Very Windy in Collioure on Sunday

Market Day in Collioure. I wish we had a kitchen. The food looked and smelled incredible. Every kind of fruit and vegetables

Sunday morning in Collioure is market day. The main square was filled with food, touristy knick knacks, interesting clothes in styles that no one is wearing (or buying), spices, oils and herbs. We spent the entire morning browsing and shopping. The wind is incredible today, almost like a hurricane.

View of the Chateau Royale and Collioure from the pathway to the the windmill

Collioure is in a cove with the Chateau/fort at the center, dividing the town into two parts. Today we branched out and explored the other half of the town. Our hotel is located nicely midway between the two parts. The 'windmill' side of Collioure is slightly less crowded, with less shops and a quieter feel to it. We visited the Musee d'Art Moderne, which took us ten minutes to look at. The building was more interesting than the art work.

A quiet residential Collioure street on the 'windmill' side of Collioure.

This windmill is on a hill behind the art museum. It was built in the 1200s. Where did I read that it is still a working windmill?

Hard to see, but the windmill is halfway up the hill, beneath the fort at the top of the hill. This is the side of Collioure that we explored today.
This was one of the art works at the museum. We both thought it was an insult to the type of art that Collioure is known for. What was the museum thinking?

Life is slower in Collioure

Hotel Le Mas des Citronniers
We have a courtyard room with a tiny patio

Life is slowing down for us in Collioure. Everyone sleeps late, eats lunch from 12:30 to whenever, then takes a nap. The stores reopen at 3:00p. Dinner doesn't start until 7:00p and people are watching the soccer games all day and cheering everywhere.

View of Collioure and Notre Dame de Agnes

Today we went to the Chateau Royale of Collioure, right next to the hotel. It was very cool, lots of tiny windows perfect for shooting arrows out of, and to take pictures from. The early part of the castle dates from 1172. It is well preserved and not embellished, so you can really get a sense of what it must have been like in the 1100s. I think there is a very primal human feeling connected to stone and you can feel that when you walk through this chateau/fort.


Passage way in Chateau Royale



A port surrounds it, and in this port is Collioure's biggest regional export and what they are most famous for, anchovies! Inside the castle there was a modern art exhibit (how french) that was all about anchovies. It even smelled like them.
Smiling anchovies :)
Smiling Dani and anchovies.


After that, we went to Notre Dame de Agnes. I (Dani) am not much of a church person, but this place was amazing. No flowery fancy french decor, just Spanish amazingness. This is a picture of the main altar, it was so detailed and golden, I was actually in awe. Very very pretty.
Then we had a delicious lunch, as always! I had tuna (amazing) and Leigh had a nice salad with little hot goats cheese on toasts. Mmmmm delicious.
A nice walk after lunch lead us around all the little shops. I wanted to buy these pig planters so bad for my mom, but they would break on the plane. So mom, imagine I bought them for you. You're welcome!

Laundry adventures in Collioure

Yes, we have clean clothes!!! Ahhh, the simple things.

Everyone reaches a point in their travels where clean clothes become the high point of the trip. Today was our day! We mastered a coin laundry and washed all our clothes. Not so straightforward when you don't speak french and there is a mysterious machine that all money must be put into to operate all machines. Our first error was thinking the dryer was a washing machine!!! After resolving that (good thing no one was watching when we poured the soap in the dryer) we were under control and by the end of our wash, we were explaining the system to another English speaking couple. They refused to believe we knew what we were doing. Good to know we aren't the only confused tourists. We notice that now our clothes are extremely clean.

The machine that all money must go into to operate all machines.

I read many interesting French fashion magazines while watching clothes spin. Our clothes are cleaner than they have ever been. The only difference between french and american magazines is, french ones have boobs! And lots of them. I was amazed by all the nakedness in the ads. Of course, it was all classy nudity and all the women were about 95 pounds. Tres sexy.

We've arrived in Collioure

View on a walk yesterday through Villamblard

Jim's dog Alice. I've never seen a dog so smiley before! She's like a cartoon she is so happy. She made me miss my doggy Charlie. Alice and his other dog, Henry, may have been the cutest, most well behaved dogs I've ever met.
We stopped for lunch at a highway rest stop near Carcassonne. Even here the coffee and food were delicious.

We left Villamblard this morning and drove 5 hours to Collioure. Collioure is a Mediterranean town very close to the Spanish border. It was where Mattise and many of the fauvists came to paint. Very colorful. Looks like some interesting shopping. Our hotel room is small, but has a nice patio. Tomorrow, we have already decided to sleep late. We had a simple dinner and there is a very fancy chocolate store next to the hotel. We are testing the chocolate and promise to bring home some delicious dark chocolate.

A real pebble beach! The view from our dinner table.

My dinner, the world's biggest omlette with nothing inside. Just the way I like it. The french eat omlettes for lunch or dinner, never breakfast. They apparently don't eat eggs for breakfast, usually just bread and jelly. Proof that the french are insane and way too fancy for their own good. Who eats just bread for breakfast?! People who drink wine at lunch, that's who. France, you have redeemed yourself.

Thursday, Lascaux & Sarlat

We are slowly going back in time. Today we visited Lascaux. This is a prehistoric cave discovered by 4 children in 1940. The paintings date back 15,000 years. The original cave has been closed because of tourist damage. We visited Lascaux II. It is an exact duplicate in everyway to Lascaux, within walking distance. It can't be described. You have to see it. On the drive to Lascaux, there are stone hills with caves all along the drive.

Walking to Lascaux

Entrance to Lascaux Cave

Montignac view from our car

Montignac. 2k from Lascaux. We stopped here to buy the Lascaux tickets and have coffee.

Cathedral Saint Sacerdos in Sarlat.

Sarlat is a well preserved medieval city. The center of the city is closed to traffic. See how narrow the streets are. A little touristy, but beautiful.

What is a Bastide?

View from our walk through Villamblard last night.

Today we visited two bastides, with Jim as our very generous and well informed tour guide. We got to see a part of France that the average first time tourist would not be lucky enough to see. As Jim explained to us, a bastide is a small walled medieval town. There are many medieval bastides in Dordogne - still fully inhabited and well preserved. Jim is an expert. We visited Monpazier, which was built in 1150. We met up with Anne (Jim's wife ) and her friend Demmy and had lunch at a very nice restaurant in Monpazier. Dani and I had duck!!! Then we visited another bastide, Issigeac. On to Anne's parents house where we spent the afternoon talking with a neighbor - Desmond - a retired Irish dentist, who is now a writer. Desmond was very charmed by Dani and says that she looks like a very upper class french woman and that is why the french love her.

Small town Beaumot (Beautiful Mountain) that we drove through. Paper flowers everywhere.

Jim and Anne

Back yard of Anne's house

Beautiful curved stone archways in Monpazier

Center square in Monpazier

Looking down the street in Villamblard

Jim's house in Villamblard. It's huge!!! He has these amazing dogs, one of which, Alice, is in love with me (Dani). The feeling is mutual.

Last Chateau and now in Villamblard

Our hotel room in Blois. Dani's bed is in the other corner.
Bright purple walls. Very french.

Our last day in Blois, and out last chateau! This one was the Chateau Chenoceau, where mostly women lived. It was much less gaudy and overly decorated than the others, and actually felt like somewhere you could live.


Walking into Chateau Chenoceau, there's a hallway of huge trees that must have been over 30 feet tall.
View of the chateau from inside the kitchen. It is entirely over the river Cher (Is that where she got her name?) Chenoceau was a pleasure palace, where women ruled.
Catherine De Medici's garden.
Inside the chateau was decorated with fresh flowers from the gardens. All of them were the most exotic types of flowers you could imagine. You can tell this was a ladies place.
More crazy flowers, these one looked like something out of The Jungle Book.
Me with my new friend Diane de Portiers. I tried to give her a hug but the alarm went off. Hence the weird face I am making. You are never supposed to touch a King's mistress without permission.

Dani and Jim in Jim's kitchen. We had a delicious dinner.

Jim cooked for us. Fresh vegetables and veal.