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Published: October 14th 2013
Gruissan by Jacob
So we just arrived
in this small fishing village in the middle of nowhere and I immediately say to
my parents “Can we leave this place is sooo boring”! We start strolling into
the middle of the village. We saw the Barberoussa tower. We searched around to
find the entrance to the tower and eventually we found our way to the foot of
the mountain and we were staring at an old church.
We walked up the
seemingly endless flight of stairs to reach a gate where we entered the base of
the tower. There were a couple signs and after briefly reading them we
eventually made our way up to the tower. My parents both exhausted from the
stairs had to wait a little bit before walking again but I was already looking
around.
It was a reasonably
small area and it was all in ruins. After we all had a look around we
skedaddled down the stairs to make our way to the shops. After buying stuff
from the supermarket we saw a nice ‘Knick-Knack’ shop. Dad started speaking
French and asks if he can speak English,
he replies “We can try”. Turns out the
shop-owner did a world tour by boat and stayed in New Zealand for 6 months
during the hurricane season.
After the pleasant
shop experience we headed back to the campervan and left. Lesson of the day
always speak horrible French to the ones who speak English.
Carcassonne by Mike
I’ve grown up with
a love of myths legends and ancient history. We had to visit a castle while in
Europe and Carcassonne did it and more.
We meandered from
our camp just between Narbonne and Gruissan and Billy decided to show us the
scenic route to La Cite. We drove through a number of towns including little
Marseille and then ended up in the Carcassonne (New City) – we are half lost
and just wander through town then voila! There is a castle on a hill!
Impressive is an understatement. Castles and their owners did really rule over
the countryside…I can imagine what it might be like – a minion looking up at
the magnificence of our leader.
We find a park and
complete a short walk
up cobbled paths, stopping to stick our heads out of
turrets and up to an entrance of sorts and enter another world.
It is just like a
medieval city.
Shops lining
cobbled streets…magical.
After a few minutes
we happen across the olde castle and enter to ‘walk the ramparts’.
Amazing views, an
incredible insight into how the castle operated in peace and war, the
renovations undertaken have been fantastic.
Carca sonne – the
bells ring for Carca! (the fleeing Princess of the time)
You get a really
good look at how a battle might look. Horses gathering at the gate, archers and
stoners (what do you call people who carry stones?) on the ready.
Courtyards,
sculpture, stone work – we keep walking and absorbing.
Starting to get
hungry and looking for somewhere to eat…easy choice – she had me at do you want
to taste?!!
A beautiful lunch…I
indulged in a Cassoulet of pork sausage and duck with lardons and white
beans….mmmm. Michelle had the greatest Onion Soup (of course it is not French
Onion Soup in France!) and Jacob had a Hamburger which they managed to make
look like a
full meal.
Apart from buying
up a storm (Jake got a sword and an owl!!!!??) this was a really special day.
Medieval times, a
glorious castle, stained glass in the cathedral was breathtaking, cobbles,
turrets….
WOW in a week full
of WOW’s.
Random thoughts;
•
I love Sangria – I bought a couple of litres over from Spain
•
I love Cassoulet
•
How the hell did Michelle understand “would you like to see the sword
out of its scabbard” in French?!
•
‘Rapelle’ is not a province of France (it in fact is on nearly every
road sign meaning ATTENTION!)
Glorious glorious
France… we didn’t intend staying this long but her magnetism was irresistible.
Cote d azur by
Michelle
I had just one
request from the South of France and that was to walk in the shoes of the rich
and famous along the French Riveria and experience the wonders of the likes of
St Tropez, Cannes and Monaco.
Well Cannes quickly
came off the bucket list when talking to a friendly English couple at the
campground in Narbonne.
Having travelled that part of the coast extensively
they advised against Cannes - just a town that's only exciting when the
festival is on. Ok, so St Tropez? They didn't like it, full of rich people
sitting on their super yachts looking down on the plebs on the boardwalk. But
that's what I wanted to see so that's ok. Now Hyeres was a beautiful place
(apparently).
Off we set. First
stop Hyeres. Well actually we didn't stop so much as keep driving through as
whilst pretty it was packed and we were having another large RV, narrow streets
moment! St Tropez was perhaps closed for business? Nothing much to see, no
super yachts, no rich nor famous - keep going! The next beach around, St
Raphael, however was gorgeous. Fantastic coastline, buzzy cafe culture, that's
what I wanted to see!
Next stop Monaco.
Now I'm not much of a royalist but the glitz and glamour (not to mention public
scandles) of the Rimaldi family did have me itching to see the place. However,
I was resigned to the fact we hadn't had much luck with small coastal towns so
any hint of narrow streets
and Monte Carlo was coming off my to do list.
In we go and the
streets are normal width. As Mike joked they needed to be wide enough to cater
for the limos and hummers to come in! WHAT A PLACE!!! Set high up in the hills
and cascading down until waters edge is reached is the very monied town of
Monte Carlo! We parked approximately 2km from the city centre and set off
towards the waterfront. To give you an idea of how steep the place is here's how
we got to the waterfront. Walk down three flights of paved stairs, catch a lift
from the 14th floor to the bottom (public lift like we would have a footpath!),
2 sets of escalators, then final walk through the lower streets! Oh and by the
way we passed the Ferrari dealership on the way and unashamedly took our photos
posing beside the cars!
Once we reached the
waterfront we had a wee wander then settled for crepes and coffees at one of
the cafes. It is hard to describe Monte Carlo other than to say if you are ever
in that part of the
world it is totally worth a visit! The public swimming pool
is waterfront (nice way to do laps!). The primary school is waterfront
(wouldn't mind teaching there!). The way the buildings are all terraced into
the landscape is truly stunning! Oh and the super yachts are quite nice too!
As we begin our
ascent into the hills to leave I notice that the people handgliding off the
hilltop are taking off about where our campervan is parked! Get to the
campervan and BUGGER! 22.50 euro parking
ticket for parking in a street where "no camping cars are allowed".
No signs indicating this but oh well, in a place like this it could have been
way more expensive! All part of the adventure we say and off we head towards
Deiva Marina our next stop.
My random
thoughts...
- We thought the
South of France was pretty big on gambling given all the Casinos we saw until I
realised that 'Casino' was a chain of supermarkets...
- I saw a sign
saying "sortie du port" (exit door) and told Mike in a very authoritative
voice this was the way to the waterfront/port… hmm!
- French police
have Douane printed on the backs of their uniforms like soccer players have
their names on the backs of theirs. This led us to nicknaming them Dwaynes and
having frequent giggles at all the police being called Dwayne. Also, they like
to stop at truckstops to meet up for coffee and pastries!
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Randi and Roger
non-member comment
We loved your descriptions of MC. We too thought it was amazing - that was in 1992! We tried to get into a casino, but weren\'t allowed, as we were wearing \"tennis shoes\".