Deyme, France

The Abandoned Galleon

The deserted pirate-themed restaurant still entices explorers.

There’s a ghost ship eerily parked along a backroad near the French city of Toulouse. It’s a haunting sight, one that beckons explorers with a taste for danger.

This abandoned Spanish galleon used to be a pirate-themed restaurant, called L’ile au Gallion (The Galleon Island). It offered customers the chance to dine in a fancy pirate ship. The staff was dressed accordingly and, while the food and beverages were overpriced, the location was stunning.

Unfortunately, the restaurant had to close during the early 2000s. In 2008, a new restaurant opened on the site, but instead of having customers eat in the galleon, the owners decided to construct a new building in the vicinity so guests could dine while viewing the beautiful ship. It didn’t last long—the new restaurant shut down four short years later.

The mighty galleon now sits neglected alongside the road. The buildings and the ship have been defaced by malevolent squatters, though some of the street art pieces adorning them are worth a look.

Visitors can catch a good glimpse of the ship from the road without entering the closed area. More adventurous explorers should be extremely careful should they decide to enter the site, and even more so should they decide to jump on board. Exploring the ghost ship is dangerous and ill-advised. The narrow footbridge leading to the vessel is quite rusted and weak. Nobody seems to know what the future will hold for this vacant ship.