The rolling-screen on the train informed us that we'd be arriving in St. Nazaire at 12h57. We looked out the window and saw: a sewage works, an oil refinery, gasworks, a motorway and a nuclear power station. Looking at my phone, I saw the time was 12:57. Welcome to St. Nazaire:
Firstly, the 20% chance of rain forecast was a lie. It drizzled for almost the whole day. Walking towards the beach was cold, damp and miserable. The scenic route to the coast went through an industrial estate, past a derelict supermarket and a demolition site. When we finally arrived at the sweeping sandy beach this was the sight/site that greeted us:
Not a single person on the beach, howling wind, driving rain, and not even any cosy seafront cafés to hide in. Just a vast, miserable expanse of grey.
After the disappointment of the beach, we headed towards the town centre. Which, again, was dreary and dreadful. There was a whole row of funeral directors and stonemasons (every sign you can see in the photo is a funeral directors, except for the Axa one - life insurance):
We did eventually find a relatively-new shopping centre, but it was just the chains which seem to be in every town in France, and they've all got branches in Nantes anyway. The highlight of the whole trip was seeing the Airbus boat, which they use to transport the fuselage sections of the A380 from Germany to France. The factory in St. Nazaire makes further parts of the fuselage, before it gets shipped down to Toulouse where it al gets pieced together. Think Airfix, but on a much grander scale.
To summarise, never go to St. Nazaire. I will be actively avoiding it for the rest of my life, and urge other people to do the same.
Ohh I wish you would have told me where you were going yesterday AM! I would have warned you about the 'beauty' of this place. It sounds like you guys made the best of it so good for you! Oh, and by the way, the chocolate covered marshmallows make the Marche de Noel to DIE for. Try them!
ReplyDeleteHmph! You and whoever you went with should have come to Les Sables d'Olonne! We had a pretty dry weekend and I just came back from walking along the beach in the sun.
ReplyDeleteNot to rub it in.
It's all culture, no matter which way you look at it. I went to Frankfurt once, though, and had a pretty similar experience. We went on a river cruise backwards and forwards past a car breakers yard. Some places just aren't meant to be visited by outsiders. Think yourself lucky that you have found one and know to avoid it in the future.
ReplyDelete