Elsien's Traveblogue

The amazing shapes of La Grande Motte

When La Grande Motte was built in the 70s and 80s, lots of people hated it: the enormous pyramid-like buildings were not like the French seaside resorts they had come to expect, with palm-lined promenades, a cute little marina, remnants of a little fishing port, maybe, a few classy hotels … It was far too futuristic and plebeian: ordinary French working-class tourists had money and wanted to go on a seaside holiday too, but couldn't afford Nice, Cannes, Saint-Tropez, Biarritz where the rich went, so more and more of them went to the Costa Brava.
La Grande Motte had to become a democratic beach resort, fit for mass tourism, to keep the French in France, but not like the resorts in Spain. The architect Jean Balladur created his pyramids, inspired by the Mexican ones he had studied, at an angle to the coast, to break the normal hierarchy of expensive apartments with sea views and the cheaper ones on the second row. It must have been a massive job, because before the area was part of Mauguio, where the airport is, and was basically just mosquito-infested marshes. Like I said, lots of people hated the futuristic result, including me. I remember going there in the 1980's when it was just finished and thought it was kind of amazing, but nothing would ever induce me to stay there.

View through the dunes

Now, however, it's really popular and we have got used to futuristic building : the Parisian La Défense, London's Pineapple and Shard and Montpellier's own Antigone have won architectural awards and look rather stylish.
La Grande Motte has amazing sandy beaches, separated from the beach path by dunes. You can walk or cycle the path (the road is a little further up) and every few meters you get a through view to the beach and the Mediterranean.
 
When we went on Saturday before Easter, it was a bright, but windy day. Most tourists had obviously decided to spend this last weekend of March in the Alps, last skiing holiday of the year, or were busy doing their Easter shopping, so the beach was empty. We had lunch outside a restaurant, but towards the end of the meal we got some raindrops and it was too windy to let the sun shades down, so we finished a little hurriedly - no coffee for me! - and walked back along the path, which was a little more sheltered than the beach. The beach was even more deserted! I love beaches out of season!
In summer you have to come early, but there are still stretches that do not get too crowded.