Ile de Re - Biking

Like many island vacation spots, biking is a good way to get around Ile de Re.  The island is mostly flat and has 100+km of bike paths.  So we got up early and drove to the town of Saint-Martin on the leeward side of the island for breakfast on Sunday, then rented bikes and biked to the town of La Flotte.

Map of Ile de Re

Boats sailing off of Saint Martin

 Saint Martin is a walled city with a fort and a very protected harbor with an island in the middle of it.

St Martin harbor (island on the right)

St Martin waterfront

Biking along cobblestone streets

Biking along the waterfront

We arrived in La Flotte around lunchtime and had our choice of waterfront brasseries for lunch.

Harbor in La Flotte

While eating our lunch in La Flotte we saw this little girl a few tables over.  She is probably all of 3 years old and has already mastered using one empty mussel shell to pick up the other mussels (see her right hand).  Not only is she 3 and eating mussels, she is also ignoring the pile of fries that is next to her bowl of mussels.

After lunch we biked to a nearby beach and went for a swim.  The water was just slightly cold but felt nice once we got in.

C locking up our bikes at the beach

Beach at La Flotte

One weird thing that Ile de Re is known for is donkeys that wear pants.  Apparently the donkeys used to be afflicted by a disease that was spread by fly bites so the pants protected the donkeys from getting bitten.  They don't have to wear them anymore but there were still some donkeys wearing pants in the park near where we returned our bikes in St Martin.

Donkeys "en culottes"