057 France: Florensac part 1

France: Florensac
Marseillan Plage; Agde; Rochelongue; Sete; Metz; Pont du Diable; Pic St. Loup; St. Guilhmle-le-desert;

While I don't think this is the most flattering photo of TJ it is the only one we have. On the way from Barcelona to Florensac we stopped to have lunch with my niece's partner's sister. She is near Narbonne Plage at Saint Pierre Le Mer - a magnificent tucked away place. Their restaurant is on the beach. Absolutely fantastic. We had a great time and it was nice to have someone else to talk to than each other :)

The local cooperative. The area has the best red we've tasted in France. The local Syrah is very palatable and only E4.50.  You can fill your own bottle, from a hose like contraption, for just E1.15 per litre!!!! We weren't game enough to buy any and there were no degustation's (tasting)

There is a character in Florensac who looks like a hippy stuck in a time warp. Here is his car. I guess it makes it easy to recognise when your eyes aren't really able to focus. ha ha
We met his neighbour - she doesn't like his music and made a point of telling us so.

Frank swears blind that he had no idea the girls were in the photo. He says and I quote "Honestly, I was focusing so hard to make sure that I got the water-jet surfing guy while he was in the air that I never saw the girls. It was just as much of a surprise to me as it is for you".
Hmmmm.

Now this is a spectator sport. We wandered into a restaurant for lunch and saw a crowd on the other side of the river. We had waterside seats just by pure luck.
Two boats, with BIG guys, (we saw one team training in the pub) row at each other while two guys stand with shields and lances and try and knock each other off. There is lots of posturing and a great amount of fun - having said that they do take this quite seriously.

The seafood here is fantastic. In the restaurants they shuck the oysters and muscles in front of you so you can see they are fresh.  This is a farm in a lake with Sete hill in the background.

An old roman bridge with a mill nearby. There were artists here painting the scene. A beautiful, out of the way, location where we found a lovely walk and Pedalorail - so we went back the next day (you had to book)

This was so much fun. Due to language challenges we ended up in the cart at the back of 15. The ones in front went so slow Frank got off and picked blackberries. We soon worked out that only one needs to peddle, so by taking it in turns we were very fresh. At half time they turn the cart around, so on the way back we were in the front. Now I'm not saying we are competitive but I think we broke the speed record on the way back.  There was no sign of the young lads behind us!!!

 

 

St. Guilhelme-le-desert. What a great name.  It says it is in the top 12 heritage attractions of France. What? It then dawns on us just how may 'lists' there are; UNESCO, World Heritage, Top regional sights, Top 20 heritage sites etc. Too funny. While it was lovely, it certainly wouldn't make the top 12 of anything we've seen

Now we've seen some strange art but this is right up there in our top 12 strange art list - found in the crypt of the St Guihelme-Le-Desert church. We think it is a tribute to the dearly departed but it was too dark to interpret the French signs.

So we've bought this tent for the beach and it has turned out to be one of the best purchases we've made. It might not look it but we both fit in side by side comfortably. It gives shade, has side netting so you get a through draft and gives a bit of security to your stuff.

Now putting the thing up is easy. You just open the bag, let it 'jump out' and hope it doesn't hit you as it launches itself to freedom from the bag.
So if it enjoys being free from the bag you are right if you guessed that it does not like to go back in that little dark bag. Two adults can come very close to wetting themselves while trying to put it back. Our first attempt ended with us just stuffing it in the car - open. But we didn't let the little monster get the better of us and on our second outing we both wrestled it back into the bag. If someone had been videoing us they would have made a fortune by posting it on YouTube.
We've captured it a few time now, it doesn't get easier, we've no idea how we did it when we've done it but we've laughed a lot.

We are in Florensac for 3 weeks, for rest and recuperation and getting a tan.  

056 Spain: Barcelona

Spain: Barcelona
a place that just grew and grew on us and by the time we left we were in love with. There were 120 photos for me to chose from and we were only there two days!

We started by catching the hop-on-hop-off bus. On the sign it said the bus arrives at 9:14 and much to our surprise it really did. We were the only ones on the bus at this hour but by the end of the day they were packed.

We got prime position at the front but as the heat of the day wore on we moved to the back where there was a bit of shade.

This was as close as Frank got to the stadium. It was too early in the season to get to a game and the tours did not coincide with our itinerary. Hopefully he will get to a game in Madrid.

There is a magnificent mixture of architecture. This space has water and light shows at night.

                     There is so much Jambon - even more than in France. This is in a restaurant so you can get an idea of how much ham and garlic they serve

Barcelona has everything. The beach was magnificent

and then there is Gaudi. The guy was something else. When I've seen his architecture before I had found it weird but when you stand in front of it you can see it is still practical and I finally saw the beauty in it.

 

 

 

The Basilica is truly awesome. It is just over 100 years old with possibly another two hundred years before it is finished. As we were queuing for tickets I heard the guy in front of me talking and thought I recognised the voice; it was someone I worked with in 1996 at IBM.

Gaudi must have been in seventh heaven. How many people get to design a Basilica?
Great to know that the skills to build such a thing are still with us.

Inside is just as special as the outside. The use of light is extraordinary. I think at one stage I realised my mouth was open in wonder :)

The photo does not do the light justice. There were colour themes in the glass. With the bright sun outside you were really bathed in light.

The food at the Mercat was overwhelming. There was lots of prepared foods and drinks. I think we need some of this on Vic market. We could not work out what some of the Tapas was but it all looked and tasted great.

 Pudding :)
Strawberries dipped in chocolate on a stick

This one is for Meg. :)

The view from the Barcelona Olympic pool diving board

 and finally the docks. The largest on the Mediterranean (according to the guide) and handles the largest number of Cruise ships in Europe. The Queen Victoria Cunard was in (not shown)

There was lots more but I think this is long enough. As said, we fell in love with Barcelona.

 

055 Spain: Montserrat

Spain: Montserrat
on our way to Barcelona

As we were driving along we saw a guy, sitting in his car, with a massive lens on his camera, pointing our way. We looked behind us to see just what he was taking a photo of (as we quickly realised it wasn't of us :),  we stopped and took the same photo. A classic looking village.

The Montserrat mountains. Not beautiful, not majestic but foreboding?

The monastery is vey high in the mountain so we ascend by cable car. We are surprised to find a train also goes there and a funicular railway. The place is oozing with people.

The interior of the cathedral part of the monastery  is splendid.

We joined the queue to see the black Madonna and after 1/2 hour had hardly moved so I nipped into the cathedral and noticed you could see her from inside, without queuing. So I went back for Frank and we skipped the queue. We didn't get to touch her or pray to her but we didn't feel like we'd missed out.

A great deal of renovation has taken place and there is a thriving little town up amongst these very different mountains. I'm glad we went but I wouldn't put this on anyone's 'must do' list.

054 Andorra

Andorra
 where we celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary and the half way mark of our trip

We stop overnight in a place called Foix, France.

The person who wrote this sign certainly was an optimist to have called a gravelly muddy few metres at the side of a grotty lake a beach.

This is Frank, in the centre of Foix, BEFORE he got the bill. E9.50 for two beers.

Foix is not somewhere we would recommend anyone visit.

We've just completed the 2050km climb into the Pyrenees. The views were spectacular. This is an old church and right beside it was a Motorbike museum.
Made for a nice stop. There was a car park and tobacco growing. Nothing else. No one can say Andorra is over developed :)

Andorra is tucked away in a valley. It is surprisingly large, with a main shopping street of over 2km. It is duty free and people flock here from France. It is very inexpensive. The food is fantastic quality and very cheap.

It still manages to maintain the feel of a ski village.

Have you every tried to take a photo of a flag? No mean feat.
Andorra has an amazing history and basically survived 'as-is' for a long time because no one wanted it!

Here art is what art should be - challenging. There were three of these 'men on poles' but it was so big it didn't fit into one photo. Doesn't do much for me but I could appreciate it as they certainly 'caught the eye'.

Another bit of art which caught the eye.

The first thing I saw as we left our accommodation was this shop. At first glance I thought it was a toy shop. But NO! These are really guns, including automatic weapons. There was mace, Tasers, flick knives, BB guns, Crossbows and more. Quite a shock.

We celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary at an outdoor, evening performance (started 10pm) of Cirque du Soleil. The mountain backdrop made it even more extraordinary.

And by pure coincidence this was day 118 : our 1/2 way mark in our trip of 236 days.

 

053 France: Lourdes

France: Lourdes
Our first experience of pilgrims. My emotions were all over the place during our visit.

From the car park you go past hundreds of shops with awful names such as Vatican Affiliated, Christian Aligned, Catholic something or other. They were all selling souvenir 'tat'. Bottled water, crucifixes, tacky clocks, candles, candles and huge candles etc. We were feeling pretty disgusted by the time we got to the site. Then everything changes.

The church area is devoid of anything touristy, other than the tourists (hard to explain).

Your heart goes out to all the sick children. My thoughts were confused in regards to the very old who were there for 'the cure'. There were a surprising number of Down Syndrome people with their carers. At the end of the day my thoughts settled on that they all had hope and can that be a bad thing?

This is the cave where the visions of Mary were seen. Mary seems to have been quite busy 'appearing' in quite a few places in Europe around the same time.
Passing through the cave was orderly and reverently silent. I put the sacred water on my thumbs, which are showing signs of rheumatism (you never know :)

The Cathedral has been built on top of the cave.

There was no charge to enter any part of the site other than the baths. The water was free, as were entry to the cave and Cathedral.

The area is manned by volunteers and there are areas set aside for prayer. Of course there were the ignorant tourists who showed no respect but in the crowd of thousands they were relatively few and the volunteers were quick to 'assist' them out of the area.

A very impressive building with a superb arched walkway up to it.

There are groups of pilgrims who have group photos. There are so many that the area for the traditional photo is organised.

The setting is magnificent. We were feeling pretty good as we left the site but then we had to walk back past the horrible tacky shops.

052 France: Basque region + a bit of Spain

France: Pyla de Dune; Bidart, Biarritz, Anglet, Bayonne, Saint Jean de Luz, Saint Jean Pied de Port, Mt. Rhuae, Sare
Spain: San Sebastien

We went to the largest sand dune in Europe. It was huge.

It went on and on into the distance.

On the way down there were some steps, where my feet just went from underneath me, but I was so relaxed I kinda bounced. A nice guy helped me up. It didn't hurt but the bruise on my bum was massive, beautiful colours and lasted well over a week.

On our first night we had a beautiful rainbow and then the storm hit. OMG it was huge. I've never been in a storm like it. The lightening was followed immediately by the thunder and the house shook. Lasted about an hour. Very little rain.

Biarritz was very different from what I had imagined. I thought it was somewhere 'posh' people go. It was o.k. but nothing special

 

The church in Bayonne

and the cloisters.

In one of the streets there were three Rugby shops, one called Otago and another shop called Alice Springs - just a bit spooky/weird.

Saint Jean Pied de Port was wonderful. The shops were real craft shops, owned and run by the artist who produced the goods. I really enjoyed the place.

It was a walled city and you could walk the ramparts.

We are in the heart of the Basque region. There are independence slogans on many barns. We go to see the local sport of Pelote. 3 guys each side hitting/hurling a ball against a wall with their 'mit'. It was fascinating but 10 mins of watching the game was enough to work it all out. Not really a spectators sport.

Announcing the players was quite funny. EVERY one of them was a champion of either a team or a year.

We took a quick 'dip' into Spain. In the café we tried to order lunch. The waitress got a bit cross with us and said "So what will it be, French, English or Spanish?". After so long in France we are using French words. It was a funny moment, although I don't think she saw the funny side.

San Sebastien was a great place. We met a really funny English family on the funicular up to the theme park and then by pure coincidence ended up in the same carriage on the way down.

Too funny. Is this plagiarism? or breaching copyright laws?

We got up very early to catch the train to Mt. Rhuae. We visited the day before but the nearest free car park space was over 2km away and there were hundreds of people about.
Our early start got us a great seat and we could watch the train driver and see the engine.  The trip was 35 mins almost straight up. There were loads of wild horses.

Each train held about 150 passengers. There were six trains. They were running about every hour. That's a lot of people.

We went to a bull fight. It was surprisingly good. Gone are the days when they stab the bull. All the other photos either have the matador blurred or the bull blurred as they move so fast. This was not tacky, it was a serious professional sport and we were in awe at their skills

 

The Basque region is unique.