Postcards from the Lot

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

A Bientot (Until the Next Time) Collioure

Collioure – Day 3

Woke to sunny blue skies, went to an old favorite “Café Sola” two doors from our hotel for Petit déjeuner.

We went for a stroll around town.

The French Marines were at it again, completing a very difficult obstacle course in the cold sea this morning,

Why so many Marines? The 18^th century citadel, Fort Mirador is now home base for the French Marines.

We visited the waterfront church, “Our Lady of Angels” with its

foundations built into the sea, and with its lighthouse bell tower that use to guide the fishermen home safely. (the building to the right in the photo below)

We walked to far side and saw the waves splashing against the rocks and buildings.

It was on this beach in 2003, that I first put my feet in the Med.

We strolled some more and returned to an Art Gallery we visited the previous night to make a purchase.

Galerie Dumortier

Here we found some prints that appealed to both our tastes, made a purchase to take home as a souvenir of our trip.

Conversation with Bernard Dumortier was easy ... told him my maiden name was "Mortier" from Belgian descent. He said he was from the north of France originally.

In the summer he lives and operates his Gallery in Collioure; while during the winter months he lives and has his Gallery in Toulouse.

He kindly let us take his photo and gave permission to post on the blog.

http://www.galeriedumortier.fr/

So you can see Collioure is full of Colour!!!

We then headed back to our little of piece of France in the Lot Valley.

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.

We had an enjoyable dinner of Catalan Pizza at " Le Tambourin " restaurant and some tasty desserts including Banyuls.

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Day 2 in Collioure

Today we watched the French Marines doing manoeuvres on the Quay and in the Sea....

We enjoyed the sunshine from a park bench with views over the only sandy beach and children's playground ...

This evening we ate an authentic Catalan meal that was absolutely delicious.... and finished off with Creme Catalan....delicious.

Collioure Salad --- fresh lettuce, red onions, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, olives and with delicious fresh anchovies.

Mr. had the Tuna

I had the King Prawns

both accompanied by rice and ratatouille.

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stay tuned for Collioure -Day 3

Monday, April 23, 2012

Sarlat, Saints, Saffron, and Showers

Friday, 20th April 2012

Today we revisited Sarlat pronounced sar- lah (not on a Market Day) and wandered the streets, alleys and lanes and saw more of the town, all while dodging the occasional showers.

Graeme and I also visited the "Cathedral of Saint Sacerdos" a few parts of which date back as far as the 12th century with many additions and reconstructions in the 14th, 17th and 18th centuries.

The roman church of the Benedictine abbey became a cathedral in 1317.

The Organ is perched on a form of a bird's nest, described as one of the most beautiful of the 18th century - a work by Jean- Francois Lepine (1752)

Behind the Cathedral, we found a stony passage way and what we believe was the Monk's graveyard.

The bullet shaped tower in the background is known as "The Lantern of the Dead"dating from 1147 ...it is the oldest monument in town.

The story is that in 4 horrible days a quarter of Sarlat's population died in a plague.(1000 out of 4000)

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On the return trip to Gourdon, we went in search of Saffron for our visitors. We travelled up,down and around windy, narrow country roads to the address of the Saffron farm ...only to find no one there and not able to purchase any saffron or have a tour of the farm.

Saffron stamens come from a specific crocus bulb that doesn't flower until the fall (October).