Learning to sing La Marseillaise on the road to Marseille

La Marseillaise: I don't know how to sing it but could probably hum a bit of it, which is only relevant because we are on our way to Marseilles over the next few days.

Sunday 7th May
We farewelled Liz after a breakfast of our favourite pastries - pain au raisin. She is off to Barcelona for a few days equipped with a spreadsheet (she is the spreadsheet queen!) so she can cram everything she wants to see into a few days. We will see how she goes!

As the sun was shining we decided we would have a few hours checking out the beaches of Languedoc Rousillion and see if we could see a few flamingoes on the way. Not something you see at Rye or Dromana.

We headed for an area of coast which is as flat as a pancake, and consists of lagoons, both man made and natural, which eventually turn into open sea.

Chairlift over one of the many canals

The first destination was Plavars des Flots which had miles of beautiful sandy beach overlooked by very modest 4 or 5 storey apartments (not the monstrous multi-storey apartments that line some of our beaches. There were the usual cafes, moules (mussels) and fish sellers, cheap beach clothes and unfortunately very loud rock music which hastened our departure!

We drove past a couple of towns full of larger apartment buildings an

d stopped at La Grai du Roi. To my surprise there was a small bullring with an impressive bull statue outside. In the coastal areas , the Camargue, they have bullfights but they don't end with the death of the poor bull. It's more a test of skill and speed as the 'matadors' try to grab ribbons tied to the rampaging bulls.

 Unfortunately nothing happening today so we wandered through the port to admire the boats m smell the fish (raw and cooked) and stroll to the end of the pier. I was greatly reassured to see a Jesus on a cross at the end of the pier - phew!
We decided to have a picnic lunch whilst looking out over one of the canals jampacked with expensive boats, both big and small.
With some time to kill before we reached our destination for the night we were tempted by a description in the Lonely Planet of a small town called Uzes, supposedly famous for it's silk, linen and LICORICE! Who could resist?

But first it was flamingo spotting time. i was fully prepared to see only a few but they were everywhere, standing in the shallow lagoons heads down and bums up, as they sifted through the mud for food. No photos as there was no way we could stop on the fast moving road, and really it would have looked like a few white/pink blobs on the water.

Uzes was the source of the most frightening experience of the trip so far! W e arrived to stroll around the lovely old town in search of the aforementioned specialties of the area and we saw.....none of them. Where was the licorice? Nowhere to be seen.

There was a 12th century tower though, but that didn't console me - I was ready for licorice.
Then I caught sight of a sign saying 'Musee de Haribo. Now I'm sure all of you have at some time chewed on a Haribo lolly of some sort. But I have to admit that the idea of a Museum was intriguing, especially for a sweet tooth like me!

I had no intention of going on any tours  - I just wanted to go to the shop and maybe buy a small packet for one of my daughters ...and some licorice if possible, of course.








Well I can tell you that the shop was a nightmare of lurid colours, families with huge boxes of lollies and everything Haribo, including Haribo boxer shorts and umbrellas and stuffed toys. Horrendous!! It was completely overwhelming so I snapped a few photos, staggered to the exit, grabbed a handful of free samples ( I wasn't THAT overwhelmed!) and negotiated my way through families with huge carrier bags bursting with lollies, and small children with far too much sugar on board. Phew! I jumped in the car and we sped off munching on our freebies. It was a narrow escape!

Yep that really is a giant licorice stick!!!!!!!!

These were the smallest containers you could buy but no one was interested... but they were interesetd in the huge boxes at the end!

Nimes was our destination and we travelled through hilly country where every flat piece of land was planted out, and every now and then a beautiful field of bright red poppies growing wild appeared.

We managed to navigate the narrow streets of Nimes to meet up with the AirBnB guy. With Liz gone I was back in the navigator's seat which is a challenge, although I managed to get us here without mishap. We  unpacked into the small apartment before going on a stroll to reconnoitre. Tomorrow is another Public Holiday to celebrate 'Victory in Europe' Day so we needed to see where we might find food tomorrow, after our experience in Rennes when we nearly starved ( highly unlikely really!). We found some magnificent old buildings and some great cafes and restaurants before deciding to have Pakistani food for dinner - not exactly French I admit!

your sugar-free correspondent

Dianne