Collioure....the delights of a seaside town

Thursday 4th May

A freak photo: where did that bird come from?!

The sea air has caused us to go into beach holiday mode and we all felt the need for a quiet relaxing day after yesterday's exertions . And Collioure is the prefect place for that.... after we managed to get ourselves organised it was a wander around town to discover many artists had followed in the steps of Matisse and Derain and others who have lived here. There were lots of galleries where artists had a shopfront bearing their personal interpretations of the beautiful views here. Many of them bright and colourful.

Painting by Derain on display outdoors in town

After a quiet coffee overlooking the bay and a trip to the post office we wandered home again for lunch. None of us are moving too rapidly after yesterday's climb, which just confirms my belief that you should travel while you still can! Whilst they pay a lot of attention to disabled access here there are a few castles and ancient buildings that would be impossible to reach at all.

However we had been passing by the Chateau Royal which is ....you guessed it! - another castle  fortress, But this time it was in the middle of town and I had already taken many photos of it. However we felt we had better have a good look before we left.

A basketball court! Really!?

With Liz  & Ewan clutching the maps and me taking photos - our usual castle visiting arrangement - we headed off to enjoy the sights of the castle. Like many of them it had originally been a small modest building with huge stone walls and very few windows, for protection. But it had been modified, extended and reinforced over many centuries. To our surprise it had a basketball court! Then we realised that the local Commando Training Centre had access to some of it which explained the presence of a very contemporary sports field! There were some archaeological digs in one part that were unearthing some of the old foundation stones. One of the intact more recent buildings had been refurbished as gallery space, which must help to improve the coffers, as well as providing lovely display space. The views from the top gave us another perspective on pretty Collioure.

 We headed home for lunch and I opened a packet of the local specialty - anchovies in vinegar and lemon. Liz wasn't interested at all but Ewan and I thought they were great and they reminded us of the many anchovies we had eaten as tapas in Spain.

After we combined the anchovies with the usual fare of crusty baguette, ham, cheese and salad we decided to go for a drive around some of the other bays as energy levels were low, So we meandered  along the coast far enough to almost see the Spanish border, which is only a few kilometres away.

This area is part of the Catalan coast and Catalan flags are popular here as they are in the neighbouring Catalan region of Spain. Will they ever secede from Spain and France ....who knows?

Port Vendres and Banyuls sur Mer were both terracotta-roofed towns set on the steep hills rising straight from the sea. Both of them considerably larger than tiny Collioure.

The Spanish coast

 We were fascinated to see many vines clinging to the rock terraces that had been painfully created embedded in the steep hills. Each vine was attached to a stake and fairly stumpy. No irrigation systems and no wires for them to grow horizontally. But thousands of vines and looking healthy, which was surprising given the environment they were growing in, or the 'terroir' as the French call it.

Lavender growing wild and some of the
many terraced vineyards climbing the hillside

We stopped at a lookout to admire the views and were surprised to see a little cabin which was for wine tasting. I'm not sure driving and drinking should be so closely linked! Liz spotted a track leading out to a small peninsula so she and I decided to be adventurous and follow it to get an even better view further out into the Mediterranean.


 As we negotiated the rocky path weaving its way through lots of wildflowers I eventually noticed that we were surrounded by lavender growing in the wild. Very strong scent and deep purple in colour. We perched on the edge of a rock outcrop with the sea pounding a very long way down, and then decided to return, to Ewan's relief.

Home for dinner, some packing up and an early night as we were off to new adventures on the morrow.

your refreshed correspondent

Dianne