Who can resist any of that?
And yet, there is also the Languedoc-Roussillon region!
Administratively it is gone, though not forgotten. Geo-topographically, the movies might just as well have been made here! We have time for or knowledge of just a very little bit. But then there's all the rest that's in heaven and earth, and a lot of it is really cool!
Perpignan is about as south as France can get. Except that Collioure is even more south than that! And on the storied Mediterranean, of course. Here's us, getting our first glimpse of the water, at the which all hearts quicken, much like in that miraculous moment at the beginning of Tati's Les Vacances de Monsier Hulot.
In coming to Collioure Spencer was revisiting a scene of past missionary exploits. It was part of his district, or close enough to it, anyway. It was the site of some occasional P-day unwinding. Later, he and the office lads snuck off here for a brief breather during a long and rigourous road trip.
We, we were tagging along as usual, admiring the vineyards that rise up behind the village, and the Pyrenees that rise up above that.
Here's what Créme de Languedoc, a private sector website dedicated to ranking the area's beaches, had to say about it.
“Collioure is gorgeous, with its ancient ramparts spilling into the sea, and its Italian Rivera-esque storefront restaurants and bars. The beach ... is just okay, a nice place to sit after a lunch on the promenade. Ultimately, however, Collioure just isn't about beaches. It's about sipping a good rosé while the sun sets and soaking up the sophisticated atmosphere.”
We don't know about that. We did eat lunch here though. We were trying to get a picture of the generous size of these portions, except that it turned out that Mum's hand was bigger than those, put together.
Here's what we were looking at, while we were eating.
That echoes the website after all, doesn't it? We had a very nice time of it. We hiked quite a little bit. We were happy to find a shop with some locally manufactured espadrilles. Sarah and Claire, we thought! Turned out that those shoes didn't even close to fit. We were excited for a minute though, and maybe the thought counts for something.
Anyway, some of the sights ...
