C'Obs: Disappointments and Delights at St Nazarie

image from : http://visit-saint-nazaire.com/

A couple of misadventures from using an online booking site for accommodation have made me mistrust and unsubscribe this service. The biggest disappointment was at St Nazarie. The sited map showed the place to be a couple of streets back from the beach while in reality it was several 2 laned roundabouts back from the beach- not a pleasant stroll! They said the offer was for superior rooms but it wasn't. The final straw was being desperate for a cuppa after a long day of driving and not being able to get one. I have since bought a travel kettle which will accompany every trip to the continent from now on. The pool was small and cold and the food average at best.

We arrived after the kitchen closed so went for a drive to find a take away place so we could have frites on the plage for tea. All down the whole length of the beach houses had their shutters up, there were a couple of people with their kids, a couple of police cars, one bar open and a churros van on the promenade. We drove around and found a lock into a small harbour and a row of eateries facing it. We chose an american burger place - one guy on the grill and a packed restaurant meant we really enjoyed the food by the time our name was called. We watched the bridge go up a couple of times and wondered if the huge concrete structures around he edge of the harbour were submarine bunkers.

Lock to the right let in little fishing boats as we ate our chippies. Sub pens to the left and ship yards opposite.

A brochure back at the hotel offered une experience inoubliable at the Base Sous-Marine. We thought in English this means an unforgettable experience at the submarine base. The next day two of us went off to Escal' Atlantic L'adventure ds paquebots (something about Adventures on Cruise ships). As you can tell by my lame interpretation of the French - the girls were not interested. They chose to lie around by the pool and ended up by having to entertain a 3yr old keen to talk to them - so much for the handsome flirty French boyfriends. Mind you the little men start young because he fed the girls all his family's sweet, sweet strawberries each time one of his conversations was attended and satisfactorily replied to.

Meanwhile we went to perhaps the best maritime interactive museum ever. An Atlantic cruise ship was built in one of the submarine bays and used enormous screens and collections of furniture and fittings from decommissioned boats to take us on a tour of a typical liner from the 50s. Standing on the stern deck the sound of rushing water and a slight breeze, with real water being pumped like a wake below and a massive screen showing a presenttion of a ship wake with a full moon made it all feel very realistic. At the end of the tour of the kitchens, steerage (emigrants quarters) and Premier class, engine rooms and wheel house and a film presentation of French line History, we were lowered off the 'ship' on a lifeboat and sortied out to the shop. Although photography was not allowed a U tube film has allowed me to sneak some stills. images from : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIWBDxNBHRM

Looking out from the stern.

Captain on the bridge.

On top of the sub bunkers the council has set out posters of the towns history and what they hope to do in the future. The port has always been the centre of the town where it's traditional craft has been cruise liner building. WWII is responsible for the sub pens and much of what happened there was banned from the Media by W.Churchill for the sake of British morale. St Nazarie was an evacuation point like Dunkirk, later the Nazis sunk an allied ship, Lancastria, off the coast taking 4000 lives down with it. It was the single biggest maritime loss of life in UK history. A small monument has been built facing out to sea to commemorate this event. The U-boat pens were built over a couple of years and have 3m thick concrete reinforced ceilings.The allies sent in 600 Commandos with an old US boat full of explosives. They blew it up in the lock to stop the U-boats getting in and out. Only 200 of the men made it back to the UK, 300ish were captured and kept as prisoners of war for the the duration and the rest died. U-boats were still able to operate from the pens as they had another exit so the allies dropped leaflets to the civilians for three days telling them to get out of the town as they were going to fire it to the ground. The idea was to stop supply chains to the base and take all the accommodation away. Three days later St Nazarie was flattened. It was the last town in Europe to be liberated after Germany's surrender. It was rebuilt to be functional in the 40's, only little Havana and the docks are as they were before.

Inside the pens

Roof of the pens.

Back of the pens - now housing a dance club, a modern art gallery and the museum - still plenty of space for other ideas!

This ugly little port town is slowly reshaping itself along modern lines thanks to the extra population from the Air bus factory at the end of the docks. The neighboring town and beach of La Baule is a much nicer place to stay. M found the Opinel knife he wanted to buy there. The long beach is lined with apartments and the shops are beachy. Watch out for the little old lady who likes to side swipe people as they parallel park then take off even though she leaves all the trim from one side of her car on the road. Luckily the beamer wasn't damaged. Several locals walked out on the street shaking their heads as she zoomed off.