Destination: Saint Pierre et Miquelon (part one)

In my last post I related how it was that St Pierre and Miquelon was a travel destination I had thought about for a very long time (see post of 17-August-09.) I had often tried planning a visit to this little bit of France in North America, but the trip had not happened for one reason or another. Last year however we had enough frequent flyer miles to obtain a free flight there. I also found a travel agent in St John’s, Newfoundland, who put together the travel package that we liked for a very interesting price. It included a car with unlimited mileage, the trip to St Pierre and Miquelon with accommodation there and a week roaming around Newfoundland staying at small inns along the way.

Postcard - photo by Jean-Luc Drake

We flew from Atlanta to St John’s with a stop in Toronto. A car was waiting for us and we drove to the hotel downtown St John’s. It was dark and we got lost but finally arrived at Delta Hotel St John’s. Next morning we left on our way to Fortune on the Burin Peninsula, the embarkation town for the ferry going to St Pierre. As soon as we left St John’s we felt that we were far away from civilization with hardly any vehicles on the TransCanada highway. This was raw wilderness - full of large boulders, lakes, low balsam and aspen trees, a couple of curious moose along the road, more green meadows and no houses. Grandiose landscape surrounded us. (Click on the pictures to enlarge them.)




We stopped one night at a Bed and Breakfast in little Marystown where the hostess was from Liverpool, England. The next day after lunch in yet another little town we arrived in Fortune at the ferry dock. This was 21-August 2008, exactly a year ago today. We were a bit early and had to wait for a couple hours on the windy wharf before we could embark on the Atlantic Jet, a hydrofoil which makes the trip to St Pierre in an hour.

The sea was rough but when we arrived it did look like somewhere in France. The gendarmes (policemen) were there with their flat-top képis and the French flag, bien sûr. A minivan was waiting to take us to our hotel which was not far but up a very steep hill. We then walked back down the hill to the main area, called Place du Général de Gaulle who came to St Pierre in 1967 and made a speech in this square. I did not take a picture of this square but here is a stamp showing “la Place.”


Across the square is the Alsatian style post office with its early 20th century praying monk style roof. Upstairs is the stamp collecting area which is called “philatélie” in France.


Stamps started being made in St Pierre et Miquelon in 1885 as a means to add extra surcharge on French stamps. In 1909 they started their own stamps with the picture of a fisherman. (see below.)


First mention of the islands was from the Portuguese in 1520. In 1536 Jacques Cartier claimed the archipelago in the name of the King of France. Settlements of Europeans in St Pierre et Miquelon dates from the 16th century and are some of the oldest in North America. A large segment of the people is from the Basques regions in Spain and France, the rest from Normandy and Brittany . We were there at the beginning of the yearly Basque festival where there is folk dancing, pelote Basque (paleta game) contests, games of force with continuous entertainment and food available. It was a beautiful day and we certainly did not believe we were in North America. Below is the fronton Basque which is the high wall used in playing the Basque game pelote and a postcard of the Basque festival.




St Pierre et Miquelon islands are part of the French Territorial Collectivity. The islands are 4500 kms from Paris (approx 2800 miles) and 26 kms (16 miles) from the coast of Newfoundland , and have 2 mains islands, St Pierre, which has about 6700 inhabitants and then Miquelon , which can be reached by boat (1 hr) with 700 inhabitants. Other islands are Langlade (with summer residents, but no running water or electricity) and 4 more little islands. Many French government employees work there and get quite an additional pay for being so far away – so there are a lots of them, and they work less hours. They are on temporary assignment and count for about 1/3 of the inhabitants. English is spoken more – in hotels and restaurants and shops, than in Quebec . The accent is either like standard French or close to the Norman accent for the native St-Pierrais and not as pronounced as in Quebec. St Pierre is the smaller island at the bottom of this postcard.


Just listening to all the French being spoken made me feel at home as well as seeing the bistros, cafes, bars, little restaurants, great smelling bakeries, impeccable politeness of the shop keepers and the Gallic joie de vivre. The charming harbor, the brightly colored houses with narrow streets radiating uphill are an invitation to stroll. But watch out - you cannot bring your car on the ferry, but the local French drivers are there in their Peugeot and Renault speeding in the little streets.


Pictures of the Cannons established in the 19th century as a precautionary measure during the Crimean War, and the Pointe aux Canons automated lighthouse.




One thing is the same as in France – only one church or cathedral to serve the whole town. Indeed Saint-Pierre Cathedral, built in the style of Basque churches, sits in the middle of town. The 100 years old stain glass windows were a gift of Général de Gaulle and unveiled during his 1967 visit. There is one mass on Sunday and we peeked in to see how many people were attending. Since there were so few I could count them – 51 worshippers (including some tourists). This is typical of a French town of 6000 or 7000 people and reaffirmed that I was not in the US or Canada.



Something peculiar to St Pierre though are the front doors, called “tambours” which protrude into the street and provide a place to brush snow from your clothes and shoes in winter.




We did think (for just an instant) that we might like to see all these colorful doors in winter, but after looking at some of the pictures of St Pierre in the snow our southern blood started to coagulate.

Pictures courtesy Jean-Luc Drake

Our tour package included a little tour of St Pierre and it took us on top of a hill where I took some panoramic pictures. (Don't forget to click on pictures to enlarge them.)



We could see the ghost village of the Ile aux Marins (Fishermen Island) across the bay and decided to go there and visit it next (to be continued.)