- Hi guys! Today, we are road tripping
to one of my favorite places in France
called Ile de Re.
It's about two hours from Saint-Jean
We got the car packed and off we go.
I love road trips in France because you never know
what you're going to see.
Like this old Chateau, look at how amazing it is.
I always marvel at these old structures
and wonder what they used to be like?
And how they ended up this way?
And two hours later, you'll get to the bridge.
The bridge connects the mainland of La Rochelle
to the island of Ile de Re.
It was built in 1988 and it makes traveling
to the islands so much easier than taking the ferry.
(Beth chuckles)
You pay your fee with a credit card.
It's 16 euros round trip and off you go.
(beeping sound)
We got so lucky with the weather.
There is hardly a cloud in the sky.
And after so many weeks of rain,
the sunshine was such a welcome treat for everybody.
(bicycle tires cluttering)
We made it to Ile de Re!
We are in the biggest city on Ile de Re
which is Saint-Martin-de-Re
this is where everything is happening.
The restaurants, the hotels, the shopping,
there are several villages on the island,
but if you're a newcomer, this is a great place to start.
My biggest piece of advice is as soon as you get
to the island, ditch the car.
(Beth chuckles)
There are a lot of public parking spots that you can find
where you can park overnight,
and everything within the villages is pretty much walkable.
That's because the best way to see the island
is on a bike.
It's off to the hotel now to drop off our bags
before we hit on our bikes.
The island is 30 kilometers long by five kilometers wide.
Saint Martin is the biggest city
where everything's kinda happening,
but there's other places to stay
that I think are equally charming.
There's really a village for everybody,
depending on your personality.
Normally we rent a house when we're here,
but since we're only here for 24 hours,
we're going to stay in a hotel.
You can pick from luxurious five star hotels like this one.
We're always very intrigued by it.
I'm sure it's very expensive,
but doesn't it look fabulous?
(Beth chuckling)
We didn't opt for the five-star hotel.
Instead, we went a little further down the street
to the three-star hotel.
We pick this hotel because it was right there on the port,
in the center of everything.
And this will give you an idea of what a kind of
basic three-star hotel room would look like.
There's a nice little terrace
where you can have breakfast in the morning.
And once we got to our room,
which was basically a two bedroom suite
they had one bed for us, the parents,
a very simple, basic bathroom, no shower,
but a traditional French-style shower
and another bedroom for the girls.
It was perfect for one night.
Now for something a bit spiffier that is also in town.
I would recommend this place La Baronnie.
It's a four-star hotel that also functions as a spa.
It has the most incredible garden property,
which is kind of nice if you're staying
in the middle of Saint Martin
with all the hustle and bustle,
and you wanted a place to escape to.
This would be the place.
(Beth chuckles)
I didn't see the guest rooms,
but I did see the brochure and it looks totally fabulous.
I'm sure you'd be very comfy here.
Okay, I'm all suited up.
I've got my helmet on.
I'm a big believer in helmets,
even though a lot of French do not wear helmets
including my husband, I can't convince him.
I'm a big believer in it.
I got my backpack and I got my electric bike,
which I highly recommend because it's windy
and we're going 19 kilometers to lunch, let's go.
We rented bikes at least a month in advance.
I highly recommend reserving an advance.
You don't want to show up the day of and hope for a bike.
This year we came to Île de Ré with a group of friends,
and it can be a bit challenging biking
with a group of seven people.
This is why it's best that everybody sticks together,
and nobody gets left behind.
Or you can have people waiting for you for hours.
This is one of the reasons why we've always put
our littlest daughter on one of these tandem bikes,
just so we don't lose her.
Even though she's 10 years old,
she still loves to ride on the back of Papa's bike.
(gentle music)
The bike pass on Île de Ré are beautifully maintained.
You will see some of the most stunning scenery
of the island.
You'll cross little bridges, ride through vineyards,
sometimes you also see many ponies,
you can stop and see, or some of the donkeys.
And whenever we see them, we always stop by the donkeys.
(Beth chuckles)
These bike trails hold some of
my most cherished family memories.
We've had so many good times on that.
So today's bike trip started in Saint Martin,
and we wrote all the way to the other side of
the island to the lighthouse,
otherwise known as Saint-Clément-des-Baleines.
And we were certainly happy to see the lighthouse
once we arrived.
So many cute little shops, you can take a look at.
Look at these baskets, aren't they fabulous?
(Beth chuckles)
You'll find a lot of local things that are being sold,
like the salt, which comes right from the producers.
You can get big bags of it, or small bags of flour to sell,
which make for great gifts.
You can always tell, it's getting close to lunchtime.
When you start to see the bikes piling up,
(Beth chuckles)
You also see a lot of donkeys here and there.
So donkeys are kind of like the local mascot of Île de Ré,
mostly because of the soap that's made from their milk.
It might seem like a strange thing to make soap out of,
but I'm telling you,
it is the most beautiful soap
that comes in some of the most lovely fragrances.
It's always something that I make sure I buy.
Every time I come to Île de Ré.
All the biking certainly made everybody very hungry.
What is this?
There are three men having burgers in France?
(Beth chuckles)
I am the other hand, got the salmon,
totally ready to dive into this.
I never miss an opportunity
to order fish in this part of France,
because it is always so fresh and delicious.
My salmon was put on a bed of
couscous with simmered vegetables,
and of course it was cooked to perfection.
And of course I had it with a desert.
I mean, with all this biking,
it's a great excuse to indulge, right?
(Beth chuckles)
And these days in France,
I always look for the café gourmand or the Thé gourmand,
which is a fun coffee dessert idea that basically comes
with little miniature desserts served
with your coffee or tea.
I had a delicious brownie with some whipped cream,
a salted caramel panna cotta that was insanely delicious.
Look at that texture.
I also got a little scoop of ice cream, a cookie,
and then a spice cake that sort of
tasted a little bit like gingerbread.
It was so yummy.
(birds chirping)
Then it was time to get back on our bikes
and head back to town.
One of the things I love about the bike path
is it allows you to ride through the salt marshes,
which is really fascinating,
and something you can't see very well from a car.
And the best part of it riding through the salt marshes
is stopping at the otto boutique or the salt boutique.
You'll see these little self-serve boutiques
spring up along the bike path,
and you can get all kinds of Fleur de Sel the big gray salt
you can find condiments made with this salt,
all different types of things for the barbecue.
A lot of course, the real crowd-pleaser
are all of the products made with salted caramel,
like the little caramel tins you can get
with the donkeys on it.
You can get salted caramel lollipops,
the salted caramel sauce for your grapes.
And because my girls have stopped here a few times,
they definitely don't have any problem choosing.
- [Beths daughter] Here is my favorite things
that we're so getting.
(Beth chuckles)
Yes, yes chocolate caramel
- These boutiques function on the honor system,
so you get your price,
You go to the Auto caisse or the self-service checkout,
you put your money in the little box,
give yourself some change if you need to.
My favorite thing is the sign,
"Entrance to the boutique is
forbidden to all of those with reduced morality."
(Beth chuckles)
- All right, just for a little more strength,
I'm gonna try the salted chocolate.
(Beth chuckles)
Oh my gosh, that was so great.
It'll gives me the energy I need
to make it another 10 kilometers to the beach.
(Beth chuckles)
There are a lot of different beaches along
the bike path you can choose from.
We usually like to stop at the one at La Couarde
because there are lifeguards and restrooms.
We finally made it to the beach.
This is the big reward after a really long bike ride.
The beaches on Île de Ré are really beautiful.
It's low tide here, but it is so refreshing,
we can't wait to just jump right in.
Low tide is actually the best time for swimming
because you pass all the rocky parts,
and you just have the beautiful sand underneath.
That is the best way to ride, nice and ready.
On a windy day, you'll also see a lot of kite surfing.
That guy is grooving, it just shows you how windy it is.
The interesting thing about the lifeguards in Frances
is that they actually stay on the sand, patrolling the area,
walking the coast with their fins
in case they need to jump in to make a rescue.
Which is different from where we're from in California,
where we're typically used to seeing them sitting up high
in spiffy little cottages.
We are back in town in Saint-Martin-de-Ré
its really heating up,
(Beth chuckles)
With the French apparel,
it's time to get showered and changed, and off to dinner.
(somber music)
Right at sunset its my favorite time to be here.
It's so beautiful, everybody is dressed, ready for dinner,
there're a little night markets and shops
that you can look at the sunset,
and it's a great place to have a drink,
and catch some dinner.
There are so many wonderful little spots right there
in Saint-Martin where you can kick the evening off
with drinks and appetizers.
We're on the boat having our drinks,
and find some of the local wine.
It looks delicious, its Chardonnay.
Its all of those vineyards that we rode through,
this came from that
(indistinct chattering)
It's delicious, it's dry, it's crisp, it's so good.
You don't need to be fast.
The only thing about having drinks
with dinner here at the harbor,
a lot of these places here are not walled,
so look at that.
One false move, and you go.
(Beth chuckles)
So its best not to have dinner with a short dress.
One of the things we love to do after dinner
is walk through the city.
The sun doesn't set this time of year
until about 10 o'clock.
So it's really beautiful to see all of
the different old architecture,
and the way that the light cast the shadows upon them.
It's also the opportunity to get some dessert.
So of course my kids will always point out the sweet truck,
(Beth chuckles)
which is always an option, but really in my opinion,
you cannot leave Île de Ré without
sampling some of the local ice cream,
and the best place to go in my opinion is La Martinière,
It is a institution.
But what I like to do is to come over here at the corner
where they serve the soft serve ice cream,
and my favorite is the vanilla and salted caramel,
It is fantastic.
The lines are always shorter for the soft serve ice cream,
maybe because there's less flavors to choose from,
but in my opinion, the salted caramel is all you need.
This is what it looks like. It is so delicious.
It's salted caramel ice cream swirled with vanilla,
and it is the most delicious thing.
It's a great after dinner treat.
It's really a wonderful way to spend the evening
to walk down the streets with your ice cream,
(Beth chuckles)
and see which shops are open.
This shop was still open It was selling some espadrilles.
Not all the shops are open,
so I also think it's fun to just walk down some of
the cobblestone streets,
just to appreciate the architecture.
One of the things I love about Île de Ré are all of
the beautiful flowers that grow up alongside the buildings
they're called rose tremé,
And they're really known for this part of France.
The funny thing about them
is they grow in like the most minimal amount of dirt.
But the funniest thing happened to me
as I was walking back up the street,
I heard my name being called.
- Are you Beth
- Yeah
- We love...
- All right, hang on.
Okay, now walking down the street of Île de Ré,
I forgot my ice cream, look who I ran into, some fans.
- Hi, we are big fans
(Beth chuckles)
- Hi Bruce from long time.
- You're such a good cook.
- Oh you are so hilarious.
Where are you from?
- We are from Versailles.
- You're from Versailles.
- Yes
- Amazing, where the castle...?
- Absolutely .
- Do you visit often?
- Yeah, yeah we spend all of the time in the park.
We've been living next to the king for years.
(laughing)
- Now tell everybody about Île de Ré,
if they haven't been here, what do you love about it?
Why is this a great place?
- Oh, it's very special because in a small island
you have many, many villages,
and each village as a very typical character.
Well, maybe you don't say character, I don't know.
- Yes, you do, absolutely.
- Yeah, and...
- You can bike around everywhere,
and what's really nice is that you can always find kind of
typical foods everywhere you're going,
and eat a lot of seafood, and walk along to seasides,
and you can bicycle everywhere...
- And you don't have to take your car,
- Yeah, there's no mountains or anything to claim to,
so you can bicycle everywhere, and that's really lovely.
- If they're to come here, what do they need to go?
- The French?
- Yes.
- In general?
- Yes.
- Oh, that's a tricky question.
- We're very specific about our food so...
(laughing)
- If that place has very specific foods,
and we love it when foreigners come,
and always wants to try things that are typical ,
are very curious about trying out new foods, so yeah.
Seafood here is a big thing, especially oysters.
- Yes, of course.
- Yes
- Well that was such a treat.
I don't often run into subscribers, but when I do,
I'm always so amazed at how many corners of
the world YouTube has the power to reach.
- Well, it was time to connect back with my family,
and head back to the hotel.
We certainly put in a long day and it's time to head to bed.
(gentle music)
(ducks squawking)
We slept like babies
after our 40 kilometer bike ride yesterday.
Now it's time to head into town,
and get a little breakfast.
Things in Saint-Martin really don't get going
until about 10 o'clock that's when the shops open.
But I find the early morning is a great opportunity
to walk through the streets,
and see all the shops without hundreds
of tourists routing the streets.
(Beth chuckles)
Because once things get hopping,
they really get hopping and you've got tourists,
and dogs, and bikes, and everybody in these streets.
So I was back to the port for breakfast,
and for seven euros and 80 centime,
you're gonna eat pretty well.
The port is such a great choice for breakfast
because it's really where you start
to see the city wake up, and come to life.
You have people on the dock that are walking their dogs.
Do you see the boats coming in,
and out of the Harbor ready to dock.
Moms and dads, if you have little ones with you traveling,
this is a great place to keep them entertained.
During the meal.
(Beth chuckles)
There's so much to look at, they never get bored.
And the breakfast comes on these individual trays
that's typically used to serve two,
and it keeps everything nice and tidy.
We have croissant, some faggots, jus d'Orange.
And here's my favorite little thing that you see sometimes
in different cafes is they give you the cup, right?
Then you have the coffee in the pit jar,
and you pour the coffee,
and then you have the milk,
the hot milk that you're gonna add.
And that way,
you can choose how much milk to how much coffee.
I think that's just the start to a really great day.
And for the kids,
you have the show glass show or the hot chocolate.
Do you want me to put it for you, sweetheart?
- [Beths daughter] I think I got it.
- [Beth] Okay, that's gonna be supper hot.
(audience cheering)
(laughing)
Sometimes they just need to learn the hard way.
After breakfast, the shops were open.
and it was time to do a little bit of shopping.
One of the nice things about shopping on Île de Ré
is a lot of the shopkeepers
will have a good amount of merchandise outside the shop.
So you can kind of see what they have before going inside.
I think this adds to a really nice liveliness to the city
when you can walk through and see all of
the different baskets and small things for
the home clothing,
I mean, there's really no lack of options.
I bought and everybody's making fun of me,
but I think this will be very useful by the pool.
It's a little dress that you put on,
and it's made out of terry cloth.
So the fabric is like a towel.
So I was thinking after the pool,
I would just put this thing on and its super comfy.
After buying just a few more souvenirs to take home,
it was time to wrap up our visit.
Well, that includes our 24 hours in Île de Ré,
I hope you guys enjoyed the visit.
I hope one day you do end up coming here
because it's such a fabulous place.
It's too great for 24 hours,
but that's all we have because I gotta get back
to Saint ju de Corbin.
I have 16 people coming for dinner tomorrow night.
(Beth chuckles)
And I have no idea what I making.
So we got to go get organized.
See you next time until then bye.