22 juillet—Allauch
On our way to Allauch/Marseille we had the perfect excuse for a slight detour to Uzès just in time for lunch. Our favourite oyster bar was no longer there but the replacement bistro served pretty good moules frites and delicious chilled zucchini soup with spiced crème fraiche followed by café gourmand (a bit of a trend in some places—an espresso with mini dessert selection).
Our days in Allauch have gone far too quickly. Liz went to Oxford the first weekend (8-12 July) for the annual Oxford Symposium of Food and Cookery, also catching up with our Wallingford friends, Peter and Isabelle, Barbara and Bernard and Joan (Roger was in hospital having just had a knee replacement). It was quite strange to have temperatures of 36C on the Friday and not much relief over the weekend.
Back in Allauch, Arthur was taking care of Fiona, Liz’s niece who had arrived on the Wednesday (7th) at 5.30pm and had to catch the TGV early on Friday (the day after Liz went to UK). However, she managed to pack in a lot, in-cluding a boat trip along the Calanques, the mandatory Open Bus tour, dinner watching the sun go down over the Med at a typical fishing port along the coast south east of Marseille (just before the Calanques start) and dinner up the hill in Allauch village.
Over the last 2 weeks we have been to Cassis (35 minutes south) several times; to swim, catch the weekly markets, eat terrific seafood and explore the nearby coast.
The Route des Crêtes is a road that encircles the 400m high cliffs between Cassis and the next port, La Ciotat, an amazing trip which we made last Friday. We have also been checking out all the closest (and not so close) beaches for swimming and are just in the process of setting up a spreadsheet for comparison based on a number of criteria—sand or pebbles, depth, temperature and clarity of water, how crowded, ease of parking, closeness of suitable eatery, and most im-portant—fresh water showers. It is such a relief to rinse of the extremely salty sea water. Arthur was on a quest on Tuesday to find what he was sure was an isolated and deserted beach, at the end of a road through a remote area of the Camargue. After lunch in sleepy Salins de Giraud
(Salins refers to the salt pans where they extract the fine Camargue salt) we headed down a narrow road between high levees lined with reed beds towards what was (on the map), a long stretch of beach. Imagine our surprise when it soon became obvious that as far as the eye could see was line upon line of parked RV vans, tents and caravans, and the long beach was dotted with umbrellas and towels, albeit a bit more spaced out than in Cassis, but hardly deserted!
Beaches aren’t the only things we have been visiting. We have also meandered through windy mountain roads to remote hill villages, where we have had some exciting moments getting out of the narrow streets.
Liz’s birthday last Saturday was very special with a memorable lunch at Auberge La Feniere between Lourmarin and Cadenet on the south side of the Luberon, where the chef/owner is Reine Sammut. She was in Sydney in January for a masterclass, which Liz attended with Irene Calder and Yvonne Barber (the day Mitchell, our grandson decided to make his appearance into the world).
We have also enjoyed our long awaited Mediterranean fish soup—no, not bouillabaisse, but bour-ride, which is similar but uses different fish and doesn’t use saffron. And the restaurant was in Martigues not Marseille, which Laurent assured us was much less of a tourist trap than Marseille. We have since learnt that there is great rivalry between Martigues and Marseille as to the authenticity of both dishes. Martigues is a picturesque fishing port on the Etang de Berre, almost directly under the autoroute to Arles and we had bypassed it two or three times in the past. We ate there the night before Bastille Day, and the festivities were already underway with dancing outside in the restaurants and bars around the squares.
We just had to go into Marseille itself for Bastille Day fireworks, much to Laurent’s later horror. But we didn’t have any problems, even finding parking near the Vieux Port in a parking station which said ‘Complet’ (full). We never believe that, and sure enough the lowest level had a number of empty spaces! The fireworks aren’t a patch on Sydney’s of course, but with the French joie de vivre, dinner in a ‘cacher’ (kosher) restaurant before hand (that was a pure accident and not intentional) and listening to a chanteuse with a lovely voice singing ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’ under the stars at an outside café afterwards- what more could you ask?
Our days in Allauch are almost over. It will be hard to drag ourselves away from the prolific veggie patch with its raspberries (almost finished), zucchini, glut of tomatoes, figs and herbs, grapes and capsicum coming on, the cool interiors of this comfortable house, the pool and the maturing lavender bushes. It is hard to imagine, looking out at the surrounding trees that the centre of France’s 2nd largest city is just 20 minutes away.
On Monday we leave to spend a few days in Saint Just-Saint Rambert with Regine and Alain Michel, the couple we met when they stayed in Shoal Bay last August.
To be continued ...
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Pyrenees, Aude and Ariege then Montpellier again
22 juillet—Allauch
I now know why we have been getting some heavy hints on the lack of newsletter. It is almost a month since the last one, just as we were about to leave Pau.
Sunday saw us saying a regretful au revoir to Marie and Mickael as they repossessed their almost new apartment and presented us with a special local dessert so that we could take it with us to lunch with our friends from Broke in the Hunter Valley, Cheryl and Alan Stevns. Amazingly, I knew nothing about how special it was until Cheryl enlightened me. I think I will leave her description for you to read. Check it out on her blog. http://www.thefoodvine.com/. The article is called ‘Le Russe’.
Lascazères, where they live for a few months each year is only 40 minutes from Pau and was on our way to our next stop. We even had time for a long, leisurely and delicious lunch before continuing our journey. The evenings are long, so we had plenty of daylight left to eat our dinner on the terrace of L’Impasse du Temple, a lovely B&B run by an Aussie couple, in Léran, a small town south of Carcassonne, in the Aude region and near the Pyrenees.
We spent one whole day, and two nights in the Aude region, checking out Cathar castles, including Chateau Montsegur, and bastide towns.
Our quest for revisiting places we had been to in 1973 continued the next day en route to Montpellier, when we stopped off in Villefranche de Conflent. This is one of the star shaped fortified towns designed by Vauban, Louis IV’s military engineer. When we accidentally went through it in 1973 it was a remote mountain village and almost deserted. Today it is a bustling tourist destination, sympathetically restored but not too theme-park. We were in time for lunch which we had in a shady garden terrace restaurant. This was fine, until a threatening thunderstorm sent us all inside. Fortunately we were almost finished, just having our dessert and coffee.
That evening we were back in Montpellier as guests (this time) of Danielle and Francois Allier who went out of their way to make our 4 day stay very comfortable. By now the heat had returned so we spent a lot of time finding places to swim both at the beach (Le Grau du Roi) and in crystal clear mountain rivers..
Saturday we meandered through challenging mountain roads in the Cévennes area to join Laurent, Sabine, Pierre and Vincent Agostinetti at their holiday house in the Ardèche in preparation for the long planned trip down the Gorge de l’Ardeche by canoe on Sunday.
We can now say we have canoed the 30km along the length of the Ardeche from Vallon Pont d’Arc to Sauze at the other end of the Gorge and survived, in spite of 2 exciting capsizes. We should have made it unscathed if it hadn’t been a Sunday with the river like Pitt Street (ie hundreds of canoes) and it was hard to avoid already capsized boats in the more challenging rapids. No major damage, just lost sunglasses, Arthur’s hat and some pride! It gave some welcome relief from the 37C temperatures of the last few days to be saturated every so often. We even had a tail wind when the current slowed at the end.
to be continued ...
I now know why we have been getting some heavy hints on the lack of newsletter. It is almost a month since the last one, just as we were about to leave Pau.
Sunday saw us saying a regretful au revoir to Marie and Mickael as they repossessed their almost new apartment and presented us with a special local dessert so that we could take it with us to lunch with our friends from Broke in the Hunter Valley, Cheryl and Alan Stevns. Amazingly, I knew nothing about how special it was until Cheryl enlightened me. I think I will leave her description for you to read. Check it out on her blog. http://www.thefoodvine.com/. The article is called ‘Le Russe’.
Lascazères, where they live for a few months each year is only 40 minutes from Pau and was on our way to our next stop. We even had time for a long, leisurely and delicious lunch before continuing our journey. The evenings are long, so we had plenty of daylight left to eat our dinner on the terrace of L’Impasse du Temple, a lovely B&B run by an Aussie couple, in Léran, a small town south of Carcassonne, in the Aude region and near the Pyrenees.
We spent one whole day, and two nights in the Aude region, checking out Cathar castles, including Chateau Montsegur, and bastide towns.
Our quest for revisiting places we had been to in 1973 continued the next day en route to Montpellier, when we stopped off in Villefranche de Conflent. This is one of the star shaped fortified towns designed by Vauban, Louis IV’s military engineer. When we accidentally went through it in 1973 it was a remote mountain village and almost deserted. Today it is a bustling tourist destination, sympathetically restored but not too theme-park. We were in time for lunch which we had in a shady garden terrace restaurant. This was fine, until a threatening thunderstorm sent us all inside. Fortunately we were almost finished, just having our dessert and coffee.
That evening we were back in Montpellier as guests (this time) of Danielle and Francois Allier who went out of their way to make our 4 day stay very comfortable. By now the heat had returned so we spent a lot of time finding places to swim both at the beach (Le Grau du Roi) and in crystal clear mountain rivers..
Saturday we meandered through challenging mountain roads in the Cévennes area to join Laurent, Sabine, Pierre and Vincent Agostinetti at their holiday house in the Ardèche in preparation for the long planned trip down the Gorge de l’Ardeche by canoe on Sunday.
We can now say we have canoed the 30km along the length of the Ardeche from Vallon Pont d’Arc to Sauze at the other end of the Gorge and survived, in spite of 2 exciting capsizes. We should have made it unscathed if it hadn’t been a Sunday with the river like Pitt Street (ie hundreds of canoes) and it was hard to avoid already capsized boats in the more challenging rapids. No major damage, just lost sunglasses, Arthur’s hat and some pride! It gave some welcome relief from the 37C temperatures of the last few days to be saturated every so often. We even had a tail wind when the current slowed at the end.
to be continued ...
Lons, Pau, the Pyrenees
26 June, Saturday afternoon—Lons (Pau)
What a difference a week makes. When we left San Sebastian last Saturday we thought summer had really deserted us. Although the rain had stopped it was still pretty grey with low cloud. And, when we finally made it to Pau the rain had returned. However … next day (Sunday) things started to improve and kept up the trend all week.
We are having a lazy afternoon in the apartment here in Lons so thought I should get up to date with my newsletter.
We have the use of a two bedroom apartment (Marie and Mickael have moved in with Marie‟s sister—they will come to Australian later this year) in a mixed farming/residential area near Pau. In Australia we would call it a suburb, and it is only 10 minutes at the most from the centre of town. We have fallen in love with Pau—its laid back atmosphere, the spectacular view of the Pyrenees from the Boulevarde des Pyrenees (and from the top bedroom window), the castle, the restaurants, the gardens, parks and cycle ways, and of course the proximity to the Pyrenees itself and excellent skiing in winter.
Monday dawned clear and sunny if still a little crisp so we decided not to wait, but to head off through Lourdes (only stopped to go up the funicular for the view) into the mountains and the Cirque de Gavarnie. It's pretty spectacular even when we have the Canadian Rock-ies to compare it with, and one advantage of the recent rain was the dusting of snow on the peaks, and the copious waterfalls. We haven‟t invested in serious walking boots, so we didn‟t do the longest hike, just a 5km walk to the meadows below the glaciers and back to Gavarnie—pretty easy.
Our intention was then to go across the Col du Tourmalet (serious Tour de France country this) but the road was closed 9km below the Col (pass). Marie (our host here) thinks they are getting the road fixed up after winter for the Tour de France. Her parents have a house in Barèges, just down the road from the Col and the Tour passes through there three times this year. It is also where she has skied since she was a child.
Next day, still sunny and getting warmer, so it was off on the bikes for a ride, first through Lons, then down to the river (Gave de Pau) and the riverside path. We only went as far as the Base Nautique (kayak course) and back but being in France, couldn't resist lunch at a restaurant conveniently positioned along the way (actually next to the golf course).
That evening Mickael had arranged for us to tag along with an international group from a pharmaceutical conference in town to see an exhibition pelota (jai alai in Basque) match. This was a great idea, because they explained the game first, in French, Spanish and English. So we now know a little of this complex game, which is actually several games, depending on the bat, the court and the ball. Oh … and the bat is sometimes a long curved basket, when it is called Cesta Punta, which is what we saw. It is played on a 54m, 3 sided court with two players in each of two teams and the rules are sort of similar to squash.
Wednesday we drove back, almost to Spain to see some of the Atlantic coast we had missed on the way here last Saturday. St Jean de Luz, Ciboure and Hendaye, in France and Hondaribbia back in Spain are all that you expect from seaside resorts but the beaches are wide and sandy and they are all very attractive. The only fly in the ointment was our inability to get any money from any banks (we tried 7 or 8 before giving up). The resolution of this issue is a long story which I will not go into here, except to say that NAB should post a message on its internet banking site, or send customers emails to let them know when there is a problem. It wasn't resolved until 2 days and 20 + 40 minutes of frustratingly pointless conversation on international calls later. At the end of the second call we were told “oh, my supervisor has just told me there has been a problem with a number of credit cards at ATMs in Europe”! And in the process Arthur found out that somewhere back in the mists of time some clerk had entered his birth date incorrectly (10 not 11) and the first call he made, they wouldn‟t accept his ID! Oh, the little things that can upset a day. You will be pleased to know that we are back in funds (actually we had another card we could have used) and it appears sorted.
We have been pretty lazy since then, wandering around Pau, going to the markets, visiting some of the small towns close by, reading and just enjoying being in one place. Yesterday we went to the castle, which was where Henri IV was born and as it is the 400th anniversary of his assassination there are a lot of events going on around town to mark the occasion.
One other special event this week was the annual 'Fête de Musique' held on midsummer's evening (21st, Monday this week) all over France. Two years ago we were in Uzès for this so knew how good the music could be. Groups play all over town, in all the squares, and it is absolutely free. People sit in restaurants and bars or just wander from band to band. The highlight had to be a flamenco group (missed seeing this in Spain) with two dancers. They were spectacular and a fitting finale to a great evening.
Tonight we have been invited to a BBQ by Marie and Mickael, at the house where they are staying (they are looking after it while Marie's sister is in Abu Dhabi). Should be interesting as well as a linguistic challenge—we don‟t know how many English speakers will be there.
… and we have goats, including two new kids, and chickens next door. They must be the best fed animals you have ever seen. Then, around the corner there are cows, and you can buy fresh milk at the farm. Tomorrow we go to Léran near Carcassonne, stopping on the way for lunch at the French home of Cheryl and Alan Stevns, friends from Broke in the Hunter Valley back home.
To be continued …
What a difference a week makes. When we left San Sebastian last Saturday we thought summer had really deserted us. Although the rain had stopped it was still pretty grey with low cloud. And, when we finally made it to Pau the rain had returned. However … next day (Sunday) things started to improve and kept up the trend all week.
We are having a lazy afternoon in the apartment here in Lons so thought I should get up to date with my newsletter.
We have the use of a two bedroom apartment (Marie and Mickael have moved in with Marie‟s sister—they will come to Australian later this year) in a mixed farming/residential area near Pau. In Australia we would call it a suburb, and it is only 10 minutes at the most from the centre of town. We have fallen in love with Pau—its laid back atmosphere, the spectacular view of the Pyrenees from the Boulevarde des Pyrenees (and from the top bedroom window), the castle, the restaurants, the gardens, parks and cycle ways, and of course the proximity to the Pyrenees itself and excellent skiing in winter.
Monday dawned clear and sunny if still a little crisp so we decided not to wait, but to head off through Lourdes (only stopped to go up the funicular for the view) into the mountains and the Cirque de Gavarnie. It's pretty spectacular even when we have the Canadian Rock-ies to compare it with, and one advantage of the recent rain was the dusting of snow on the peaks, and the copious waterfalls. We haven‟t invested in serious walking boots, so we didn‟t do the longest hike, just a 5km walk to the meadows below the glaciers and back to Gavarnie—pretty easy.
Our intention was then to go across the Col du Tourmalet (serious Tour de France country this) but the road was closed 9km below the Col (pass). Marie (our host here) thinks they are getting the road fixed up after winter for the Tour de France. Her parents have a house in Barèges, just down the road from the Col and the Tour passes through there three times this year. It is also where she has skied since she was a child.
Next day, still sunny and getting warmer, so it was off on the bikes for a ride, first through Lons, then down to the river (Gave de Pau) and the riverside path. We only went as far as the Base Nautique (kayak course) and back but being in France, couldn't resist lunch at a restaurant conveniently positioned along the way (actually next to the golf course).
That evening Mickael had arranged for us to tag along with an international group from a pharmaceutical conference in town to see an exhibition pelota (jai alai in Basque) match. This was a great idea, because they explained the game first, in French, Spanish and English. So we now know a little of this complex game, which is actually several games, depending on the bat, the court and the ball. Oh … and the bat is sometimes a long curved basket, when it is called Cesta Punta, which is what we saw. It is played on a 54m, 3 sided court with two players in each of two teams and the rules are sort of similar to squash.
Wednesday we drove back, almost to Spain to see some of the Atlantic coast we had missed on the way here last Saturday. St Jean de Luz, Ciboure and Hendaye, in France and Hondaribbia back in Spain are all that you expect from seaside resorts but the beaches are wide and sandy and they are all very attractive. The only fly in the ointment was our inability to get any money from any banks (we tried 7 or 8 before giving up). The resolution of this issue is a long story which I will not go into here, except to say that NAB should post a message on its internet banking site, or send customers emails to let them know when there is a problem. It wasn't resolved until 2 days and 20 + 40 minutes of frustratingly pointless conversation on international calls later. At the end of the second call we were told “oh, my supervisor has just told me there has been a problem with a number of credit cards at ATMs in Europe”! And in the process Arthur found out that somewhere back in the mists of time some clerk had entered his birth date incorrectly (10 not 11) and the first call he made, they wouldn‟t accept his ID! Oh, the little things that can upset a day. You will be pleased to know that we are back in funds (actually we had another card we could have used) and it appears sorted.
We have been pretty lazy since then, wandering around Pau, going to the markets, visiting some of the small towns close by, reading and just enjoying being in one place. Yesterday we went to the castle, which was where Henri IV was born and as it is the 400th anniversary of his assassination there are a lot of events going on around town to mark the occasion.
One other special event this week was the annual 'Fête de Musique' held on midsummer's evening (21st, Monday this week) all over France. Two years ago we were in Uzès for this so knew how good the music could be. Groups play all over town, in all the squares, and it is absolutely free. People sit in restaurants and bars or just wander from band to band. The highlight had to be a flamenco group (missed seeing this in Spain) with two dancers. They were spectacular and a fitting finale to a great evening.
Tonight we have been invited to a BBQ by Marie and Mickael, at the house where they are staying (they are looking after it while Marie's sister is in Abu Dhabi). Should be interesting as well as a linguistic challenge—we don‟t know how many English speakers will be there.
… and we have goats, including two new kids, and chickens next door. They must be the best fed animals you have ever seen. Then, around the corner there are cows, and you can buy fresh milk at the farm. Tomorrow we go to Léran near Carcassonne, stopping on the way for lunch at the French home of Cheryl and Alan Stevns, friends from Broke in the Hunter Valley back home.
To be continued …
Segovia, Portugal, Galicia and Northern Spain
After Cordoba we had a rather long, boring trip on the autovia, which skirted Madrid, to get to Turégano for our next night. We are constantly amazed at the network of excellent roads all over Spain. There are motorways in the most out of the way places. We think this must be contributing partly to Spain’s debt; they must have had huge borrowings which have now to be paid back. On the other hand there is a tremendous amount of road building going on which must help with the >20% unemployment.
Turégano is near Segovia, which we visited in 1973 and we had to go back to Meson de Candido for their famous Roast suckling pig (1/2 between 2). It was as delicious as we remembered but our livers are 37 years older and Arthur felt it for a day or so—lost his appetite completely for a while.
The Posada El Zaguan in Turégano was another special find. Opened our shutters and there in front of us … the castle! We are skyping Kristina almost every day and I am sure Andrea must think we now have at least a swimming pool, and a cas-tle in our back yard. While there we enjoyed a few hours visiting the nearby Palacio La Granja and its gardens—very reminiscent of Peterhof in St Petersburg but without the foundations playing.
The castle in Turégano was well worth a visit if only to see all the storks on their nests on every tower (a feature in this part of Spain we have noticed).
Our 3 nights in Portugal passed very quickly; the Guest House Douro in Porto is so lovely, a boutique place on the quay opposite the Port lodges run by an effervescent French Canadian and her Portuguese husband, and down stream of the historic bridge designed by one of Eiffel’s associates. It is now a road bridge on the lower level, and carries the metro line and pedestrians on the top level. However, it is just one of several bridges along the Douro in Porto.
On the way to Porto we drove via the Port wine route through a landscape of steep terraced hill-sides covered in vines and twisting roads. Just before the end of the route we passed the small village of Mateus and what do you think was there—the beautiful Casa Mateus and its lovely gardens. This is where the family who run the winery and vineyards have lived for several centuries. The infamous Mateus rosé was a marketing exercise by someone in the 1960s—they sold the licence to the name years ago, as they are known in Portugal for their fine wines. We tried some excellent reds and their most recent—a Sauvignon blanc. The young wine maker took us through the tastings and she really appreciated our interest.
Our stay in Portugal was too short but we were in for a real treat, again near Carballo in Galicia (N-W Spain) where we stayed one night in the Pazo del Souto (a pazo is a country house, not a castle which was owned by a noble). It is a smaller version of the Parador accommodation in Spain. Again, early booking online produced excellent rates and we had the pick of the rooms, because, sadly tourists are just not coming in their numbers to Europe, at least this part.
The weather up to now had been holding up but we were told by the owner that rain was forecast. He was not wrong—since then we have had rain in bucket loads, with the occasional break in the sky—and this in the most mountainous and scenic part of Spain.
I am finishing this after we have been in Picos de Europa (rain and fog), Burgos (rain and pilgrims on the Santiago de Compestela road), the Rioja wine area (rain, and one day fine when we went to a mediaeval festival), Bilbao (rain, and now flooding after we left) and now San Sebastian where we have had one day sunny in the four we have spent here. The sky is now lifting and maybe tomorrow will be better. But then we return to France and the other side of the Pyrenees and the forecast does not look good! To be continued …
Turégano is near Segovia, which we visited in 1973 and we had to go back to Meson de Candido for their famous Roast suckling pig (1/2 between 2). It was as delicious as we remembered but our livers are 37 years older and Arthur felt it for a day or so—lost his appetite completely for a while.
The Posada El Zaguan in Turégano was another special find. Opened our shutters and there in front of us … the castle! We are skyping Kristina almost every day and I am sure Andrea must think we now have at least a swimming pool, and a cas-tle in our back yard. While there we enjoyed a few hours visiting the nearby Palacio La Granja and its gardens—very reminiscent of Peterhof in St Petersburg but without the foundations playing.
The castle in Turégano was well worth a visit if only to see all the storks on their nests on every tower (a feature in this part of Spain we have noticed).
Our 3 nights in Portugal passed very quickly; the Guest House Douro in Porto is so lovely, a boutique place on the quay opposite the Port lodges run by an effervescent French Canadian and her Portuguese husband, and down stream of the historic bridge designed by one of Eiffel’s associates. It is now a road bridge on the lower level, and carries the metro line and pedestrians on the top level. However, it is just one of several bridges along the Douro in Porto.
On the way to Porto we drove via the Port wine route through a landscape of steep terraced hill-sides covered in vines and twisting roads. Just before the end of the route we passed the small village of Mateus and what do you think was there—the beautiful Casa Mateus and its lovely gardens. This is where the family who run the winery and vineyards have lived for several centuries. The infamous Mateus rosé was a marketing exercise by someone in the 1960s—they sold the licence to the name years ago, as they are known in Portugal for their fine wines. We tried some excellent reds and their most recent—a Sauvignon blanc. The young wine maker took us through the tastings and she really appreciated our interest.
Our stay in Portugal was too short but we were in for a real treat, again near Carballo in Galicia (N-W Spain) where we stayed one night in the Pazo del Souto (a pazo is a country house, not a castle which was owned by a noble). It is a smaller version of the Parador accommodation in Spain. Again, early booking online produced excellent rates and we had the pick of the rooms, because, sadly tourists are just not coming in their numbers to Europe, at least this part.
The weather up to now had been holding up but we were told by the owner that rain was forecast. He was not wrong—since then we have had rain in bucket loads, with the occasional break in the sky—and this in the most mountainous and scenic part of Spain.
I am finishing this after we have been in Picos de Europa (rain and fog), Burgos (rain and pilgrims on the Santiago de Compestela road), the Rioja wine area (rain, and one day fine when we went to a mediaeval festival), Bilbao (rain, and now flooding after we left) and now San Sebastian where we have had one day sunny in the four we have spent here. The sky is now lifting and maybe tomorrow will be better. But then we return to France and the other side of the Pyrenees and the forecast does not look good! To be continued …
Cadiz, Cordoba, Gaucin and Ronda
Continuing on to 8 June 2010
We have covered incredible distances since the last letter, and done such a lot of things, that I don’t know where to start.
At the moment we are in our room in the Hotel Picos de Europa and experiencing a little déjà vu, as we are in an area very similar to the Dolomites in Italy and we are having almost the same sort of weather that we had there in 2004 with the Maltbys (except it is not nearly as cold, it is not snowing and it hasn’t rained much). All the peaks have disappeared in the mist but we did manage to drive on some very scenic mountain roads earlier today. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself.
The weather here is a far cry from the day spent a week ago in Cordoba where it reached 38C and was clear, sunny and dry. This didn’t stop us enjoying this beautiful town and it was made even easier as our hotel was directly opposite the Mezquite (former mosque, now cathedral) which is the main sight there. It is incredible and amazingly cool. Those Moors knew something about building in hot climates. The temperature must have been 10C cooler inside.
Our choice of places to stay has been very successful—probably because of a lot of pre planning and early booking. And we are out of the main season and booked early online, so have enjoyed very low rates (eg our hotel in Cordoba cost us about 60euro, when the rack rate is 250euro!).
We had a bit of excitement finding our hotel in Cadiz as the GPS didn’t differentiate between 2 similarly named streets in the old town and we found ourselves outside a very derelict building at first (thought we had been scammed!). A few enquiries (to cap it off my phone had a flat battery) around the area put us straight, then Arthur couldn’t drive into the pedestrian free zone and had to back out of a one way street after we had downloaded our bags. The plus side was it was Saturday evening, and parking on the street is free until 930 Monday. But … we also think our rear wind screen wiper blade was pinched then. Win some, lose some!
Food has generally been good in Spain, particularly if we keep mainly to tapas type dishes. We found the most amazing place in Cadiz—a classy restaurant which also had a popular tapas bar. The tapas were around 3euros each for dishes that had the presentation and quality that would set you back $15 and more in Sydney. We were lucky we arrived by 2030 on Saturday as 30 minutes later there were people waiting 2 deep behind us! (above—goat cheese salad, salad caprese with sardine and a dessert tapa of fried custard and caramel ice cream—all less than 3 euros).
We have generally walked our legs off, with Arthur as a competent (mostly) guide, once he has a good map. In Cadiz it is made easier because the walking routes are marked with different coloured lines on the streets. We really enjoyed Cadiz—it is a vibrant town with lovely shady parks on the perimeter (with a number of familiar Aussies in the form of Norfolk Island pines and Moreton Bay fig trees). Later, in Galicia in the north west we were amazed to be driving through large eucalypt forests. We think they are logged for chipping and there only seems to be one species planted, and very close together so they are tall and straight.
Before Cadiz, our week in Gaucin was a superbly relaxing time with the occasional day or two of doing nothing, reading, lazing around the pool, swimming and wandering down to one of the many cafes for lunch or a coffee. This was interspersed with two major sightseeing days, one to Ubrique, a town which is well known for its leather (but guess what time we got there—just as the outlets closed!). However we loved the whitewashed houses and buildings in the old quarter and had a tasty tapas lunch in a bar in little square. As you can’t take the same road back (and the scenery is incredible) we did a side trip to Ronda even though we were intending to visit this very scenic town later in the week. Our approach was slowed considerably by an enormous procession of gypsy caravans, not pulled by horses, but by huge tractors, which were returning from the big Romeria at Huelva (near the border with Portugal) the previous week. We think they were going to be in a town nearby the next weekend but we had to leave by then.
Ronda is in a high valley, with a deep narrow ravine separating the old from the newer town, and it is very popular with tourists. It also has one of the oldest bull rings in Spain and this is open for a visit, including to the excellent museum. This means you can see the parts that would not be accessible if there was a show on (the pens, horse riding school, etc).—To be continued….
We have covered incredible distances since the last letter, and done such a lot of things, that I don’t know where to start.
At the moment we are in our room in the Hotel Picos de Europa and experiencing a little déjà vu, as we are in an area very similar to the Dolomites in Italy and we are having almost the same sort of weather that we had there in 2004 with the Maltbys (except it is not nearly as cold, it is not snowing and it hasn’t rained much). All the peaks have disappeared in the mist but we did manage to drive on some very scenic mountain roads earlier today. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself.
The weather here is a far cry from the day spent a week ago in Cordoba where it reached 38C and was clear, sunny and dry. This didn’t stop us enjoying this beautiful town and it was made even easier as our hotel was directly opposite the Mezquite (former mosque, now cathedral) which is the main sight there. It is incredible and amazingly cool. Those Moors knew something about building in hot climates. The temperature must have been 10C cooler inside.
Our choice of places to stay has been very successful—probably because of a lot of pre planning and early booking. And we are out of the main season and booked early online, so have enjoyed very low rates (eg our hotel in Cordoba cost us about 60euro, when the rack rate is 250euro!).
We had a bit of excitement finding our hotel in Cadiz as the GPS didn’t differentiate between 2 similarly named streets in the old town and we found ourselves outside a very derelict building at first (thought we had been scammed!). A few enquiries (to cap it off my phone had a flat battery) around the area put us straight, then Arthur couldn’t drive into the pedestrian free zone and had to back out of a one way street after we had downloaded our bags. The plus side was it was Saturday evening, and parking on the street is free until 930 Monday. But … we also think our rear wind screen wiper blade was pinched then. Win some, lose some!
Food has generally been good in Spain, particularly if we keep mainly to tapas type dishes. We found the most amazing place in Cadiz—a classy restaurant which also had a popular tapas bar. The tapas were around 3euros each for dishes that had the presentation and quality that would set you back $15 and more in Sydney. We were lucky we arrived by 2030 on Saturday as 30 minutes later there were people waiting 2 deep behind us! (above—goat cheese salad, salad caprese with sardine and a dessert tapa of fried custard and caramel ice cream—all less than 3 euros).
We have generally walked our legs off, with Arthur as a competent (mostly) guide, once he has a good map. In Cadiz it is made easier because the walking routes are marked with different coloured lines on the streets. We really enjoyed Cadiz—it is a vibrant town with lovely shady parks on the perimeter (with a number of familiar Aussies in the form of Norfolk Island pines and Moreton Bay fig trees). Later, in Galicia in the north west we were amazed to be driving through large eucalypt forests. We think they are logged for chipping and there only seems to be one species planted, and very close together so they are tall and straight.
Before Cadiz, our week in Gaucin was a superbly relaxing time with the occasional day or two of doing nothing, reading, lazing around the pool, swimming and wandering down to one of the many cafes for lunch or a coffee. This was interspersed with two major sightseeing days, one to Ubrique, a town which is well known for its leather (but guess what time we got there—just as the outlets closed!). However we loved the whitewashed houses and buildings in the old quarter and had a tasty tapas lunch in a bar in little square. As you can’t take the same road back (and the scenery is incredible) we did a side trip to Ronda even though we were intending to visit this very scenic town later in the week. Our approach was slowed considerably by an enormous procession of gypsy caravans, not pulled by horses, but by huge tractors, which were returning from the big Romeria at Huelva (near the border with Portugal) the previous week. We think they were going to be in a town nearby the next weekend but we had to leave by then.
Ronda is in a high valley, with a deep narrow ravine separating the old from the newer town, and it is very popular with tourists. It also has one of the oldest bull rings in Spain and this is open for a visit, including to the excellent museum. This means you can see the parts that would not be accessible if there was a show on (the pens, horse riding school, etc).—To be continued….
Monday, May 31, 2010
Dali Museum, 15 May 2010
It would have been lovely to stay longer in Collioure but we were heading south and hopefully some warm sun so next day we were off along the coast then inland to stop off in Figuerres and the excellent Dali museum. Even for non-Dali fans this is a must. We were able to appreciate what a talented artist he was, albeit very weird. It was getting a bit warmer by now, although still windy.
We went through a couple of heavy showers on the motorway to Barcelona but the sun was out but still cool by the time we found our hotel (we are pretty impressed with the GPS and at least it takes the argument out of getting lost, it can’t talk back).
We went through a couple of heavy showers on the motorway to Barcelona but the sun was out but still cool by the time we found our hotel (we are pretty impressed with the GPS and at least it takes the argument out of getting lost, it can’t talk back).
Sunday, May 30, 2010
14 May 2010, Collioure, France
(I am really getting very frustrated with Blogspot as it takes ages to upload photos and then puts them in any old order. Then the labelling doesn't appear where I have put it in the draft - I may give up)
1.
Collioure.2.Leaving Montpellier
3.Collioure.
4.Collioure, the surrounding countryside.
5.The Castle and a typical anchovy boat.
- 6.The clock tower on the church.
After Montpellier we still had a couple of days in France although Collioure is so close to the border it has absorbed many Spanish influences. I could call this chapter ‘brushes with modern and impressionist art of the weirder kind’ as Collioure was the haunt of the Fauvist painters at the turn of the 19th-20th C; Matisse, Derain, Picasso, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and others all hung out here and the town is full of references. And you can see why – it is really incredibly lovely. Arthur couldn’t stop taking photos around every corner. He is not alone, as we saw some very good examples of earlier photographs in galleries and shops. Incredibly, the town and beach was thick with snow in March this year and there are post cards which record that. In fact we thought that it couldn’t have been too far away while we were there as it was raining when we arrived and very cold and windy the next day, although the sun was shining.
Our hotel was in the old town, so we didn’t have far to walk to see everything. Parking is always a problem in these old towns but Arthur managed to find one in the street not far away which was OK as long as there wasn’t a torrential downpour which would cut out access to it!
The castle here is vast, very well preserved and has a very well set out tour, in English (self guided) and only cost 2euros per person for seniors (half full price) –excellent value.
Our hotel was in the old town, so we didn’t have far to walk to see everything. Parking is always a problem in these old towns but Arthur managed to find one in the street not far away which was OK as long as there wasn’t a torrential downpour which would cut out access to it!
The castle here is vast, very well preserved and has a very well set out tour, in English (self guided) and only cost 2euros per person for seniors (half full price) –excellent value.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Around Montpellier 10th, 11th 12th May
Where do I start? It has been so long since the first and only blog. First the days were too short and action packed to find time to write, then when we finally had the time, no internet access.
Montpellier is a delightful city, easy to get around, easy to access areas close by in the Languedoc, particularly the coast and the wine areas. Within 40 minute radius we visited Marseillan and Agde on the Mediterranean to the south west and the Herault region to the North west and west; then, further afield, but still easy driving, went as far as Millau, with its incredible viaduct which we visited both in 2006 and 2008. You’d think that would be enough, but on a day when the weather was not looking good closer to home, and the wineries we wanted to visit were not open, we made the decision and headed northwest on the main north-south autoroute, about 100km from Montpellier, to visit the actual town of Millau, which we had been told was worth a look. After a downpour on the autoroute and a bit more when we arrived in town, by the time we had lunch the sky had cleared, the sun was out and it had even warmed up a touch.
The old town (always the only place worth visiting) is compact and the tourist office gave us a map with walking guide, even though they had closed 30 minutes before (as usual, it is always a gamble when the tourist office will be open – 1230 or 1300 are the usual closing times, with reopening not until 1600 or so). After about an hour or so we had covered the old town, with its medieval streets, arcades and squares. Of course a visit to Millau had to include some view of the viaduct, and our detailed road atlas showed just the road to take to view across the valley and the town, and down the Dourbe Gorge (the Tarn and Dourbe rivers meet here). Some paragliders setting up and taking off while we were there was a bonus.
You can never take the same route back, so we opted for the scenic road that follows the Dourbe river and eventually leads back to the autoroute. If not we would never have seen some spectacular perched villages above the river, such as Canobres, and some amazing geological formations. So it was getting a bit dark by the time we made it back to Montpellier, even with the added twilight and daylight saving hour.
The next day looked promising (finally some sun) so we decided that the coast was the go. Marseillan (little Marseille) on the Thau lagoon (l’Etaing de Thau), at the far end to Sète where we went in 2008) is well worth a visit and specialises in seafood (coquillages), which in France means an amazing variety of shellfish as well as prawns, scampi and lobster. On the seafront are many seafood tasting places where you can sample the local products, with a glass of wine or beer, for a miniscule amount. The oysters are as local as you can get as the lagoon is full of oyster leases. Marseillan
Very close to Marseillan, but on the coast, is Agde and Cap d’Agde. Cap d’Agde is best known as a fashionable resort for the boating set, but our interest lay in the museum which houses artefacts from the time when this was an important Greek port. In 1965 a beautiful bronze statue of a Greek youth was found in the Herault River at Agde and is now in the museum; it was this we mainly wanted to see, but would you believe – today is Tuesday, the day most museums across France are closed – the story of our lives! However, the very kind lady at the desk allowed us in through a side door, so we could at least see the statue even though we weren’t allowed through the rest of the museum. It was amazing – of course you can’t take photos, but unlike the one in Sicily they had postcards. The only difference was that since the postcards were made the missing arm has been restored.
Our trip home took us via the circular lock on the Canal du Midi at Agde then a side trip into Pézenas, a town we had considered for our long stay in 2008 before we decided on Uzès. This is a very interesting town with a lot of excellent artisan shops, but we still think Uzès was the right choice for a long term stay.
We really made the most of last day in Montpellier, starting with a visit to the winery that made the excellent wine we had enjoyed with a meal a few days earlier. Then back to the village we had missed on Monday – St Guilhem-le-Désert - and the winery of Virgil Joly at St Saturnin (if anyone has read ‘Virgile’s Vineyard’ by Patrick Moon, this is the wine maker it is all about). The winery closed at 1800 and there were still 1 ½ hours to kill before our dinner reservation at Le Mimosa in St Guiraud. We didn’t want to be late, but figured we just had time to drive over a road to the west of the autoroute which passes through some amazing scenery – the Cirque Dolomitique – before we were due at the restaurant. It was a bit further than we expected but still worth the trip.
Le Mimosa is a fabulous place, run for the last 20 years or so by a NZ former ballet dancer and her English husband. This is supposed to be their last year at Le Mimosa before they retire but they are under pressure to carry on. The food was exceptional, the restaurant elegant and it was a very special night. David, the husband, is also the sommelier and he recommends the wines to match the food, and has a special tasting portion for the designated driver.
It had been a very long day but we didn’t have far to go the next one, so would be able to sleep in.
(The photos need to be viewed from the bottom to the top for some reason, and I can't add captions.)
Montpellier is a delightful city, easy to get around, easy to access areas close by in the Languedoc, particularly the coast and the wine areas. Within 40 minute radius we visited Marseillan and Agde on the Mediterranean to the south west and the Herault region to the North west and west; then, further afield, but still easy driving, went as far as Millau, with its incredible viaduct which we visited both in 2006 and 2008. You’d think that would be enough, but on a day when the weather was not looking good closer to home, and the wineries we wanted to visit were not open, we made the decision and headed northwest on the main north-south autoroute, about 100km from Montpellier, to visit the actual town of Millau, which we had been told was worth a look. After a downpour on the autoroute and a bit more when we arrived in town, by the time we had lunch the sky had cleared, the sun was out and it had even warmed up a touch.
The old town (always the only place worth visiting) is compact and the tourist office gave us a map with walking guide, even though they had closed 30 minutes before (as usual, it is always a gamble when the tourist office will be open – 1230 or 1300 are the usual closing times, with reopening not until 1600 or so). After about an hour or so we had covered the old town, with its medieval streets, arcades and squares. Of course a visit to Millau had to include some view of the viaduct, and our detailed road atlas showed just the road to take to view across the valley and the town, and down the Dourbe Gorge (the Tarn and Dourbe rivers meet here). Some paragliders setting up and taking off while we were there was a bonus.
You can never take the same route back, so we opted for the scenic road that follows the Dourbe river and eventually leads back to the autoroute. If not we would never have seen some spectacular perched villages above the river, such as Canobres, and some amazing geological formations. So it was getting a bit dark by the time we made it back to Montpellier, even with the added twilight and daylight saving hour.
The next day looked promising (finally some sun) so we decided that the coast was the go. Marseillan (little Marseille) on the Thau lagoon (l’Etaing de Thau), at the far end to Sète where we went in 2008) is well worth a visit and specialises in seafood (coquillages), which in France means an amazing variety of shellfish as well as prawns, scampi and lobster. On the seafront are many seafood tasting places where you can sample the local products, with a glass of wine or beer, for a miniscule amount. The oysters are as local as you can get as the lagoon is full of oyster leases. Marseillan
Very close to Marseillan, but on the coast, is Agde and Cap d’Agde. Cap d’Agde is best known as a fashionable resort for the boating set, but our interest lay in the museum which houses artefacts from the time when this was an important Greek port. In 1965 a beautiful bronze statue of a Greek youth was found in the Herault River at Agde and is now in the museum; it was this we mainly wanted to see, but would you believe – today is Tuesday, the day most museums across France are closed – the story of our lives! However, the very kind lady at the desk allowed us in through a side door, so we could at least see the statue even though we weren’t allowed through the rest of the museum. It was amazing – of course you can’t take photos, but unlike the one in Sicily they had postcards. The only difference was that since the postcards were made the missing arm has been restored.
Our trip home took us via the circular lock on the Canal du Midi at Agde then a side trip into Pézenas, a town we had considered for our long stay in 2008 before we decided on Uzès. This is a very interesting town with a lot of excellent artisan shops, but we still think Uzès was the right choice for a long term stay.
We really made the most of last day in Montpellier, starting with a visit to the winery that made the excellent wine we had enjoyed with a meal a few days earlier. Then back to the village we had missed on Monday – St Guilhem-le-Désert - and the winery of Virgil Joly at St Saturnin (if anyone has read ‘Virgile’s Vineyard’ by Patrick Moon, this is the wine maker it is all about). The winery closed at 1800 and there were still 1 ½ hours to kill before our dinner reservation at Le Mimosa in St Guiraud. We didn’t want to be late, but figured we just had time to drive over a road to the west of the autoroute which passes through some amazing scenery – the Cirque Dolomitique – before we were due at the restaurant. It was a bit further than we expected but still worth the trip.
Le Mimosa is a fabulous place, run for the last 20 years or so by a NZ former ballet dancer and her English husband. This is supposed to be their last year at Le Mimosa before they retire but they are under pressure to carry on. The food was exceptional, the restaurant elegant and it was a very special night. David, the husband, is also the sommelier and he recommends the wines to match the food, and has a special tasting portion for the designated driver.
It had been a very long day but we didn’t have far to go the next one, so would be able to sleep in.
(The photos need to be viewed from the bottom to the top for some reason, and I can't add captions.)
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