St Dalmas de Tende SNCF

St Dalmas de Tende is a tiny, tiny village slowly ebbing its life away in the French Alps. Its population, about 1000. Yet its station is hugely magnificent, as impressive as London's Victoria or Paris' Gare de Lyon. Once, this tiny settlement was the terminus for an Empire.



We waited there for nearly two hours, for a train that never came. We admired the views, the redundant architecture, the engineering optimism that created the station. And we also suffered the cold biting wind and the lack of toilets.