Loire-Atlantique, Vendee - Michelin Local Map 316: Map (Michelin Local Maps, 316)

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Walking through the narrow streets, enjoy the sight of the pretty white houses with colourful shutters. In front of the dunes, the water of its long beaches is turquoise on summer days. Its cliffs surround pretty coves, a landscape conducive to lazing around with a good book or swimming in the ocean. Fishing also has an active presence on the island with the famous Port de la Meule. The Vendée History and heritage: It is the calmest territory of the Vendée, pretty little towns full of character, a calm nature conducive to hiking, a territory also turned towards the Deux-Sèvres, with a foot in the Marais. St Benoist . With a rabbit that smokes and ancient commons , this quaint little former port has something for everyone. Read More... The Vendée Revolt was also the setting for " The Frogs and the Lobsters", an episode of the television program Hornblower. It is set during the French Revolutionary Wars and very loosely based on the chapter of the same name in C. S. Forester's novel, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and on the actual ill-fated Quiberon expedition of 1795. [ citation needed] Poire-sur-Velluire-le . A village on the edge of the Marais Poitevin it has an ancient common where locals can graze... Read More...

Jean-Clément Martin, La Terreur, part maudite de la Révolution, coll. Découvertes Gallimard (n° 566), 2010, p.82 Mervent . A pretty village within the Mervent-Vouvant forest this village has some great attractions.... Read More... The department of Vendée has the number 85. It is composed of 3 districts ("arrondissements") , 31 townships ("cantons") and 282 towns ("communes"). The Vendeans won a victory over the revolutionary army led by Santerre at the Battle of Vihiers on 18 July 1793. [33] Battle of Luçon [ edit ] Chaize-Giraud . Small village close to St.Gilles-Croix-de-Vie which has one of the finest examples of roman Poitevin architecture Read More...a b Daileader, Philip and Philip Whalen, French Historians 1900–2000: New Historical Writing in Twentieth-Century France, pp. 105, 107, Wiley 2010 L es Lucs-sur Boulogne . This town 23 kilometres north of La Roche-sur-Yon is the centre for the memoirs of the Wars of the Vendée, Read More... In 1815, when Napoleon escaped exile on Elba for his Hundred Days, the Vendée refused to recognise him and stayed loyal to King Louis XVIII. General Lamarque led 10,000 men into the Vendée to pacify the region. [6] A failed rebellion in the Vendée in 1832 in support of Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, duchess de Berry, the former King Charles X's widowed daughter-in-law, was an unsuccessful attempt to restore the Legitimist Bourbon dynasty during the reign of the Orléanist monarch, King Louis Philippe of the French (1830–1848). The department was attached to the Pays de la Loire in 1960. It was from the 1970s that the Vendée really flourished, with the development of the economy and in particular of tourism, well thought out and efficient. The enhancement of the rail and road transport network, the enhancement of seaside resorts, the growth of businesses, often family-owned and involved in exporting, make it a destination today, but also a pleasant and very promising place to live. Wine is also produced in the area around the communes of Vix, Brem, Pissotte and Mareuil-sur-Lay, and is marketed under the "Fiefs Vendéens" designation. Production quality has improved markedly over recent years, and, having already achieved the classification Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure (VDQS), the wines are on their way towards A.O.C status ( Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée). [13] Industry [ edit ]

The largest cities of the department of Vendée (compared to the number of inhabitants in 2007) are :Foussais-Payre . This is classed as one of the 'Petites Cites de Charactere'. Foussais joined with its neighbour Payre-sur- Vendée in 1968 to form Foussais -Payre but its history dates from Gallo Roman.... Read More....

The department has several small vineyards, around Brem-sur-Mer, Mareuil-sur-Lay-Dissais, Vix, and Pissotte.Driving . By far the largest proportion of visitors choose to drive to the Vendée and you will find the road system here good quality. Hugh Gough, "Genocide & the Bicentenary: the French Revolution and the revenge of the Vendée", Historical Journal, vol. 30, 4, 1987, p. 987. The area today called the Vendée was originally known as the Bas-Poitou and is part of the former province of Poitou. St. Michel-Mont-Mercury . This is the highest point in the Vendée and offers panoramic views from atop the church. Read More...