Postcards from the Lot: Colours of Collioure

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Colours of Collioure

Picasso delivered us safely to our favorite seaside village on the Mediterranean just before noon to throngs of tourists and a bustling Sunday morning market with musicians and all. There was no parking to be found with all the pay lots full; finally after much driving around a slot became available in the "Full" Lot behind the Chateau.

Collioure ownership changed many times over the years between the French and Spanish...but now the two have melded inot one.

We first discovered this special place by accident in 2003 while sitting in the train station in Arles waiting for a train to Bordeaux...when honey saw the name Collioure on the departure board and it was leaving an hour earlier than the Bordeaux train; he quickly checked the guide book and said let's head south to the Mediterranean.

We are staying in the Old Town area at the Hotel Princes de Catalogne which includes a parking space. We stayed here previously on a visit in 2004.

http://www.hotel-princescatalogne,com/

The hotel rooms are more North American-style.
Our 4th floor room is large and comfortable and on the quieter mountain side of the building with beautiful views of the vineyards, Pyrenees' mountains, the Madeloc Tower and the square Fort St. Elme.

The light here has a golden tone which attracted many of the famous Impressionist Painters, such as Matisse, Chagall, Miro and Picasso.

Collioure has a wonderful climate and six "petite " pebbled beaches and the old town is full of old fisherman's cottages that we have nicknamed "Pastel Painted Palaces".

The village originally was a fishing port and home to a small sardine canning factory from the mid 1800s until the 1920s.

Collioure remained an undiscovered treasure until the late 70s.
It sadly has become a major tourist destination for the French and British.

We reacquainted ourselves with the village, strolling the pedestrian streets, checking out some of the local artists' workshops and photographing the many colorful cottages. We finished the afternoon sipping aperitifs on the beach and people watching.
It was the last day of the school holidays for the children and they were having fun skipping stones across the Med. and feeding the pigeons on the beach.