“We are going to have around 5.000 athletes on these buildings, on the Saint-Ouen part”, continues the guide-lecturer, pointing to the constructions with his index finger.
Among the forty participants on Saturday afternoon, a handful approach the right of the boat to observe the brand new high buildings, built for the 2024 Olympics which will be held in Paris in a year. The cruise is 12 euros at normal rate.
"This big building is the Cité du cinema (...), which becomes the canteen during the Games", continues Tristan Bayle, as the boat runs along the quay of Saint-Ouen.
On the deck of the barge, Rabah Bouraya takes advantage of the return of the heat after a rainy period.
"What interests me is to see the progress of the works of the Olympic village and have a good time", confides this resident of Gennevilliers. Already familiar with the excursion, this time he bought tickets to take his teenage son.
"It's good to also have the historical side, the past of this zone in perpetual motion and the future of this district", adds this 48-year-old professional integration adviser.
A colossal structure for the Olympic Games, the Olympic Village is located in the municipalities of Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen and L'Ile-Saint-Denis. It will accommodate 14.500 athletes and staff for the Olympic Games (July 26-August 11) and 9.000 during the Paralympic Games (August 28-September 8).
In the "legacy" phase, one year after the Games and the work necessary for the restructuring of the apartments, 6.000 people will live in these accommodations.
In two hours, the boat swallowed the 15 kilometers of river that encircle Ile-Saint-Denis, punctuated by the flow of explanations and anecdotes from the guide-lecturer for the travelers of the day, including a lot of graying hair.
"There is a real curiosity for the Games," said Olivier Meier, director of Seine-Saint-Denis Tourism. According to him, the cruises bring together "residents who feel concerned by the Olympics", as well as tourists, whether they are from the Paris region, from another French region or even foreigners.
Evolution of the territory
For the past year, Seine-Saint-Denis Tourisme, an association responsible for implementing the department's tourism policy, has been offering cruises and urban walks to better understand the various sites linked to the Olympics and especially the resulting urban changes.
"Our objective is to allow the public, whether they are local residents or visitors, to understand what the ongoing transformations will bring to the territory once the Games are over. It is a promotion of the heritage that interests us" , says Olivier Meier.
Beyond the Olympic sites, which are only part of the walk, the challenge is to resituate the Olympic Games juggernaut in a particular urban context through the story of the rivers crossed, the towns skirted and anecdotes about the personalities - from painters to politicians - who have inhabited them.
"I spoke little about the Olympics today because what we see is so limited that what interests me is more to resituate the evolution of the territory since the XNUMXth century and to show how the Olympics are a big accelerator of this story", decrypts Tristan Bayle.
"I learned more about the heritage that already exists, what we have when we sail on the canal, than about the Olympic village", confirms Claire, 49, a resident of downtown Saint-Denis, who does not did not wish to give his surname.
For some time, this study engineer has been taking part in this type of visit to "start to adapt to this event which will impact us for several months and in the long term".
"I realize the dimensions at stake," says Claire. "Knowing them is a way of being less impressed."