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Our journey from Millais to Pezenas began . We drove from the bridge through some very different countryside. The hills dominated and we passed through the many passes blasted out of the hills arriving at the town of Pezenas in the early afternoon. Reception was closed and a sign invited us to pick a plot, park up and come back to pay at 2pm when the staff returned from their siesta. I quite like the sound of siesta time. As you get older sleeping for an hour or two appeals in the afternoon.
We had chosen Camping Castelsec as our stop over for the night. Part of the camping hotel it reminded us of Camping Regio at Salamanca although less salubrious and Batistina area of Rome . Car parks waiting for the night life of the town to wake up and use for a knocking shop. Our next door neighbour – the only other camper on the site was a lone Frenchman on his holidays.
The shower blocks were in the process of being refurbished but were serviceable.
In the evening we walked into Pezenas using a short cut given to us
by the receptionist . However it was not much of a shortcut as we first went downhill for a while and then saw the sign Centre Historique pointing the way we had come. An about turn took us back up the hill and after 30 mins we arrived in the town centre. So much for the 10 minute walk. The town had wide boulevards with the ubiquitous French plane trees lining the streets. The town was empty but then it was 7 in the evening. The cafes had taken their tables in and the locals were not about . In the daytime it probably was a busy place but tonight not many people were about . The town smaller than Mold is twinned with Market Drayton a small Shropshire town. The link Clive of India who was born at Styche and spent some parts of his life in Pezenas as well as India. The cake shops were open and the church tower looked interesting but closed.
The French still package cakes beautifully . As a child I remember cakes being parcelled in white boxes tied with red ribbon. Here the boxes are crimson red with pictures of
cakes on them and inside they feel like a Pandoras box as I fill them with raspberry tarts, flans and some kind of pastry mousse cake with redcurrants and chocolate.
The gardens are full of Mediterranean plants and palmeries replace garden centres. Pines abound as well as palms, some small and perfectly manicured, Others 20 feet tall. The hedgerows full of yellow Broom and Gorse and pink and white Tobacco plants.
Our site had free Wifi which worked perfectly and locked gates at night. The TV wouldn’t work but then it probably would have bar for the trees which obscured the view of the satellite.
And finally Pezanas Pies , a tiny pastry dish neither sweet nor savoury with a meat filling. It can be eaten as an hor doerve or left for a pudding dish . How strange is that ? Brought from India by Clive it sells for just over a euro . I should have tried the Pezenas Pie .
The town was a little disappointing . It promised much according to Wikipaedia and we imagine perhaps in the cold light of day, when the
town awakes and the shops open that perhaps it would be a much different place . Bustling with life, the cafes open perhaps we would have enjoyed it a bit more .
We would use the campsite again as at this time of the year it was like the grave . Just us and our french neighbour who spoke no English and we no French . A wave had to suffice.
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