Carcassonne

Friday May 13th
This is the Whit weekend - an important weekend in this region of France. As a result, going places by the sea, we felt, would probably have us tolerating (or cursing!) a lot of traffic so we took a long journey, by auto route, to Carcassonne. Carcassonne is a medieval city that is still inhabited. It lies between the Massif Central and the Pyrenees so it controls the route between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. It is very impressive. We made our way to a parking area quite near to the Office du Tourisme and entered the walled city via Porte Narbonnaise.

Porte Narbonnaise

Jim (inspired by watching Allo Allo) kept referring to this lady as “the fallen Madonna with the big boobies”. I was inclined to describe her as the big Madonna with the fallen boobies!

Just to prove I was there!

Tourism is big business here with lots of souvenir shops and lots of biscuiteries and sweet shops. There were tastings in nearly all the shops so having a lunch was out of the question!

Who buys these things?

At the Chateau we bought tickets to see the museum and to  access the parapets and do the ramparts. I was rather taken aback by the notice warning us what to do in the case of a terrorist attack.

Not too sure how good I would be at either running away or hiding under a settee!

Some spot for a concert!

In the Basilique St. Nazaire.

There are great views over the plain of the river Aude but it was hard to get any acceptable photos.

We returned to Calvisson on more minor roads via Narbonne but we did not stop because the weather had deteriorated and was not conducive for walking along a beach. Our day ended with aperitif at our local where we bonsoired everyone and tuned in a bit (the accent is very difficult) to their carry on.

This morning (Thursday) Jim went to the closest bakery for fresh bread for breakfast. Emmanuelle had told us that the Feria de Nimes was starting on Thursday 12th and it it would be best to give Nimes a miss until it was over as the city gets very crowded with lots of drunken people and , because the bulls are raced through the streets, it can be dangerous. We thought we might just chance a quick visit as it was unlikely that it would be so crowded at the very beginning of the Feria. So in we went and headed for the Office de Tourism for information on Nimes and on the area. We were advised that a more enjoyable visit would be had when the Feria was over but that there were some nice places to see now that we were there.

The first place we noticed was the Maison Carree, the only fully preserved temple from Antiquity. We will go in the next time we visit Nimes.

We made our way to the Jardins de la Fontaine where we would see the Temple of Diana  and the Tour Magne. The lady in the tourist office was kind enough to warn me that it was quite a climb up to the tower (those of you who know me well know that I will go to any lengths to stay on the flat) but I thought I would give it a go. And I got there. But I did need a little sit!

The spring from the Jardins de la Fontaine,

The view from the gardens to a wide central avenue in Nimes

The Tour Magne - this was one of the tallest towers of the ramparts but the last floor has now disappeared.

                                                               Part of the garden

The lower area of the Jardins de la Fontaine.

 The Temple of Diana.

I did not allow Jim to escalade because he is too old to do dangerous things and anyway it was forbidden! 

On our way back to the Maison Carree and to the car. The weather had been better than when we arrived but not yet warm which actually suited the amount of climbing and walking we did.

A cup of coffee under the bull - a reminder of the Feria if the gathering crowds and the marquees were not enough.

This evening we sussed out the Bar des Halles just up the road from us and it is much better than the Café des Sports and a great spot to watch the locals at play. The bar maid / owner is not quite a Bette Lynch but her husband is like a Jack Duckworth in his 50s. Everyone greets one another with the south of France bises - 3 kisses - or with a handshake. I wonder will we be included in that ritual before we leave? At the moment they say “Bonsoir monsieur dame” to us and “Bonne soiree” when we leave.

Calvisson - day 1.

We were finally en route to Calvisson which involved taking the auto route - a very expensive process as my Visa card will testify! We had quite a bit of rain on the way but the heavens really opened when we arrived and we parked our car in a car park and remained in the car as there would have been no possibility to find the house and get in without getting drenched.  We were there for ages and finally decided to find a supermarket in order to stock up on some basics and something French for evening meal. It was a better use of time as it continued to rain all the time we were in the supermarket. About 2 hours later I fished the keys from under the overflowing flower pot and Jim eventually managed to get all 4 locks open It’s quite a palaver in this area of France to get into your house! All seem to have an outer door that totally closes off the doorway. An inner glass panelled door is then revealed. The outer door is kept firmly locked at all times when one is away from home or at night. During the day, if you are at home, the outer door and shutters can be opened. It is similar with the bedroom shutters but nobody took into account that the Kings like light so the bedroom shutters (on the second floor) are constantly open while we are here!

We are living on Rue Pradonne, a little narrow street off the Grand’Rue so just minutes from the centre of the village/town. The street is too narrow to park there so we have to leave our car in a car park and walk to the house. The first night we left it in a car park a little bit off the beaten track and we were not entirely sure of its safety but now we have found the municipal car park which is bigger, more open and safer according to Jim.

Inside the door is a nice living room with wood burner. There is a basic kitchen and a dining room. There is also a laundry room and toilet. Up painted cement stairs are three bedroom, a shower room and a bathroom. And at roof level there is a small kitchen/living room and a roof patio from which you can see lots of roofs and the bell tower. The bell chimes the hour (twice) from 6am to 10pm and the half hour. Chiming twice seems unusual but I will have to find out why.

The bell tower with the twice hourly striking bell.

The view from our roof patio

The Mairie just over the road from our house - it has a classical frontage. This is the building with the bell tower.

Les Halles, built in Art Nouveau style. I think Les Halles is usually a covered market place but there is no sign of that here.

The Temple - built in neo-classical style. It seems to open just one Sunday in the month suggesting that there are not too many Protestants in the area.  The Catholic Church in the middle of town has a greater congregation.

We took a walking trip around the centre of town to see what was to be seen - a Casino - not for gambling but a quite well stocked supermarket - a Creperie (closed until the 15th of May), a paper shop, a chemist, a bank, a delicatessen, a Boulanger, estate agents, a café des sports in the awning of which we took refuge for a beer while the rain passed. The Café des Sports is sadly not very salubrious but the beer was ok. On our way up Grand’rue towards our abode we noted another Boulanger, a boucherie/traiteur, a bookshop, a hairdresser's and a health food shop. So it must be an ok town to support all that business!

We had just settled to our evening meal when we heard some rattling at the outer door. Jim dismissed it as being at one of the other houses. However the rattling turned to the sound of keys and then light streaming through the inner door confirmed my belief that there was someone coming in. I rushed to the door and was met by a tall dark and handsome man who was just as amazed to see us as we were to see him. Seemingly he had contacted Sylvia to say he was bringing a potential house buyer over  (Sylvia is trying to sell the house). He apologised at length and, as I was not going to let this lovely man depart without getting some information from him, I reassured at length that it was no inconvenience to us to allow him to show the gentleman round. In they came and we sipped our wine and ate our charcuterie as the house was shown around us. Before departure we managed to extract from him the information that there is another bar just up and round the corner that may be more to our liking. He also suggested that we don’t miss the market at Sommieres on Saturday (just 11km away) and the market on Sunday in Calvisson. The two genlemen departed and we settled to tidy up and unpack. And so ended day 1 in Calvisson.

En route to Calvisson with overnight in Montauban

Following our 2 days with Danielle, we made our way in a rather roundabout but scenic way to Mantauban, our next stopover. En route we travelled along the Dordogne and revisited La Roque Gageac, a pretty village along the Dordogne where we had spent a holiday in a gite with Brian and Carol when they were young. We saw the gite, above a shop with a balcony from which we had watched the fireworks on August 15th I think and from where I watched Jim, Brian and Carol kayaking along the Dordogne - I was taking care of the money and the keys in case of emergencies!

Our, again 2 star, hotel in Montauban, was just a 10 minute walk from the city/town centre so we set off to get something to drink and to suss out possible eateries.

We got the drink but were really less than successful at finding somewhere to eat - however, it was before 7pm which is much too early for restaurants. There was a Brasserie Normande that was a bit grotty and then, on some square that I’ve forgotten the name of, we thought there might be possibilities but they all closed in the evening. At one of these establishments I enquired about restaurants and got some useful advice which included a restaurant called “Cave o Delices” which looked more like a little café. There were just a few tables inside the door but downstairs in the Cave (cellar) there were quite a few more. It was fantastic! Again we opted for a single course and were rewarded with an absolutely delicious amuse bouche - mushroom puree with foie gras ice cream, topped with pain d’epice (little squares of spicy bread). We loved it. Jim had a risotto de ble with roasted cod and diced spring vegetables and I had fillet of pork with a beetroot jus and celeriac cooked two ways. We were in Heaven!

We were shortly in Hell! On our return to the hotel we were swiftly made aware that the evening could be less than peaceful. Obviously this was a favourite “resting” spot for school tour groups and we were, literally, bowled over by their exuberance as we made our way to our room. Needless to say it was girls, chitterchattering at top volume and racing one another to rooms or the lift. Almost upending me did not entail an  apology, just a slight “oops” recognition that it was not acceptable. This was followed by periodic knocks on our door with a final one, the last straw for me, catapulting me, dressed only in my nightie, and Jim, in his pyjamas, to the door to loudly exclaim “Zut alors! Ca suffit! Arrete de tapper a la porte”,  Jim, sans francais, looked uncomfortably on and restrained himself from dragging me inside by the nightdress. I think I got the wrong person but maybe not. At any rate I retreated meekly and, in the morning, when I saw said people, I retreated from the dining room to sort the case and returned when the coast was clear!

2016 Adventure in France Days 1, 2, 3 and 4

Friday May 6

2016 France adventure begins on the Oscar Wilde ferry from Rosslare to Roscoff leaving at 17.30. Prior to our sailing we had “breakfast” in the Suitor Gallery, lunch in Fishers in Newtownmountkennedy (where I had the most delicious goat’s cheese, berries and caramelised pecan salad which is best savoured eyes closed!) and dinner in the “Steakhouse” on board. It seems that it was the “booze cruise” as there was wine tasting pointing us in the direction of the wine hypermarket in Roscoff. We did a brief tasting but had already discovered a wine (by chance) in  the Steakhouse which we might get on our journey back. Our no window 2/3 berth cabin was fine and I was surprised to find that there was no sea rocking movement (which I quite like actually) and we woke just in time to grab a quick coffee and croissant, pack our bag and position ourselves in proximity to the staircase to the deck on which we had parked. There followed more than 45 minutes as everyone except us seemed to be disembarking. The car in front had a problem. His battery was dead because he failed to observe the notice that stated categorically that car alarms should be disabled - and we had been deafened by his very enabled and alert alarm!

My memories of our holidays is France include the scent of heat as we pass from the ferry onto the route a droite. Yes we had to drive a droite but it was raining and temperatures were more like en Irlande and L’irlande with temperatures barely in the teens! Our first destination was Auray in Brittany near the Golfe de Morbihan. En route we stopped for lunch in a Breton Creperie at Heulgoat.

I ordered a Galette des bois - mushrooms, emmenthal and crème fraichre. It was delicious! Jim ordered a galette du terroir. When the owner was taking our order he asked me if Jim knew what his galette included and I was able to assure him that he did and was looking forward to it. It was andouille with compote of apple. Andouille is the large version of andouillette, a favourite of Jim’s and chosen frequently by him when in France. Both andouille and andouillettes are an offal sausage with a very distinctive flavour which I find slightly disgusting but Jim enjoys.

Following lunch we took a look round the town and watched some fishermen fishing for trout on the lake. There was a notice indicating that they had to return the trout to the lake. I cannot understand the point of fishing if you can't eat what you catch!

At the bridge we discovered what had been noted on the map as Les Rochers. It was an area of huge rocks piled up and resting alongside and upon one another creating passages and caves. Of course we had to investigate despite warning regarding the dangerous nature of the terrain. I managed to remain upright as I treaded most carefully. Jim did fall but has suffered no ill effects thankfully!

At the Devil’s Cave a dog had been abandoned by its owners who had descended for a visit. The dog cried in distress for the duration and it was a pitiable sight and even more pitiable sound. I was glad when they were reunited! Jim descended also for a visit with the devil but I remained in the higher realms - not quite in Heaven, more a sort of Purgatory where the uneven ground was forcing unnecessary penance on me! At any rate, we were happy to have stumbled on an interesting spot for investigation and fresh air.






We arrived quite early to our overnight stay in Auray so we had an opportunity to visit Quiberon - a peninsula in the Gulf of Morbihan. Traffic was very heavy - what would it be like in the height of summer! There we had a lovely coastal walk and a coffee looking out at the myriad of yachts - lots of wealthy people frequent Quiberon obviously!

Back to Auray where we were delighted that our 2 star hotel, with very friendly staff, was only a 15 minute walk from Le port de Saint-Goustan which is a very pretty port surrounded by lovely restaurants and typical Breton streets.

Jim ordered a cider seeing as we were in Brittany and thought he had to drink from the bottle until he realised that the cup with the same logo as the bottle was the correct receptacle from which to imbibe! I just had a boring white wine which suited me fine.

Having debated the merits of the 3 course cheap menu we decided that 3 courses were too much and we opted , Belgian style, for moules frites. One course ensured that our little walk back to the hotel could be done in comfort!

The following day our destination was Rochefort to visit our friends Danielle, Emmanuelle, Jade and William (and, of course, Dexter and Kooky, the dachunds. Breakfast in our hotel was good so we had no lunch stop - just “comfort” stops and coffee en route. We arrived, as planned, around 4pm and spent the evening entre amis (Danielle had kindly invited her friends to join us for l’apero).