Vieux Port
46 Cours des Dames, 17000 La Rochelle, France
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.
