The largest estuary in Europe is the Gironde.
There are several islands in the center, some are private, others are open to the public.
None are inhabited year-round, which preserves their wild character.
At the age of 88, Jacques owns the island as well as an amazing building. Without a pontoon, landing on this small piece of land is already an adventure. After a few minutes’ walk, he shows us his second home, the 17th-century fortress Vauban, where everything is original. It is a building and island that his father bought from the French state in 1948, but today the fortress needs regular maintenance. Jacques and his family no longer have the strength to take care of it. One overlooking the estuary, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, needs some work.
This island for sale is part of a little-known archipelago. A group of nine islands in the heart of the Gironde estuary. We enter the ghost village, a timeless, almost 40-year-abandoned place where David spent his childhood. He is one of the last students on the island. Between the islands we meet our neighbors on a boat. It’s life in Europe’s largest estuary, even though no one now lives year-round on these islands of the Gironde archipelago.