Oysters and vacationers in Arcachon Bay

By Legacy User

August 18, 2012

2 minutes to read

This windswept spit of pine-studded sand on France’s Atlantic coast near Bordeaux features a narrow, 15-mile-long cape anchored by a speck of a village called Cap Ferret, hovering between bay and ocean.
The Arguin sandbar at the foot of the bay-front Pilat Dune, the highest sand dune in Europe at 350 feet.
The real enchantment here is all about oysters, slurped raw with a spritz of lemon juice and chased with a fat glass of crisp local white wine.
An oyster farmer threw full bags of oysters onto racks in the Arcachon Bay.
Some 315 families own the oyster beds that pepper the bay.
Bigger outfits welcome visitors with boat tours of their oyster beds and tastings.
A 45-mile trail links the villages along Arcachon Bay.
The entire oceanfront is a protected area of forests and beaches, and draconian zoning laws preserve the fragile ecosystem from rampant development.
With only one main road, biking is definitely the transportation of choice here.
Municipal laws state properties in these villages are reserved for those who work the sea. It’s a way of ensuring affordable housing for locals in places where land values have skyrocketed over the past decade.
Teich Bird Reserve and Nature Center is a birder’s paraise. For daily bird updates and access map, check the website.<br><br>
Admission $9 adults, $6 children. www.parc-ornithologique-du-teich.com
The reserve is located in the cul du bassin (politely translated as “the bay’s rear end’’) in Le Teich, where the Leyre River forms a saltwater delta.
Hotel Ville D’Hiver, in Arcachon, is posh and calm. It was installed in the former waterworks of Arcachon’s Winter City.<br><br>
Rooms $170-$293. www.hotelvilledhiver.com
The hotel also has a pool in the reservoir of the former waterworks.
More Parisians are coming down to the bay, much to the chagrin of some natives, who have kept their vacation playground under-the-radar for years.
This area’s 250 plots, sold off by the state in 1908 for, as the French say, “a bite of bread,’’ are now among the most expensive real estate in France.