1754 – 1793), Queen Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793), and the
Church.
During the Guerres de Vendée (Wars of the Vendée) from 1793
to 1796, peasant and noble leaders emerged to lead the Catholic and Royal Army
against the Republicans of the revolutionary government in Paris according to
the Pays de la Loire Michelin Touring
Guide.
The most horrifying part of the Vendéen Wars were the
“Colonnes Infernales” whose mission was to exterminate the soldiers, women, and
children of the Vendée as well as to destroy all the housing and fields our
touring guide noted. The Vendéens lost
the wars, but managed to escape genocide.
Despite its bloody past, the Vendée is now one of the most
visited areas of France. Our destination
that day was the beach and the town of Les Sables d’Olonne. The Michelin touring guide noted that it was
the Empress Eugénie (1826 – 1920) who popularized swimming in the ocean in the
late nineteenth century. The appearance
of the train in the Sables d’Olonne in 1866 cemented its position as an
oceanfront resort town.
I was looking forward to seeing the ocean and feeling the
Atlantic breeze in this town where Laurent spent his summers with his
grandmother. She rented a tent for
decades along the oceanfront where we all enjoyed sunbathing and building sand
castles.
When we arrived, we walked along the Ramblai, which follows the entire curve of the beach. The Ramblai has several openings to the beach. We went down one of them and up to the lapping edge of the ocean. Laurent said he received his first driver’s education course at the beach’s Go-Kart area when he was six years old.
We ate raw oysters for lunch and finished the day walking
around the neighborhoods before going back to Charente-Maritime to pack our
bags for our next coastal destination.
By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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| Laurent Paget Photography |
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| Laurent Paget Photography |
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