It was not exactly in the middle of nowhere. It was almost in the centre of the Europe. The bus took us there from Geneva and in 5 hours we found ourselves in a place that was not like any places I’ve ever been…or shall I say – not like a place I would ever go on my own will…
Imagine a village with one long street (Long enough to take 30 min of walking from one end of it to another). Now imagine this long street ends with the high hill. Draw the houses on the both side of the long street and then – houses sitting on the hill in whirling fashion, like a 3D shell shape with the tail. You now know how Saint Nectaire looks like.
It is truly a one-street village. Squeezed in between two hills in such a narrow gorge, in some places you just walk along the rocks, as there is no space for houses. Some time ago it was a posh resort. They used to have the wells of natural mineral water, so the richest used to come here to improve their health. These days are long gone now and there are only few reminders left from the splendour of the past. The buildings show tear and wear and the former places with the mineral water tabs turned off, overgrown with the ivy and look somewhat dilapidated. And so is life in St Nectaire. There seems to be no future for the village, the mineral wells have been closed some time ago when the government support fund dried out and with him – the mineral water. No more tourists coming down this way, as frankly, St Nectaire hasn’t got that much to offer. It is a nice couple-of-hours stop on your way if you happened to drive through the Auverge. But there isn’t enough to see there even for one day stay.
Now with my history of wild travelling one can trust me easily when I say: I was a genuine prisoner of St Nectaire. I couldn’t get out of there and it was literally. We arrived there late evening, so we didn’t realise where we got ourselves into until next morning. We took a stroll along the street all hopeful in search of local treasures…we walked to the sign on the road that say St Nectaire and it was crossed. And even then we didn’t believe that this is it. We climbed the hill belted with the rings of lonely houses, we reached the roman church on top of the hill and from there our eyes confirmed what our minds already feared…it was one hour since we left hotel and we have seen all of the Saint Nectaire.
Don’t get me wrong – it is very nice village. It is picturesque and I suspect was once a lively resort – they even have a casino building there still equipped with the few game machines. We found one local shop, one pharmacy and one post office. Four patisseries and about eight hotels, mostly with the shut windows, run out of business and probably with the owners run away.
That was still the moment when we said: ok, we can travel somewhere else tomorrow and just visit other places of the region. And we found a tourist information office where we’ve been promptly advised: the village does have a bus service to and from the nearest town of Clermon-Ferrand. Well, the bus goes to the town on Monday’s morning and comes back from the town…on Friday’s evening…woooopssss…we were stuck there for a week and this time it was serious. We’ve noticed the château in about 5 km of St Nectaire. We tried to get a taxi for few hours to visit it. (now this was the moment when my laughter turned from sarcastic one to the hysterical): they did have a taxi, unfortunately the day we needed it all taxi was fully booked! I strongly suspect they have just one taxi otherwise how do you explain such an odd situation when in the town of few houses and dozen hotels you have to book your taxi well in advance?!
And so I was literally imprisoned between the rocks. And I can do idle holidays of course, but only for a day or day and a half. And after that I will die. But I survived (otherwise you won’t be reading this) I diligently spread the “load” through the week “evenly” – only allowing me one little trip a day.
Imagine a village with one long street (Long enough to take 30 min of walking from one end of it to another). Now imagine this long street ends with the high hill. Draw the houses on the both side of the long street and then – houses sitting on the hill in whirling fashion, like a 3D shell shape with the tail. You now know how Saint Nectaire looks like.
It is truly a one-street village. Squeezed in between two hills in such a narrow gorge, in some places you just walk along the rocks, as there is no space for houses. Some time ago it was a posh resort. They used to have the wells of natural mineral water, so the richest used to come here to improve their health. These days are long gone now and there are only few reminders left from the splendour of the past. The buildings show tear and wear and the former places with the mineral water tabs turned off, overgrown with the ivy and look somewhat dilapidated. And so is life in St Nectaire. There seems to be no future for the village, the mineral wells have been closed some time ago when the government support fund dried out and with him – the mineral water. No more tourists coming down this way, as frankly, St Nectaire hasn’t got that much to offer. It is a nice couple-of-hours stop on your way if you happened to drive through the Auverge. But there isn’t enough to see there even for one day stay.
Now with my history of wild travelling one can trust me easily when I say: I was a genuine prisoner of St Nectaire. I couldn’t get out of there and it was literally. We arrived there late evening, so we didn’t realise where we got ourselves into until next morning. We took a stroll along the street all hopeful in search of local treasures…we walked to the sign on the road that say St Nectaire and it was crossed. And even then we didn’t believe that this is it. We climbed the hill belted with the rings of lonely houses, we reached the roman church on top of the hill and from there our eyes confirmed what our minds already feared…it was one hour since we left hotel and we have seen all of the Saint Nectaire.
Don’t get me wrong – it is very nice village. It is picturesque and I suspect was once a lively resort – they even have a casino building there still equipped with the few game machines. We found one local shop, one pharmacy and one post office. Four patisseries and about eight hotels, mostly with the shut windows, run out of business and probably with the owners run away.
That was still the moment when we said: ok, we can travel somewhere else tomorrow and just visit other places of the region. And we found a tourist information office where we’ve been promptly advised: the village does have a bus service to and from the nearest town of Clermon-Ferrand. Well, the bus goes to the town on Monday’s morning and comes back from the town…on Friday’s evening…woooopssss…we were stuck there for a week and this time it was serious. We’ve noticed the château in about 5 km of St Nectaire. We tried to get a taxi for few hours to visit it. (now this was the moment when my laughter turned from sarcastic one to the hysterical): they did have a taxi, unfortunately the day we needed it all taxi was fully booked! I strongly suspect they have just one taxi otherwise how do you explain such an odd situation when in the town of few houses and dozen hotels you have to book your taxi well in advance?!
And so I was literally imprisoned between the rocks. And I can do idle holidays of course, but only for a day or day and a half. And after that I will die. But I survived (otherwise you won’t be reading this) I diligently spread the “load” through the week “evenly” – only allowing me one little trip a day.
More to come…