Saturday, May 16, 2015

The Devil in the Hills and the Valley!


Tuesday in Ceret ... We woke to mist covered mountain tops!

Here are some photos taken early in the morning creating the feeling that we were in the clouds high above the mountains and then later in the day photos were taken as close as possible of the same view once the sun had burned off the fog! 

The misty photos were taken at about seven o'clock in the morning and the second ones about five hours later around noon.

I've posted the misty photo with the later one below, so hopefully you can see the difference!







Once it burned off ... Curious as the cat/ "Le chat" we decided to see where the stairs would take us to  ... 

             

Do you see the stairs climbing up ... we can see these from our apartment and have been curious to know where they lead!
Well maybe Monsieur Honey has been more curious ... as you can see it goes "up and up" and I still don't like heights! 


Once we reached the top ... there was a narrow path that Msr. said we could follow further, we walked awhile along this path until I came to several spots where the cliffs were reinforced with wooden fences to prevent falls! 

That's it I'm not going any further! 


We climbed and climbed ...

                         

We could see our apartment ... can you see it?


The mountains with a sprinkling of snow ...


Monsieur Honey ...   "Follow me, be more adventurous" ... easy for him to say!
          
           

The view of Ceret from above ...


My favorite "Postcard" from our hike!




Oh there I can see our apartment again ... It's the building with the blue Juliet balconies.


After our uphill hike and back down ... I wanted to go to the "Pont de Diable" ... The Devil's Bridge!
Here is Msr. Honey standing in the middle of the bridge (in the distance, can you see him?


Pont de Diable is a medieval stone arch bridge built between 1321 and 1341 that spans the Tech River. 

It has an imposing single arch which spans approximately 45 meters, at it's apex it is 22.3 meters high.

The following is an excerpt from P-O Life (Life in the Pyrénées Orientales ...

"Many bridges built in medieval Europe were named "the Devil’s Bridge" as they were often amazing feats of architecture, built by hand with skills considered beyond human capabilities. Le Pont du Diable in Céret, a 14th-century bridge with a 46-metre span, at the time of its construction the world’s largest bridge arch, has its own story attached.

In the fourteenth century, the two banks of the River Tech were joined by a wooden bridge which was regularly washed away by the wind and rain." 

The legend is that no one was able to build the bridge and in the end the devil built it!

The views from the bridge ...




                    



What a beautifully scenic area of France!

I will have to see if we can get a full-on photo of "Pont de Diable" from one of the other bridges!

Friday, May 15, 2015

Bird's Eye View ~ Final Postcards from Tossa de Mar (Part Three)

After our delicious and filling lunch, we wondered back down to the seaside and toured the other half of Tossa de Mar.

Come along for a "bird's eye" view.






Minerva on guard....
 
     
Are you ready for the beach?

 
            




Today my "Spanish Trotters" enjoyed the cool waters of the Mediterranean!


                                   




Are you kidding? No thank you .... Didn't you see that we just had a delicious lunch!




                           


                        
                  

                          




                     



Aren't you glad you came along for the tour of Tossa de Mar?

  The trees in the square were dripping with "oranges"!

"Cim I Tomba" at Can Carlus in Tossa de Mar (Part Two)


As the saying goes "when in Rome do as the Romans do" ... 

When travelling we try to live by that saying by being adventurous in what we eat and drink.

Today was not different although we did have something we had last year ... but it was so delicious we had to have it again.

We chose to eat at "Can Carlus" located on a cobble stoned lane next to the old walls.


We had reserved a table for four at 1230 to 100 with John, the same waiter we had met last year.

                          
  
When we arrived he offered us "Cava" as a gift ... so we had a toast to our day in Tossa de Mar with Madame M. and Msr. Guy.


Last year Msr. Honey had a pocketful of souvenir Canadian pins that he obtained at our local MPs office before we left.

John was a recipient of one of these pins ... he recognized us and welcomed us back! 

One the specialties of the area is "Cim I Tomba", my best way to describe it ...
 It is like a fish stew but so much better.


A little white wine ...


The pan of Cim I Tomba presented to us before it was served on individual plates ...


Potatoes, onions, peppers, roasted garlic bulbs, some aioli, fish fillets ... there are various recipes.




That was good ...


Something sweet ...


House liqueur ...



 Waiters dressed as they should be ... Thank you for the great food and service!

                  


If you find yourself in Tossa de Mar ... make sure to try the Cim I Tomba at "Can Carlus".

www.cancarlus.com
 
I think we were all "Happy, Happy" with our delicious lunch!

                        


Come back to see more "Postcards from Tossa de Mar" in the next post.

My camera was in overdrive today!