Blog :: Dieppe seen by Peter Avis

A town of four ports | 09/02/2010

Ferry-les-2 The French are funny in lots of ways. They like, for example, to refer to places and peoples by ‘sobriquets’, or nicknames. So every French person (but hardly any British person) knows that l’Hexagone is another word for France : just take a look at the atlas and notice how France is more or less an eight-sided shape.

Britons are often referred to ‘les citoyens de Sa Majesté’ (‘citizens of Her Majesty’), even though some of us may be republicans.

Towns have their nicknames, too. If you read the local press, you will see that Dieppe is often referred to as ‘la ville de Duquesne’: Abraham Duquesne was a local boy made good who became a great seafarer and vice-admiral of the fleet of King Louis XIV. See his statue on the Place Nationale.

Another name for Dieppe is ‘la ville aux quatre ports’. Centuries ago, Dieppe was the premier seaport of France; now it has been left far behind by Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes, Le Havre, Calais and Dunkerque with their monster infrastructures and facilities. But Dieppe’s four-ports-in-one are still there, and struggling to prosper in these years of economic crisis.

The commercial port is largely empty, though a few decades ago it was the most important port for bananas ending up on French tables; the fishing port is busy (especially with scallops in winter) but on a smaller scale than before; the marina with its tinkling yachts ticks over; and the ferry port is a great survivor: a regular ferry service from Sussex has been kept going on the shortest route between London and Paris (apart from war years) since 1825.

In 2010, Dieppe will be celebrating its four ports with four festivals. The turn of the ferry port will come on Friday 30 July when an Anglo-French cultural and gastronomic event is being planned on the eastern end of the seafront, overlooking the channel where the ferries glide in from the sea.

If Dieppe lost its ports, it would lose its livelihood and lose its soul.

Watch this space for more news of the port festivals this summer.

PS: If you want to add a comment to this blog, please click on the link below: 'ajouter un commentaire'

COMMENTAIRES
par anne briers • 12/06/2010 à 17:31
Hi Peter
ITs anne here remember i visited with craig who died How are you????
I want to visit soon with my friend and i wondered wether you are still in dieppe????

Love Anne
par Stevie • 21/03/2010 à 17:37
Six-sided, rather than eight!