(Ville de St. Pierre, St. Pierre & Miquelon, France)
France once had an extensive North American empire. While its cultural footprint remains, New France is now represented territorially only by the islands of St. Pierre & Miquelon. The islands form a self-governing overseas territory of France, having a population of just 6,000 people, located about 25 km off the coast of Newfoundland. It changed hands many times over the years, most recently passing back into the possession of France in 1816. While much of the population claims French descent (particularly from Normandy and Brittany), there is also a significant Basque presence.
I have long wondered what it would be like to visit this most remote piece of Europe. The stars finally aligned this year and we were able to carve out enough time to make it happen. It does take some planning: other than prohibitively expensive flights, the only public access is by ferry from the village of Fortune, Newfoundland. The ferry runs about once per day in each direction during the “high season” (roughly June to September). If you’re lucky and the weather cooperates, the trip itself takes about an hour.
But the port of Fortune is by no means easy to reach. It takes more than two hours to get there from Goobies (yes, that’s the name), the nearest access point on the Trans-Canada Highway. Even Goobies is remote; it is a couple of hours west on the Trans-Canada Highway from St. John’s. All of this must be done by private vehicle: there is no public transportation. I kept an eye out for, but failed to see, the legendary moose population of Newfoundland. Already this year, there have been more than 660 moose-motor vehicle accidents in Newfoundland.
After parking the car in Fortune, we boarded “Le Cabestan” and looked forward to a scenic ocean journey to France. This did not happen. We were expecting to combat any potential seasickness by staying outside during the crossing (because of our Icelandic adventure). Alas, for safety reasons, passengers were not allowed outside the ferry’s cabin.
Sure enough, as soon as we left Fortune’s harbour, the boat started rocking. Most of the motion was “up and down” rather than “side to side” but the crew were quickly handing out lots of paper towels and white paper bags. The seats were creaking from the dramatic lurches every couple of seconds. We closed our eyes for virtually the entire journey, hoping that it would be easier on our brains if they didn’t have to deal with the visual disorientation as well.
Everything finally settled down about 90 minutes later when we reached St. Pierre. The flags of France and the European Union greeted us as we disembarked and headed into an old building marked “Douane”. After being processed by the authorities and receiving a very rare St. Pierre & Miquelon passport stamp, we were in France! Check out the colourful “main street” in the photo at the top of this post.
Many countries in Latin America use both their own currency and another foreign currency (usually American dollars). However, St. Pierre & Miquelon proudly uses the Euro…and only the Euro. Neglect to bring Euros at your peril! The time is also set one half-hour ahead of Newfoundland time. And despite its proximity to English-speaking Newfoundland, your trip to St. Pierre & Miquelon will be easier if you are able to speak at least some French. Any efforts at speaking the language, no matter how inept, will be greeted warmly.
Even though it took a bit of preparation, we had a great time in St. Pierre & Miquelon. My next couple of posts will go into much more detail about the unique experiences we had in this fascinating piece of “Overseas Europe”.