Travel Guide Port-Des-Barques

A peninsula on the left bank of the Charente and a village of 1,500 souls, Port-des-Barques is like the "end of the world". This small resort invites you to discover the oyster farming tradition of the region. Port-des-Barques is also an ideal place for walks: along the shoreline, you can admire the succession of carrelets, these huts on stilts with their large winch net. The low tide discovers here a vast foreshore... and a passage of 900 m, the Passe aux Bœufs, leading to the Ile Madame. This is where the best places for fishing on foot are hidden. It is also on this island that the shrine of the 254 priests deported and buried on its soil during the French Revolution is located. The history of Port-des-Barques is closely linked to that of the navy, which explains its name. The ships that once supplied Rochefort were not allowed to sail up the Charente. The cargoes were therefore transported by means of barks which were sheltered in a port, "the port of the barks". As a strategic post, Ile Madame and its fort played the role of the last rampart against the English fleet. A tumultuous past for what will become a peaceful oyster farming village, since the estuary basin constitutes the main local breeding ground for oysters. The inhabitants will benefit little by little from this trade which became flourishing in the Middle Ages. Divided between agriculture, viticulture, the salt marsh and the resources of the sea, the first inhabitants of Port-des-Barques will forge traditions which still last today...