This museum on the first floor of a perfumery has a charming collection of bottles (some signed by Lalique and Dali), powder boxes and labels from 1920 to the present day.

The square features an attractive 1654 house with a sculpted façade and a statue of La Rochelle native son Eugène Fromentin (1820-1876), a writer and orientalist painter (one should read his Dominique before visiting La Rochelle).

This quay lined with old shipowners’ houses served as a berth for high vessels. The esplanade planted with lime trees is one of the liveliest places in town and is the point of departure for boat rides.

15 panels blending history and legend illustrate the finest hours of La Rochelle and the people who have left their mark on it, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Richelieu and Jean Guiton.

The quayside, lined with cafes, is an excellent place to observe the harbour. The St Nicholas and Chain Towers frame the perspective, including a view of the pointed top of the Lantern Tower. Several streets inhabited by sailors lead down to the quay..

This theatre, once a Carmelite chapel, has a 17C doorway and an attractive arcaded courtyard.

The Palais de Justice has a majestic façade with cannelated Corinthian columns and a sculpted frieze.

This Classical church was built in the 17C and 18C, while the tall clock tower is from the 15C.

Formerly used as a powder magazine, this tower owes its name to the large chains that once linked it at night to St Nicholas Tower. If Rabelais is to be believed, the chain was used to tie down Pantagruel in his cradle! Today the tower contains a mus..

A façade dotted with Latin phrases and the sculpted heads of great doctors from antiquity and the Middle Ages such as Avicenne, Hippocrates and Galen. It is hard to imagine how Mr Venette could have been anything other than a doctor.

The temple, a former Recollets Chapel built in 1708, boasts a superb classical façade sculpted with palms and draperies.

Like the Temple, the Cloitre des Dames Blanches was part of the Recollets Convent. Nowadays painting exhibitions and concerts are held under its 32 arcades.

Protestantism is an important part of the history of La Rochelle, and the town was subjected to the terrible sieges of 1573 and 1627 due to support for it among the local population. The museum traces the history of Protestantism in the La Rochelle r..

The Prefecture is housed in the Hôtel Poupet, built in the time of Louis XVI and typical of private architecture from La Rochelle. A monumental porch crowned with balustrades opens onto the square.

This street linking the Chain Tower to the Lantern Tower runs along the top of the medieval ramparts, the only section of the fortifications not destroyed by Richelieu.

Today this area is residential and commercial, but was once a place occupied by fishermen’s storehouses. The brightly coloured wood-panelled façades give it a Nordic look.

The inhabitants of La Rochelle would like to tell us that their cathedral built by the architects Gabriel, father and son, is a masterpiece without compare. You must go in there however to see in the third chapel on the lower left side the votive of..

A typical café from the early 20C: glass panels in the form of arcades decorated with frosted glass motifs, sculpted wood panels, gilding, large arch mirror, chandeliers and trompe-l’oeil medallions. One can easily imagine the shipowners sitting here..

Two attractive old houses face each other at the entrance to Tout-y-Faut blind alley; one is half-timbered 15C, the other is 16C and made of stone, with narrow bays topped by pediments.

This street is lined by arcades in irregular shapes, a somewhat whimsical alignment that contributes to its charm. There are very old houses adorned with friezes and sculptures or windows with triangular dormers. It ends at Pilori Fountain .