Ouzo, Schnapps, Rosé & Prosecco

[Gem56]

All this area is well known for it's mussells and oysters. Lunch was absolutely delish and sooo cheap, especially compared to the cheese fondue in Basel. However, everything compared to our cheese fondue in Switzerland is cheap. This area is flooded with restaurants to choose from and we were more than pleased with our choice.

The lunch menus are great value and are generally only served between 12 and 2pm. In this case it was €24 each for 3 courses, and a 500ml pitcher of wine for €9. Highly recommended.

Restaurant - L'Amphytrion, 17 Rue Jean Bart, Collioure (on the waterfront).

Menu 1

Entree: 5 Doz+ mussels in absolutely yummy sauce with secret spices. Our new favourite mussel restaurant.


Main Course: French version of "Surf n Turf"


Dessert: Creme Brulee


Menu 2

Entree: My salad


Main Course


Dessert: Tart Tatin

 

[drron]

Those meals look great and excellent value.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Those meals look great and excellent value.

Sure were; and after > 60 large mussels for my entree, I wasn't sure that I would make it through the main course, let alone dessert.

But somehow I managed...

 

[Gem56]

I've been without internet access for a few days however back with extra good signals.

So... to continue on with a few more shots of Collioure,

 

[Gem56]

A quick drive from Collioure to Ceret. A very cute little town, situated close to the Spanish border in the foothills of the Pyrénées mountains.

 

[Gem56]

Canet en Roussillon - A commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in Southern France. In searching about this place, thanks to Wikipedia, I discovered this:

The city walls were destroyed in the 19th century.

With the development of sea bathing, the first beach settlement for bathers of the coast of Pyrénées-Orientales was created by Louise Lombard in 1849. As soon as 1854 are established municipal laws to rule types of bathing suits and separated zones of sea bathing for men and women.

 

[Gem56]

Sète. We had a suspicion that our accommodation here was a BnB, and it was. The not so easy place to find was tucked away in the hills and down a very narrow roadway. The main flaw was the many steps, and with lots of luggage, it wasn't a huge amount of fun manouevering it all. Once inside though it was very private with our own little balcony. The owners were a really charming, young couple like us.

Sorry I forgot to take photos of the inside or balcony, however these are photos of the views from the balcony.

 

[Gem56]

After making ourselves at home, we headed up the hill to take in the views of Sète and over to Spain and Marseilles, however that wasn't possible that day as visibility was limited.

 

[Gem56]

Then we drove down the hill to the port and town. Clearly fishing is a big business here.

 

[Gem56]

The weather was a little miserable and although I had a poncho to keep me dry, it soon became a sauna underneath. The options were: get wet or get steamy. We opted for somewhere to have a drink to stay dry and wait till the restaurants opened for dinner, which is 7pm.

Fortunately for us, there was a band setting up at a place that sold drinks outside of dinner service times. The dinner menus looked OK so that's where we decided to stop. Plus we had pretty much walked around most of the town that looked interesting.

We were later to find out that it was the start of the annual music festival - how lucky were we to strike that again!



Cooking moules in the public area. For someone who likes to cook, this was very interesing.







My turn to have the moules!!

 

[Gem56]

We stopped to listen to the band/s playing at the restaurant for awhile, then heard drums being played elsewhere so we went to investigate. These guys were great and the public loved it.

 

[Gem56]

There were bands playing all around the town, some fabulous and some average, as one would expect. However the public participation was great.

 

[Gem56]

Time to return to our BnB before we get locked out. The door is locked at 2am.

 

[Gem56]

After 2 nights in Sète we're back on the road again, gradually making our way to Nice.

Interesting translation.

 

[Gem56]

Wikipedia: Aigues-Mortes is located in the Petite Camargue some 90 km (56 miles) northwest of Marseille. By road, Aigues-Mortes is about 33 km (21 miles) southwest of Nîmes, and 20 km (12 miles) east of Montpellier in a direct line.

... The foundation of the city is said to have been constructed (sic) by Gaius Marius, around 102BC but there is no documentary evidence to support this.

 

[Gem56]

Inside the walled city. A very tidy, well maintained city that is very pleasant to spend time in.

 

[Gem56]

The canals in Aigues-Mortes







Lavender farm outside of Aigues-Mortes

 

[Gem56]

Next overnight stop Nimes

The heat started to build when we were at Nimes. Lots of restaurants have pipes all the way around the canopies and little nozzles that emit a fine mist. It certainly was hot there that day - 31C. It later became obvious that this was just the start of the warmer weather.





The Pradier Fountain - Carved in white marble, it has been in the centre of the Charles de Gaulle Esplanade since 1845.


Clock tower

 

[Gem56]

On checking-in to our hotel, the receptionist informed us that Elton John was appearing the following night with his "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" concert at the famous Nimes Amphitheatre - a 5 minute walk across the park from our hotel. Unfortunately all the tickets has been sold months earlier, however we still went to have a look at the stadium and Elton's roadies were busy setting up for the show. It would have been an excellent venue.











There were approx 9 of these semis going in to unload one after the other. Plus there were 4 very schmick double decker buses in the bays near the stadium, we assume were for the roadies.

 

[Gem56]

The Amphitheatre of Nîmes is a perfect illustration of the degree of perfection attained by Roman engineers in designing and constructing this type of extremely complex building. It demonstrates perfect symmetry: oval-shaped, it measures 133 metres long and 101 metres wide, with an arena of 68 by 38 metres. 21 metres high, its exterior façade comprises two floors of 60 superimposed arches and an attic, separated by a cornice. At the top, pre-drilled stones were positioned to overhang so that long poles could be hung over the arena. A huge canvas canopy was then attached to these poles, thereby providing protection for the spectators against the sun and bad weather. Originally, all the arcades on the ground floor were open to act as entrances or exits. There are certainly bigger Roman amphitheatres, but this one is the best preserved of all of them. (arenes-nimes.com)















As you can see the Amphitheatre is still used by well known artists.