Sand, Sun, History and Stalactites

Hi all,
Sorry this is a bit tardy.
We had a great time in (or rather all around) Soubes. We took day trips to the beach. We drove up in to the mountains to try our hand at canoeing, see limestone caverns, and visit a Templar walled city. We visited many historic towns and cities - each one different and with its own fascinating story. We drove to the Camargue nature reserve to see the legendary flamingos and white horses. We often had very long days, and there was not much time in the evening to catch up on other chores!
We were lucky to be able to rent Sonjia Montgomery's house (www.houserentalfrance.com.au) in the charming village of Soubes. We invited some friends from Melbourne to share it with us. Luckily one of our friends was much better at French than any of us, so that helped us communicate with the locals! Even so, we felt rather on the outer in the town.
There was so much to see within an hour's drive that it was impossible to fit it all in.
We headed to the coast on our first day there. The weather was perfect. We spent most of the day at Cote d'Agde - we hired a paddle boat and imagined we were at St Tropez! We then drove home via Sete, and old Greek settlement. We were stunned to find the town gathered on the river banks watching boat jousting. This is a sport that came originally from Italy and has been here for almost 400 years. I had no idea there was any such thing!
The trip to the Camargue was a big day. We visited the historical town of St Gilles on the way. There is so much amazing history all around it is hard to bypass any of it!! We visited a farm come theme park on the edge of the Camargue Natural Reserve. We took a 'train' to the edge of the water to see flamingos. Nice idea, but the train squeaked and creaked so loudly it would scare away any self respecting bird. Add to that the flamenco music punctuated by announcements (in French) and the occasional train toot just for effect! I wished I'd hired a bicycle instead! Thank heavens for the 10X zoom on the camera!! We saw a few of the famous Camargue white horses, but the only ones we saw up close were those in stables waiting to be hired out to overseas tourists for large amounts of money. We also saw some of the famous black cattle, but they were in a paddock. Not quite what we'd expected. On the way back we called in to some charming old villages with great histories (what else!): Saints Maries de la Mer (where Mary Magdalene and Mary mother of apostles James and John are rumoured to be buried) and Aigues-Mortes from where one of the kings launched his crusades.
On other days we visited Montpellier where we marvelled at their huge town square (largest in Europe) and wandered through the medieval streets where we saw teenagers sniffing drugs. Each time we travelled through Montpellier we got lost in the crazy roads, stuck in traffic jams, and witnessed road accidents - 4 in all!
We travelled to Nimes where we did the rounds of the Roman ruins, including the still in use Arena. Whilst there we travelled north to the famous Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard.
But there was a lot to do closer to Soubes. Lodeve is 5 minutes away and it has its beauty - but is a little run down. One morning we caught the Lodeve market, and it was so colorful and full of the best fruits, nuts, cheeses, fish, and food of all sorts. We took trips to the Priory of Saint-Michel de Grandmont, the legendary town of Saint Guilhem le Desert, the picturesque town of Lunas, and the Templar walled town of La Couvertoirade. All of which are picturesque and full of history.
We also went for a tour of a limestone cavern. There are quite a number in the area, but we happened to choose Grotte des Demoiselles which has a huge cavern with such marvellous acoustics that they hold concerts in there (jazz, etc), and people stand on balconies that have been built into the walls all around. Strange concept...! I tried to photograph them, but it was tricky.
We even spent a fun afternoon canoeing on the Herault River. We were so desperate to experience a little white water that we dragged our canoes up some rapids!
Our last night in Soubes was the icing on the cake. The whole town (and friends and relatives) dined on a long row of tables that stretched down the main street. A band started playing at 8pm and marched up and down the street entertaining the revellers. Some of the young girls dragged Zoe off to play games, and one of their fathers came up to offer us some wine. Band members periodically took breaks, and eventually their numbers began to dwindle until there was just one trumpeter and a cow bell playing at 2am!! It was an amazing night (although not so amazing at 2am when we had to get up at 5:30 to catch a plane to London).
Now we are in London, and have been just as busy - but more about that in our next instalment!

Esther et al.

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