[kalib_tweli]

Funny enough I'm on my way to Noirmoutier right now. My wife's family has a house there on the northeast side of the island near where a lot of the oldest houses are. The Passage du Gois is very convenient when driving from Paris because it saves you about 40 minutes. Otherwise you need to take the bridge. The problem is that it's only for about an hour during low tide. It's peppered with towers for those unwise enough to overstay their welcome too. Happens every once in a while. You'll often find people parked all along the Passage hunting for mussels.

The town definitely has rules about how your home must look (if it's a new construction). Old houses don't though.

The town definitely empties out during the colder months but my wife and I still enjoy going there because it beats city living. Also they installed fiber optic internet not too long ago. Since we WFH, we try to go there as often as possible.

The chimneys are likely real but sealed because of climate change related rules.

There's also a castle that dates back to the 12th century built to protect monks from vikings. They've recently finished some restoration work there too.