The village of Grand Popo is situated beside
the sea midway between Cotonou (80km) and Lomé (Togo,
70 km).
The Auberge itself comprises of old colonial buildings,
which we have restored.
During the colonial period, Grand Popo was a "circle",
nowadays; it is a town, administrated by an elected local
mayor and a council. These "circles", even at
that time, were equipped with every essential service to
enable the regional center to be efficiently administered.
Facilities such as schools, post office, health centre,
a veterinary surgeon, prison, police station, residence
for the head of the circle (now the mayor's residence),
a colonial garden for plant and tree cuttings and a rest-houses
for visiting officials.
The advancing ocean destroyed part Grand Popo during the
40’s. At that time, the "Circle" was temporarily
moved to Athiémé in the interior. Today Grand
Popo has again become a town and is part of the Mono region.
The senior government officials now reside in Lokossa.
 To
construct The Auberge de Grand Popo we took over a number
of the old, derelict colonial administration buildings.
We restored the old customs building and it is now the reception
and bar with a terrace where guests can sit and enjoy the
wide panoramic view over the golden beach to the rolling
waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
From the and bar and terrace there is access to our new
open plan rustic timber and thatch roofed restaurant which
has seating for approximately 70 guests.
The old cultural center has been completely rebuilt into
12 bedrooms each with en-suite bathrooms. Access to all
these rooms is direct from a garden laid out around the
block.
The office of the commander of the circle’s building
was completely derelict but in its hay day it was a beautiful
two story colonial building with access to the upper rooms
via a teak staircase. This led to a teak wood balcony that
ran completely around the upper floor providing access to
all the rooms.
This building has been rebuilt in this original style
using the local teak timber for all the woodwork and now
contains 8 rooms with en-suite bathrooms. There are 4 double/twin
rooms on the upper floor and 4 on the ground floor. Again
there is a raised terrace to provide access to the bedrooms
encircling the ground floor. These ground floor rooms each
have a raised timber mezzanine that is suitable for sleeping
two children.
At this time our newest accommodation is in two bungalows
each with 2 connecting rooms each with en-suite bathrooms.
They have been designed with thatched roofs in such a way
that each bungalow can be let either as two double rooms
or alternatively as one unit for family accommodation.
The ocean is right infront of the Auberge, about 40 meters
from the bar terrace and the river Mono runs behind. The
estuary of the Mono is approximately 5Km from the Auberge
but can only be reached by driving over the beach in a 4
wheel drive vehicle. Coconut palms dominate the environment.
The national highway, connecting Cotonou to Lomé
is in very good condition and passes 1 km behind the Auberge.
Coconut palms dominate the environment. One can stop and
buy the young fresh coconuts at the roadside. The sellers
will open them so that you can drink the fresh milk direct
from the nuts.
We are in the heart of the ‘voodoo’ world.
The voodoo priests are very active and various ceremonies
often take place.
It takes 1h 30 min. to travel from Grand Popo to Cotonou
for shopping and going to the airport.
We organize outings on small motorboats to go to the estuary
of the Mono River, visit fishing villages on the riverbanks
or picnic in the coconut groves where the lagoon meets the
ocean.
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B.P.
6
One
restaurant with a terrace overlooking the beach.
Continental breakfast