Saturday 16 May 2015

Not Keen on Nantua but Vive la Resistance!

As someone of a perfect disposition (J) who never complains about anything (another J) I have got to say that Nantua, listed in our All the Aires book as a gold-rated site, is one of the worst places we have stayed on our trip. The book says ‘amazing lake/mountain views’ – tick, ‘renovated in 2012’ – tick, ‘lots of shops’ – no tick. Yes the views were spectacular but that is where the ‘fabulous’ ends and the ‘hideous’ starts.
Deceptively gorge view
Nowhere did it mention the TGV track directly behind the parking that carried a noisy high speed train along it every 20 minutes or so; neither did it mention the incredibly tight spacing for the 13 slots provided (no chance to get the awning out here) or, even worse, the gangs of youths spinning their cars around (again at high speed) at midnight whilst their girlfriends screamed excitedly as they squeezed between the vans. Annoyingly, our usually barky dog Hugo was so pooped from his poop sniffing that he failed to raise even the slightest of snuffles. And as for the ‘lots of shops’, every second shop was for sale or rent. I should have realised we were in trouble when we couldn't find a boulangerie and Lidl didn’t even have a hot bread section. Quelle horreur!
Tighter than a tight thing
The saving grace of the town was the small but well put together Musee de la Resistance which told the tale of the Maquis in the Ain region, the assistance given by SOE (Special Operations Executive) parachutists in the war, the Vichy, and the terrible story of the Jews, many of them children, who were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. In fact the enthusiastic chap at the museum told me his father had been on one of the deportee trains and only survived by jumping off and running to safety in the mountains. One of the tableaux is actually narrated by a man called Patterson who is the very soldier depicted in the scene. There are several plaques around the town marking the spots where locals were shot by the Germans which shows how active the Resistance was in this area.

It was chilling to see a Gestapo uniform behind a piece of glass but the most unsettling artefact I saw was a Hitler Youth Drum, the upright kind that you hit with two sticks on either side. Maybe it was the thought of this dreadful ideology being ‘drummed into’ the young so it could be carried into our future. Thankfully not.

But back to the site, I can only say that the only positive (apart from the view) was that the police were obviously so embarrassed by the place that they did not come and collect the 7.50 euro charge. Hoorah! Off to the vineyards. 

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