Playing Across the Big Pond: Tower Time

If you want to wear your legs out you should explore the medieval towers of La Rochelle. There are three towers: Saint Nicolas, Chaîne and Lanterne. The first tower I visited, and the closest to the gare, was Saint Nicolas Tower.

Saint Nicolas Tower was used as a military facility and a royal residence. The mayor of La Rochelle would usually live in a room in this tower. The first thing I did was to ascend some very deep steps to the first floor. In American terms it would have been the second floor but in France the first floor is considered to be the floor above the main floor.

This part of the tower maze ended by a very tiny room. It was the old bath room. The sign said: This tiny room was the old toilets. Quite comfortable for the epoch, the place was probably divided by a wall. It was also attached to the troubadour room.

This didn’t surprise me. I felt like no matter where you went in this tower you would eventually end up walking back to the main room, the troubadour room. The troubadour room was a large octagon with plasters replayed on each side.

This plaster shows two dogs fighting over a bone. The inscription below it says that this is a representation of France and England’s fighting over control of La Rochelle. This is a common theme on most of the wall plasters.

An evil pig face represented the sternness and scariness the captain had to have in order to keep not only his boat in line when he was on deck but also to keep the towers in line. All three towers where used as a blockade to keep people and boats out. They also served as a giant collective light house.

Another example of the France vs. England theme is this plaster of two dragons. However this plaster was to represent peace of sorts. The two animals are intertwined showing that they are working on being peaceful but their instincts to fight are making it a hard.

I walked out of the troubadour room to wander down another little hall. I mean very little hall. It was so small I had to bend my knees or duck through most the passages.

I kept going until I found a spiral set of stairs. There was a sign beside the stairs that explained why the towers had double stair cases, a fact you wouldn’t know without the sign. The other staircase had been sealed off and wasn’t in public view. The sign explained that the double spiral staircase is a 14th –century innovation where 2 staircases interlink with one another but never meet. This concept was created so that it would be possible to get from one floor to the next without meeting or seeing someone on the other staircase.

Top side I got a beautiful view of La Rochelle’s harbors and two pictures of a gargoyle. I seem to search out gargoyles and my dear friend St. Anthony where ever I go.

The next place I ventured was Chaine Tower.

Chain Tower was built from 1382 to 1390 to replace an original tower. It is connected to the tower of St. Nicolas. Together they create protective barrier for the harbor entrance. The Chain Tower had a heavy chain that controlled the access of ships. During the Fronde in 1651, Earl of Dognon the captain of the towers and governor of Aunis and Saintonge used the tower as a powder keg. It caught fire and the explosion blew out the floors and roof.

The last tower was Lanterne, or the lighthouse tower.

First stop of course where more stairs. The stairs where so small that my foot didn’t even fit on the steps! I had to use the hand rail because I kept tripping up and I was afraid I would fall up the stairs!

This tower was a bit odd. The first floor of the tower had a single room for the mayor. The next floor had a single room for the mayor’s guests. These two floors had rooms with nice stain glass windows and a spacious living area.

However the next three floors had open rooms that served as dungeons! These rooms where not so nice looking and only had a slit for a window.

It looked like the prisoners of war where aloud out from time to time because there where many etchings on the walls. Some of these etchings where in remembrance of the prisioner's trades. Before being captured the people would go on a sort of quest to this cave and etch their sign in it. Only then where they aloud to start wearing their trade colors. It was a rite of passage. The etchings reminded the prisoners of who they use to be. (click on the pictures to see in detail)

The room at the very top was the most particular. It had this weird maze on the floor and funnel in the ceiling. I believe it was a game of some sort but I’m not sure.