The island of BELLE-ÎLE, 45 minutes by ferry from Quiberon, has its own Côte Sauvage on its Atlantic coast, while the landward side is fertile, cultivated ground, interrupted by deep estuaries with tiny ports. To appreciate the island's contrasts, some form of transport is advisable – you can rent bikes at the port and main town of LE PALAIS, and if you're in a small car the ferry fare is relatively low.The island once belonged to the monks of Redon, then to the ambitious Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's minister, and later to the English, who in 1761 swapped it for Menorca in an unrepeatable bargain deal. Docking at Le Palais, the abrupt star-shaped fortifications of the citadelle are the first thing you see (daily: April–June, Sept & Oct 9.30am–6pm; July & Aug 9am–7pm; Nov–March 9.30am–noon & 2–5pm; €6.10). Built along stylish and ordered lines by the great fortress-builder, Vauban, it is startling in size – filled with doorways leading to mysterious cellars and underground passages, endless sequences of rooms, dungeons and deserted cells. It only ceased being a prison in 1961, having numbered a succession of state enemies and revolutionaries among its inmates, including Ben Bella of Algeria. Less involuntarily, painters such as Monet and Matisse, the writers Flaubert and Proust and the actress Sarah Bernhardt all spent time on the island. And presumably Alexandre Dumas, too, as Porthos's death, in The Three Musketeers, takes place here. A museum documents the island's history, in fiction as much as in fact. As for exploring the island, it's far too large to walk around, but a coastal footpath does run on bare soil for the length of the Côte Sauvage. Near the west end you'll find the Grotte de l'Apothicairerie, so called because it was once full of cormorants' nests, arranged like the jars on a pharmacist's shelves. Inland, on the D25 back towards Le Palais, you pass the two menhirs, Jean and Jeanne, said to be lovers petrified as punishment for wanting to meet before their marriage. Another larger menhir used to lie near these two; it was broken up to help construct the road that separates them. Belle-Île's second town, SAUZON, is a beautiful little village arrayed along one side of a long estuary, 6km west of Le Palais. If you're staying any length of time, and you've got transport, it's probably a better place to base yourself.
Pages in section ‘Belle-Île’: Practicalities.
Alternate spellings:: France, Belle-Īle, Belle-Île, Belle-Ile
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