Ile d'Yeu

30km/20mi off the Vendée coast is the charming island of Yeu (10km/ 6mi long, 4km/2.5mi across; pop. 4,788), which is reached by boat from Fromentine. The Vieux Château, romantically situated on a crag on the west coast, dates from the 11th C. but was enlarged in the 16th. From the watch tower there is a magnificent view of the Côte Sauvage. Farther down the coast, to the east, is the fishing harbor (crayfish, lobsters) of Port-de-la-Meule. In Port-Joinville, where the ferry from the mainland comes in, is a small museum devoted to Marshal Pétain, who was confined in a cell in Fort Pierre-Levée from 1945 to 1951. He died in 1951 at the age of 96 and was buried in the Port- Joinville cemetery.