Canet en Roussillon near Perpignan

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We had not thought about going to France until I saw a television programme about Andorra high up in the Pyrenees mountains. It was much later that I saw a further programme about Perpignan. I was in love and needed to see for myself this beautiful, magical place.

There is an airport at Perpignan but our destination was on the coast at Canet. Checking the internet for flights resulted in us choosing to fly from Barcelona and drive into France.

We collected the hire car, once we had found the car parks (the airport is massive) then off we went , down endless tunnels, trying to keep in the correct lanes and follow the signs, fortunately we had with us a new toy satelite navigation, it kept us on the right road until we got to France then it froze before dying. We took the wrong exit and became hopelessly lost, in complete darkness, not a light for miles, then the sat.nav.woke up saved us taking us direct to our accommodation. The French motorways are brilliant and not too expensive.

Because we had arrived in total darkness it was hard to realise that we had crossed the Pyrenees mountains. We were not dissapointed at all the area is beautiful but we didn't manage to get to Andorra, although it was possible by driving for several hours but we felt happy where we were.

The beach at Canet is long and golden, adjacent to the coast road is a large lake with flocks of red flamingoes, we were to see one close up in full flight, sorry no pictures, no camera.

Alongside the lake resides the Chateau Roussillon, the vineyard, we spent many hours exploring the grapes, looking for the flamingoes and generally soaking it all in.
It was harvest time so the smell of the grapes filled the air, lovely.

The medieval weekend became one of the highlights of this lovely holiday. The local people dressed in full costume of the times. The town itself was made to look authentic, with straw on the cobbled streets and a pig roasting on the spit ready for the feast later. Table games in abundance lined the square, all free.wow. A parade was held and stall holders sold delicacies, honey, mead, sweets, as well as more substancial fare. The best bit came at night fall when the fall of the Chateau was re-enacted and the trial of the traitor (our French is very poor) but it was so well done and the light display with fireworks was brilliant.

It was the people who won our hearts, everyone forgave our lack in the language department and roped us in, we danced, we sang and we learned something about the wine.

I mustn't forget to tell you about the fruit, being harvest time, fresh food is wonderful, very cheap and luscious.

Perpignan is everything I had visualised, it is very very old in places with endless history, one day was not enough I would like to stay there and really learn about it. We visited the obvious tourist spots. the Cathedral, the museum, the town centre and we climbed the tower.

Near to our accommodation were stone statues by the roadside, see what you think.

To return to Barcelona we decided to take the coast road, taking us up through the mountains and into Spain, highly recommended, absolutely stunning but you need time to enjoy it, we took 6 hours with few stops since we had a plane to catch.

We look forward to returning to France perhaps next year.

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Photos

The PYRENEES ORIENTALS
Truly majestic

Chateau en Rousillon vineyard
luscious fruit, smelled delicious

Medieval Weekend
It was great fun

Medieval Weekend
The games were for everyone

Perpignan
the Cathedral

Roadside Sculptures
amazing

Isle de TET
the rock formation is known as the Organ Pipes, it takes an hour to walk through them

Comments

[Janet Tordoff]

I've read this too !!
Excellent