48 DEPARTURES WELL-KEPT SECRET ised me inaphone call afew days before. taking, justasPhilippe Starck hadprom surfer-friendly beachesthere are breath peninsula. And the views ofthe wild, on the Atlantic sideoftheLège-Cap-Ferret (the Green Thing). Building is forbidden observation post—to Plage Le Truc Vert of World WarGerman II—a dune, walking pastaneon-graffitied relic needle-and-sand floor to climba steep road near agrove oftalltrees with apine- side of the ever-changing body of water. to Pyla-sur-Mer, its analogue on the other ute drive from Cap Ferret, a resort village, ’s Atlantic coast,Itook the90-min tidal water anhour west ofBordeaux on d’, a vast, triangular body of byPhotographsTézenas Ambroise and Pyla-sur-Mer. a new era for seasidetowns CapFerret their historic innshasquietly ushered in The Un-St.-Tropez ON MY SECOND DAY Just outsideCapFerret, Ipulledoffthe on the Bassin blockhaus by Michael Gross - - - beached boats, is anchored by the quaint ded with oyster-bed pickets andlisting, ties with eachlow tideto mudflatsstud The of thebestplacesin world,” hesaid. Bassin d’Arcachon for 40 years. “It’s one the world, Starck haslived near the for my creativity.” piece ofartanda very strong inspiration over theforest and thebig waves. It was a room atthetop, allinglass, with a view haus, have a lot of money, so she rented a Arcachon with my mother. We didnot very young, I went to thecoast northof I was that specialplace:“When very, said his protean talentsspringfrom Although he now owns homes around Starck, theFrench starchitect-designer, A revival of bassin, justabigstaircase with ahuge or lagoon, which partly emp

block

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and it makes it pretty wonderful.” said Starck. “Mix that with theelements ity, French intelligence, French balance,” bassin national habituéscouldn’t appreciate the and St.-Tropez. Their heat-seeking inter St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (with an hidden in the glare of Riviera resorts like beginning of everything.” it’s virgin. Ilove theideaofliving atthe “Every night,itdisappears. Every day, bank between the bay and the Atlantic. go to theBanc d’Arguin,” ashiftingsand of thousands years. Itake my boatand primordial soup—the samefor hundreds themudis Starck continued,“because closely held and revered by the French. two elite towns remain semi-secrets, summer resort, where Starck lives. Those ret, aformer fishing village turnedbustling land where we’d parked endsatCapFer bay, opposite thedune,narrow head tallest sandduneinEurope. Across the nestled beneath the Dune du Pilat, the sur-Mer, a quiet, exclusive community The shoreline thenswoops southto Pyla- Victorian-era resort town of Arcachon. du Pilat. sits next to the Dune Left: L’Île aux Oiseaux. degustation tour near Above: For decades,Pyla andCapFerret were “It’s magicalbecauseofthelagoon,” La Co(o)rniche ’s essential allure. “It’s French qual An oyster a ), Cannes, ), Cannes, - - - - - WELL-KEPT SECRET DISPATCHES DEPARTURES 49

​ ​ - ​capferret (from $210; Club Club

​dubassin Maison du Bassin Maison market; a guest a guest market; La at room Co(o)rniche. From top: From in Pereire, Plage sunset; at Arcachon, in hats selling man a Ferret Cap the from $360; hotel-cote from Ha(a)ïtza (

maison and added boutiques and and added boutiques and ) just off the beach in the center just off the beach in the center ) And a Bordelais TV producer over producer TV And a Bordelais ). Around the same time the son of the the same time the son of the Around water and transform it into the nautical- the it into and transform water hotel boutique chic (from la $140; .com open the 15-room to came local resistance Sable Côté Hôtel sable​.com the when 2017, In summer village. of the -Montparnasse from train fast TGV now the spa-hotel the spa-hotel now haaitza.com both. to dining fine inspiredwas chairman group’s hotel Accor the across house wooden old an buy to - - from $300; lacoorniche-from (

The new proprietors expanded proprietors The new ). to renovate it. renovate to He had an instinctual vision for the the vision for had an instinctual He shallow bay. Starck was lured across the across lured was Starck bay. shallow bassin do the minimum. Be hum “Just hotel. he decided. done,” and it’s ble, disappear, oh!— view—oh! the to reaction His as of the hotel the rebranding inspired La Co(o)rniche pyla.com neo- Pyla’s bought 2016, in and, 2013 in it from Haïtza, hotel, 2 No. Basque-style daugh Starck’s hired They Gaumes. the what’s of with the redesign help to Ara ter with matchless views that encompassed views with matchless and the Dune du Pilat, the Banc d’Arguin, calm, ocean and raging of intersection the - - - ) and ) and e —an ideal environment for pro for —an ideal environment But while Cap Ferret (with an (with Cap Ferret while But up in Pyla, but the chalet-style former former but the chalet-style up in Pyla, location, priceless a had lodge hunting ers, the Gaume family, who founded Pyla. founded who family, the Gaume ers, environs its tired, was 80, at Corniche, La grew who Sophie, said abandoned,” bit “a when William Téchouyeres, a locally a locally Téchouyeres, William when Sophie, wife, and his star, born rugby its own from leased one of those hotels ducing 60 percent of the oysters con of the oysters ducing 60 percent aging hotels few sumed in France—their the mimosa- until, in 2010, luster lacked That’s blossom. to began region scented Pyla have always had natural beauty beauty had natural always have Pyla in their source food and a bounteous bassin 50 DEPARTURES DISPATCHES WELL-KEPT SECRET Canet own a home there. Canet own ahome there. Marion Cotillard anddirector Guillaume zone for the rich and famous. The actress gentry and,more recently, apaparazzi-free long been abolt-hole for the Bordelais Cap Ferret feels more isolated and has and shops of Arcachon, is more Parisian; France, as well asthediverse restaurants easier accessto andtherest of Ferret flashy. Pyla, onthemainland, with the before thatrugby player invited himacross Starck hadnever even spenttimeinPyla tary opposites thatattract different types. agascar pepper. nibbled, sprinklingour oysters with Mad Pyla, we watched the tide come in as we At La 12Zen in La Teste-de-Buch, near tation rosé—in themany unpretentious “ of crisplocal white wine andBordeaux homemade mayonnaise, pâté, and glasses with rosy crevettes, the freshest baguettes, moments before they’re served—along either. They are pulledfrom the climb the dune. Oysters are never far, been: Visitors cometo thebeachand over two hours, the reduced travel timeto Bordeaux to just Cap Ferret andPyla are complemen The main attraction is what it’s always bassin ” cabins clustered along the coast. . Residents ofPyla consider Cap bassin was reborn. was bassin dégus - - -

planning to openabed-and-breakfast. But in SoHo, who grew upinthearea andis ative director oftheFrédéric Fekkai salon to change,” predicted Fabrice Gili,cre constantly evolving. “Things are going maintained vintage cars. They are also weekend traffic; pastel clothes; well- mon with their American counterparts: resorts dohave somethings incom Hamptons or Nantucket, theseFrench Often compared, inexactly, to the of La Co(o)rniche. Above: la Mer in Arcachon. along Boulevard de Left: Bicycle paths The exterior

- - with allthese wealthy people,” grumbled ing CapFerret “very fashionable today and tourism followed inthe ’60s, mak Beach ofthe Americans. Development setting upa base on what’s now called the Americans—soldiers—arrived in 1918, the priciestreal estate in France. The first Hectares,called Les44 it’s now someof tioned offlandatthepeninsula’s tip; bare-bones cabins.In1908,France auc only fishermenandhunters, who built parative late bloomer, initially attracting divisions in the pines by the dune. and, later, Pilat-Plage, both luxurioussub real estate investor to create Pyla-sur-Mer engineering officeandpartnered with a fortune. After World War I,heopened an tinkerer, arrived in Arcachon seeking his the celebrated and artistic. or oyster farming.Inevitably, italsodrew Napoleon III encouraged its by theseaair andtemperate climate. victims ofpulmonary disorders, attracted 1857. Barely populated, it was ahaven for Tropez?—is really anyone’s guess. the future—more ofthesame, or more St.- Less accessible,CapFerret was acom In 1910, LouisGaume,a23-year-old Arcachon became a winter resort in ostréiculture, - - - -

WELL-KEPT SECRET DISPATCHES DEPARTURES 51 ------’s owner, owner, ’s . People stay in stay . People Calistoga style simple built by 220-year-old Dubour 220-year-old built by ’s visual signatures, Les Cabanesvisual signatures, ’s bassin But neither is it like the tired old days, days, old tired the like it is neither But We cruised past the fisherman’s village fisherman’s the past cruised We ermen,” she said with a sigh. “Cap Fer she said ermen,” can’t they Now Bordelais. all once was ret fam in their the properties keep to afford like not “It’s says, Fort Linxe Still, ilies.” It’s St.-Tropez. don’t They barbecues. do They villas. their themselves.” show very, is she added. “This side is smart. Pyla smart.” very bottomed, shallow-draft pine craft craft pine shallow-draft bottomed, boarded We waters. these designed for Calistoga, ship still-active oldest France’s dieu, aux L’Île cruised to We Arcachon. in yard, of home Birds, the of Island or Oiseaux, the built stilts on cabins two Tchanquées, beds. oyster guard to in Cap Ferret. lives Fort, Linxe Muriel admit she summer,” in much so not “But people.” “becauseted, many too “butfish no more are there at L’Herbe, - - - - expe moules the flat- bassin in an open-air in an open-air pinasse, bassin, at L’Escale on the Jetée Bélisaire, on the Jetée at L’Escale But the quintessential quintessential the But In Cap Ferret, we gorged on gorged we In Cap Ferret, And we did. At the morning market the morning market At did. we And for dinner at an Arcachon institution,Arcachon at an dinner for Pierre.Chez rience is a ride on a village of Le Moulleau, Bar de l’Oubli has de l’Oubli Bar of Le Moulleau, village cof and croissants for terrace a congenial of Notre- Church with the Byzantine fee backdrop. a as Dame-des-Passes frites the In Pyla, dock. ferries where pier a long Co(o)rniche at La minimalist pool terrace the cozy a lunch of shellfish, is best for din heartier is best for Ha(a)ïtza Café Arcachon to drive And the short fare. ner at lunch on the beach it for worth is well and Pereire Club Plage the summer-only in Cap Ferret, we picked up bread, fruit, up bread, picked we in Cap Ferret, and cheese. with herbs, delectable ham strip the commercial away, blocks few A chic bou and a few restaurants, has cafés, tiques. Across the of the small center pedestrian mall in the - - Cap Ferret. Cap A view of the of view A “Our family is deeply in love with the in love is deeply family “Our Wealth came to Pyla between the wars, wars, the between Pyla to came Wealth from from Bay Arcachon beauty. The best of the Bassin experience the Bassin experience The best of beauty. sides.” both enjoy to is ret from Pyla? Each of them has its dis Pyla? from ret deeply both are they but trait, tinguished natural an overwhelming in rooted Bay of Arcachon” and its “rare quality quality and its “rare Arcachon” of Bay Gaume Nicolas great-grandson of life,” “What me. told Cap Fer differentiates in the 1930s, and his grandson and great- and his grandson in the 1930s, renovate and build still grandchildren villas. Pyla’s of most fashion’s Jeanne Lanvin and the banker and the banker Lanvin Jeanne fashion’s Gaume Philippe de Rothschild. Baron beginning homes and hotels, developed erosion of his land. his of erosion of the likes to Gaume sold homes when evoked equal parts controversy and irony and irony equal parts controversy evoked private building a multimillion-dollar by the natural stop sands to on public dike Benoît Bartherotte to the press in 2016. 2016. in press the to Bartherotte Benoît made himself, Bartherotte character A has He trade. the fashion from wealth his