This was our first trip to this neck of the woods as we heard wonderful things about the cruise ship building here as well as the site of the landing of the American expeditionary force in WWI with Gen Pershing and the famous words “Lafayette we are here” . I am glad to update this post for you and me. We were starting to spread out a bit into outlying areas of our base in the Morbihan. Today we did a quick visit to Saint Nazaire, in dept 44 Loire-Atlantique of the Pays de la Loire region. It is another seldom visited off the beaten path of my belle France, but worth the detour me think.
As we had little time and no plans to visit, we only touch bases by going into the city center/centre ville/downtown area. The usual shopping we do near us ,we did it there this time. That is shopping for the wife, lots lots of it lol!!! then shopping for the kids lots of it, and little for me as I do the driving slave slave slave lol!!! We did purchase some clothings at C&A and pillows ,and household items at GIFI, then went over to see the big centre commercial of Savine, Grand Champs, both full of stores, restaurants amazing place so much in one place all in the neighboring town of Trignac. Of course, it was a rainy day all day long oh well; c’est la vie et la vie est belle!!!
While there we ate at a picturesque restaurant call Poivre & Rouge, in the nearby town of Trignac ,and it was a pleasant surprise with great family welcome, funny folks, great service, and the food was great, had 400 grams steaks, Iberico spanish pork ham, cold cuts and melted camembert cheese, duck maigret steak of 200 grams, and all with grimbergen blonde/blanche beers, cafe gourmand, banana splits, and cheesecake ice cream, strawberries, and another of caramel and apple flavors, all for about 27.80€ per person within our budget! Like I said, we will be back soon. Good. This is a chain but each time less restaurants, the one here and the latter one in Vannes are closed. For the memories, the restos webpage: http://restaurants-grill.poivre-rouge.com/home.asp
We walk the center of Saint Nazaire around the shopping Republique, many nice shops and restos there too, all the way to the Hôtel de Ville or city hall, and pass by the train bus station upon entering the center of town. The buses were working well, even on a rainy windy there, that is still going on by me. Ruban Bleu shopping center for our shopping today; official webpage: https://www.rubanbleu-saintnazaire.com/
On our way back , we just did our groceries at Auchan, heck its only 110 kms from us so on a cool day it was no problems, this is our former hypermarket from the Yvelines(78)! The Shopping Trignac and Auchan hypermarket here for reference: https://trignac.aushopping.com/fr/magasins/shops/auchan-trignac
In all, its a place to combine it with the beaches of La Baule, Pornic, Pornichet etc and do the shopping back here on way back, nice planning, check, noted,written,and schedule. See you around here in summer. Well the real one because today we are already in summer time here lol!!! Those meteologists folks still missing the point rain all day lol!! Need to be back, I will,promise!
The city of Saint Nazaire :https://www.saintnazaire.fr/notre-territoire/our-territory
The Saint Nazaire tourist office: https://www.saint-nazaire-tourisme.uk/
There you go folks, a quick tour of the off the beaten path Saint Nazaire. Hope you enjoy the post and remember, the biggest cruise ships in the world are done here like the Wonder of the Seas!!
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 