Take the opportunity while you're staying on the campsite to go and see Fort Boyard, a symbol of the Charente Maritime heritage and a trip not to be missed while you are on holiday on the Île d'Oléron. The adventure begins as you leave Boyardville, Saint-Denis or La Cotinière!
You may not be able to go into the most famous fort seen on tv, but even so, you can admire it from a pleasure boat, during a commentated trip on a sailing boat, or even from a jet-ski. The Fort Boyard Tour enables you to get close to this “stone vessel” with its monumental dimensions (68 metres long, 32 metres wide and 20 metres high). To see the inside, unfortunately, you will have to content yourself with television programmes!
For a long time, Fort Boyard was known as “The Useless Fort”. It was built in several stages from 1804 to 1857 to protect the mouth of the River Charente, the Île d'Aix bay and the great arsenal of Rochefort. However, Fort Boyard quickly became useless because of progress made in the development of artillery, and the greater range of the new cannons.
At the end of the Second Empire, the fort was turned into a military prison for Prussian and Austrian prisoners, before becoming a State Prison where “Communards” (members of the Paris Commune) were held in transit on their way to the penal colony of New Caledonia.
*Photos : Fort Boyard © CMT17 E. COEFFE
