Things get better in France

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Spain and its people were nice, the cities fantastic but the towns and villages were disappointingly uninteresting, certainly in the area we were in. We would be happier in France and so there we headed, to Argeles sur Mer which is of course on the coast and not far over the border.

We first came to Argeles in 1997, it is known as Tent City on account of all the campsites and there are a lot, although they are now mostly filled with mobile homes. It is just a long nice beach and promenade with expensive bars and restaurants. However, our campsite La Chapelle was good and cheap and Michelle wanted to be on a beach. Neither of us could wait though to set off for the nearby village of Collioure, which not only is one of our favourite places in the world, but also contains the best bar in the world 'Les Templiers'. When we were last in the area we had discovered the bar from a guide book because of its collection of paintings which cover the walls. Les Templiers Bar was, in earlier days an inn, frequented by artists who had come to the area seeking the 'wonderful light'. Many (including Matisse and Picasso) paid for their keep with paintings which landlord Rene still keeps despite many lucrative offers to sell. Les Templiers is certainly an experience not to be missed as, even if you do not like to look at beautiful paintings, there are always the equally beautiful barmaids! We had a quick dash back across the border to Spain and the seaside village of Roses. What a delightful place that was even though, again, it is mainly again a beach and promenade but with tapas restaurants down the many pretty back alleys. A few days sunbathing and a few days sheltering from further rain and Argeles had worn out our interest. Despite Michelle having one of her larger cold sores, we decided to move on to Agde where we would meet up with our friends Linda and Dennis and at last have a conversation with someone under 80! What! A whole blog without something going wrong? No Terry's expensive shaver has stopped working!

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