Ars-en-Ré

In the western part of the Île de Ré, just after the narrow isthmus sometimes submerged by the great equinox tides, Ars-en-Ré lies near the salt marshes of the Fier d'Ars. Its lanes, lined with small white houses with green shutters, are so narrow that corner walls once had to be cut away to let carriages pass.

Its port was once frequented by ships from the Netherlands and Scandinavia coming to stock up on salt. A very fine Renaissance house that houses the town hall bears witness to this past prosperity. The village church of Saint-Étienne, which has a very fine half-buried Romanesque portal, raises into the sky the sharp spire of its bell tower painted white and black to serve as a seamark, that is, a fixed and visible landmark for navigation. This building consists of two parts dating from the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.

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