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The first dry dock for liners…
What is the symbol of Barcarès? The Lydia, of course, the enormous liner stuck on the sand, the first ship of the resort in the seventies, which now houses a casino, restaurant and discotheque. Long before the Dutch cargo ran aground in Les Sables d’Olonne, it was the only liner of its kind in the world.
Surrealist. A huge white 90 m long ship stuck on the sand: the Lydia, the symbol of Port Barcarès. In the sixties, property developers received the go-ahead to build a new seaside resort, from A to Z, on the stretch of land going towards the North. They were trying to find something to distinguish this town from the other seaside towns, and they chose the Lydia, a former cruise ship, that they ran aground. It was a first on the coast. Around it, 
several buildings sprang up followed by more modest residences, creating the resort that still stands today.
But where did this "stranded liner" come from? The only one of its kind in the world to be voluntarily run aground? It began life in Denmark in the Burmeister and Wainpour shipyard on behalf of the Australian Adelaïde Steamship Company Ltd, and was launched in June 1931, under the name of Moonta. Built as a cruise ship, it sailed through the Australian waters until 1955, when the Greek company Hellenic Mediterranean Lines bought it and doubled its passenger capacity from 140 to 280 spaces. It went on to operate on the Beirut-Marseilles line and took on the name that it is best known as: Lydia.
Back to Port Barcarès and the early stages of the resort. Gaston Pams, Chairman of the Semeta (company in charge of creating the port), was looking for a strong symbol to illustrate the creation of Port Barcarès and Leucate. The company acquired the Lydia and undertook some magnificent work. A storm caused the Artémis to run aground on the beach at Les Sables d’Olonne in March 2008; in Barcarès, a 600 m channel had to be dug out in order to bring the Lydia to its current resting-place.
Once the ship was in place, it was put on a huge concrete slab. The Semeta sold it on in 1973 to Kuniko Tsutsumi, a Japanese businesswoman who turned it into a disco and luxury casino. Stars rushed to attend and alcohol flowed freely. Léo recalls: "My grandfather Bob was manager of the Lydia for several years. He invited several well-known people: Michel Polnareff, Johnny Halliday...etc. When he tells me all these stories, I feel as I’m reliving that period… He also told me that he was one of the biggest customers of Brasserie Milles (Toulouges) and that he had 2 to 3 lorries come each day".
A sign of luxury: the French chef, Georges Landriot, was in charge of the ship’s cooking until the middle of the seventies. And then, in 1980, Kuniko Tsutsumi sold the Lydia, leading to a bleak period during which the Lydia became damaged and rusty. It was closed in 1997 by the Home Office for "serious malfunctions in its financial management". The last owner to date is the Partouche group who bought it in 2000, intending to give it back its splendour of yesteryear. The group carried out major renovation work, and opened a restaurant and disco called after the ship’s first name "Moonta". The casino opened in 2004 with two English roulette tables, a Blackjack and a stud Poker. In June 2005, fifty-one fruit machines were added, completing the long-awaited entertainment facilities, as confirmed by Thierry: "I was working in the Lydia when the fruit machines arrived. It was pure madness and we found it difficult to calm the crowds eager to come in! We opened just one hour after the end of the work!!!".
There’s an old English saying that a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into, which is kept alive by this ship-casino.
Nowadays, tourists lament the fact that it is not possible to visit the ship, but if you eat in the restaurant, you can have a wander in some of the passageways, or just admire it from the outside. It has returned to its magnificent state.
