First, how to pronounce this place? Traditionally the locals – and they should know – pronounced their island as “a” not “x”, but there are not many locals left. The small community of fisher-folk and local residents host a much larger seasonal population of holiday-makers seeking the tranquillity of an unspoiled island habitat, declared a National Conservation Area by the French government in 1975. These visitors, who greatly outnumber the locals, are encouraged to leave nothing behind them but their footprints in the sand. But they have so persistently mispronounced the name of the island as an “x” to chime with Aix-la-Chapelle and Aix-en-Provence that even the locals have abandoned the traditional pronunciation in order to save time and energy. There is a common etymology, however, that transcends pronunciation: Aix comes from the Celtic root word for water.
And water there is hereabouts in plenty. The Ile d’Aix is situated in the middle of a natural bay, the Rade de La Rochelle. As such it has long had strategic importance. For centuries this was the site of naval rivalry between Catholic France and Protestant England: on our morning walking tour we saw the massive fortifications of the Sun King’s engineer Vauban as well as fortlets built in the Napoleonic period. In the afternoon we were to view German submarine shelters from the Second World War. None of this sounds very tranquil, but today it would be hard to imagine a more peaceful place. The Napoleon Museum (pictured) remains a place of nostalgia for the days of gloire: Napoleon spent three nights here between Waterloo and his exile to St Helena. But it is peace and nature that are celebrated here today. And, since we delayed our Zodiac departure until the tide had gone right out, we all left our footsteps on the sand.
