Le Palais

Le Palais is "the capital" of the island. It's the least spread-out town but the most populated, with 2530 inhabitants. It has a colourful charm, with thousands of little boats secured to the harbour, regular arrivals of the ferries and the beautiful small town, with its typical shops, cafés, and the market every morning…
The fortified town has the only urban surrounding wall of the Empire time we can see in France. Its double line of ramparts, with monumental gates, creates a wonderful romantic walk.
The Citadelle Vauban majestically dominates all this. Leaving "Le Palais", we discover the other sides of the island. The colourful road towards Sauzon travels through the pasturelands where the cows sleep, a few small hills, fields of wild grasses where you can even make out windmill.

Sauzon

At the end of a rather steep slope, you discover the charming village of Sauzon, which has 845 inhabitants. It's a place very often painted, especially by Monet who spent many months on this island in the 1880's.
The local authorities' tight overseeing has preserved this region almost completely in its original look. The Sauzon region has two small forts built during the Second Empire. The most famous, the one of the Pointe des Poulains, still echoes with Sarah Bernhardt's enchanting voice who purchased it in 1893 and spent every summer there until 1922.
Strolling along the quay, you will find many seafood restaurants, colourful old bars, and you'll especially admire the beauty of the harbour. According to the tides, you'll see how the ships end up dried up, listed sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right waiting for the return of the sea.

Bangor

The next stop of our little tour is the city of Bangor, which origin goes back in the 6th century of our era. This commune counts 738 inhabitants. The rock coast, the sea limit of the city, stops here and there in sandy beaches. There's also a Church with a wonderful acoustics.
You can have a well deserved culinary break in a well-known creperie. If you go on walking across the pasturelands, which remind a lot of visitors Ireland's green hills, you arrive to another famous place of the island, Locmaria.

Locmaria

This commune of 711 inhabitants joins together, in an exceptional way, the harshness of the wild coast and the highest cliffs of the island. It's probably the most wild and secluded place. The incessant collision of the waves, the strength of the Atlantic winds, the dryness of the vegetation, completely different from the Northern coast, and the distance from big centres of life make the distinctive feature and the attractiveness of this place. The few 90 natural sandy beaches can easily be joined by ancient ways, all around the island. Some of them, at the height of the season, can welcome thousands of people, like Les Grands Sables or Donnant. Belle-Ile has always greeted many "foreign" visitors, like the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt for instance, who did "pilgrimages" for more than 25 years, or more recently President François Mitterrand who came on many occasions at the end of his life, entirely won over by the wild beauty of the place.

For more information: www.belle-ile.com. or belleisleenmer.free.fr