Vieux Port

Ships entering La Rochelle’s old port sail between the Saint Nicholas Tower, completed in 1376, and the Tower of the Chain (La Chaîne), which was begun a few years later, in 1382. The Lantern Tower is a 15th-century stone lighthouse on the harbor that also served as a jail—one ingenious prisoner carved a backgammon board into the floor. The gate in the Great Clock Tower, part of the old city walls, leads to a pedestrian-only area and to graceful arcaded streets such as the Rue du Palais, built in the 14th and 15th centuries.