CHAPTER 17. SOUTH EAST FRANCE CONT.

Leaving Aix on a nice warm sunny May 1st we drive back roads west via Salon, seeing many bicyclists in their club colors, and on to Arles, arriving at noon for another excellent meal at the Arenes Restaurant. Then we drive by Aigues Mortes, and Grau du Roi, along an undeveloped section of the Mediterranean coast with sandy beaches and many cars parked along the road, to Palavas, on the coast south of Montpellier.

In Palavas we find the Brazilia Hotel with the help of a man who first looks at our car’s license to direct us in German, then in Spanish when we don’t understand. It is a nice hotel, across from a sandy beach. We walk with big crowds along a pretty harbor and strand.

The day is sunny and nice, with some clouds and a breeze coming from the sea, as we continue west via Villeneuva to Sete and stop for francs and a Herald Tribune, and then drive to the top of Mt. St. Claire for a hazy, but pretty, view over the city and port. On the scenic road to Agde we see miles of sand dunes and almost deserted sand beaches. After a tasty lunch at the Three Sergeants Restaurant in Cap d’Agde we drive thru Beziers to Narbonne and stay at the Midi Hotel. We walk to the cathedral which is very interesting, with small nave and large chapels providing buttresses. The chapels have high ceilings and much stained glass.

It’s a cooler, rainy day as we drive south to Perpignan where we have lunch at the Restaurant Le Helder near the railroad station. The streets are crowded and parking is hard to find, but we find a spot near Le Castillet and climb up spiral steps to see an interesting museum on the 2nd and 3rd floors. We drive on south along the coast toward Port Vendres and stop in Collioure at Le Bon Port Hotel, with a good view of the port from our room window. After a rest we drive down and walk around the very pretty port, and since it is Saturday afternoon we make our weekly “keep in touch” call to our daughter Karen in Sacramento, where the time difference makes it fairly early in the morning. Telephone booths are usually available, and with a hand full of five franc pieces they are much cheaper than calls made from hotel rooms.

After breakfast on the glassed in terrace with a beautiful view of the port and many boats heading out to sea, we drive south along the Cote Vermillion on very twisty back and forth and up and down roads with good views of terraced, vineyard covered mountains, and rocky coves and inlets. We turn west into Figures in Spain, and then north back to France and Le Boulou where the restaurant we selected is “compleat” with participants of a sports car rally, so we lunch at the Grillion d’Or where we have a rare “not so good” meal.

After lunch we drive to Ceret and look at the Museum of Modern Art. Then we leave SE France and drive west up a narrow rocky canyon of the Pyrenees to Saillagouse, where we stay before going thru Andorra to see our friends in Quillan and to continue our 1986 trip in SW France (#16).