Late March Update 2009

1. Briar in the seaside village of Colloiure
2. Pont Du Gard viaduct - Vaucluse Valley - Provence
3. Avignon - Pont de Benezet bridge-Palais De Papas - Rhone river - Provence
4. Taxi rank at barcelona aeroporto
5. MC & Briar - Stadi Olympia - Barcelona
6. MC & Briar - Cite De Carcassonne - Rousillion
7. MC and Gaudi's Sagrida Familia



Spent most of the Saturday 14th March giving Hugo an internal cleansing a bit of time on the internet and generally moped about camp all day. We however were entertained by the local weekend permanent campers who arrived in droves all day Saturday, familia’s , dogs, cats and even Grandpa and grandma ta boot. I think it was really the first warm and fine weekend for awhile and everyone was out for a change enjoying the famed Mediterranean weather.
While our Friday at the campground was rather sedate – Saturday night was anything but. Instead of sharing the campground with about 5 or 6 motorhomes/caravans with tourists like ourselves passing thru and a couple of permanent poms (livin down here on their pensions) we shared it with about 500/600 Catalunyans , all dusting off their winter blues. There were barbeques goin (charcoal), table tennis and soccer in the middle of the roads, between the campers, lotsa conversation and catchin up with fellow campers, down our row seemed like every tent was suddenly occupied. They all had come to party and that they did till midnight ( Esphana amidso noche ), all the kids , mommas and poppas, were out the campground had the music pumpin and I mean pumpin till then… and then it jus stopped and everyone went ta bed – hard case . There was even a mix of Abba in there somewhere.
So it was a very quieter Sunday morning and everyone arose a bit later , so we got our bicylettas off Hugos rack and cycled into town around midday, to check it all out of course and grab a pan for comida. All seemed rather quiet in town until we hit the beach promenade, there were people everywhere – not hundreds – but thousands it seemed at first …all enjoying the warmer weather again, hey what else do you do in Esphana on Domingo( Sunday) do like everyone else in the world does go to the beach. I used to think the beaches on the Gold coast were busy. (this is just the start of the crowds we will encounter from here on in)
Still it was a interesting cycle around Sitges, the beach promenade and the old part of town of course ( every town in Spain has an old part) . The restaurants on the promenade were blitzing it, there were many with queues of 20/30 and sometimes even 50/60 waiting to be seated. Off course being Domingo(Sunday) and in Europe nothing is abierto except the restaurants, cafes, heladerias (ice cream shops), takeaways and cerveceria’s (pubs - bars ) , souvenir shops and the odd clothing store we didn’t get our pan, still treddled back to El Garrofer campground and had a healthy Jamon con insalata instead. ( Ham and salad for the dummies ).
Whilst all our Spanish neighbours were once again firing up the barbacaos (barbeques). Even their friends had come out to camp to join several of the regulars for domingo comida. Off course they didn’t eat till around 2.30-3.00pm not like some foreigners in the camp who ate theirs at 1.00-1.30pm – wont mention names. Still we are getting better adjusted to this relaxing style of life. Off course the camp got quiet for an hour or two whilst they all siested . Then they all starting packing up and headin home – leaving us and our 5 or 6 motorhome/ caravan foreigners for a quiet campground again- by the way that’s how it stayed for the rest of the week – with the odd foreigner coming and going.
Monday 16th – decided to spend the day getting Hugo some new tyres and some better security locks put on Hugo. This took most of the day , by the time we had found a couple of campervan shops , with what we needed and could also place the locks for us , one does not exactly carry around a full tool kit when campervanning.
By the end of the day Hugo had two new tyres and two new security locks on him – so not only was he feelin good about that but we were to knowing we could lock Hugo up a bit more confidently and securely. We did do a small food supply run as well – to last us for a few days, whilst we were gonna be doin the tourist thing in downtown Barcelona for the next couple days. So after a good tapas/ chena/ hot showers – off ta bed with eager anticipation of tomorrows events. Once again awoke to a magnifico mediterrano manyana ( around 20 degrees) a wee breeze – the usual 3 x S’s – pack the backpack and headed to the autobous stop to catch the 8.45 into centro Barcelona.
A rather interesting 50 min. ride along the coast and out to the aeroporto into town route trip. Man – I thought I had seen some taxi stands in my time
But nothing like the one they got a Barcelona aeroporto – sensational is a word to describe it about right. I even took a photo – they had a carpark the size of around 3 x football fields full of taxi’s waiting to get in a queue for the travellers arriving, that carpark was about 600/700 yards away from the terminals where it was nose to tail of more taxi’s queuing along the road and outside the terminal buildings – all an ugly black and yellow – easy to spot – I reckon on my observatory skills there would have been around 1600 taxis at any one time on or around the airport – like I said sensational – by the way didn’t spot a single middle eastern or Punjab taxi driver amongst any of them.
We finally ended our bus trip at the Catalunya Placa (plaza) where we had to catch the Barcelona city tour bus ride – we did this bus tour for a couple days in Madrid with the same company and we had a discount voucher for the Barcelona bus tour. Would recommend this to anyone for seeing a bigger city , as they have stops around the major tourist stops/ musee’s/cathedral’s/ etc.etc and on a fine warm day on the top open deck of a bus ya get ta see a lot I’ll tell ya. They even have earplugs with commentary on the various highlights/stops. Ya can get off at anyone of these stops and get on anywhere at the designated stops. We decided once we got on to do the whole route – which took around 2 ½ hours and showed us all the usual amazing things. It also gives you a chance to pick out which ones to actually get off and visit. We got off at the second to last stop so we could check out the Barcelona cathedral – which off course all the tourist books rave about- but it was cerrado – due to it being revamped it certain parts and it was comida time 2-4pm. We stopped for a café con latte and pee at a café nearby the cathedral. Then we wandered through Barri Gothic (old town part of Barcelona – as ya do) – we finally found a rather international flavoured tapas restaurant serving supposedly tapas comida’s to unsuspecting foreigners like us - but we knew better that it wasn’t tapas at all , but we were hungry and ate it anyway – even though it was a ripoff really and I hate ripoffs, we would have the real thing tonite or tomorrow night. I had spotted one earlier in our wandering that I had a sneaky feelin we would be checkin out tonite or tmoro. After the worms had been fed- another pee – all this travelling makes me pee a lot – dunno wot that’s about. ( ha! Old age???)
We caught the tour bus again and headed for Sagrada Familia church – one of my big ticks on our European adventure. We had gone past earlier in the day and there were masses of people/ bus tours etc. queuing once again to get in. Well we must have timed it right because we walked straight in after paying the entrada fee of $8.50 each
nothing much is free in Europe – especially historic sites or artefacts. Hey this is one helluva piece of architectural masterpiece by an equally architectural master that seeing in the flesh beats photos out of a book any day. Gaudi who obviously designed Sagrada Familia , also designed several other buildings through and around Barcelona,
but this piece de resistance and ironically his last. They still have 20 years of building to complete it and it was started in the 1800’s! Sadly Gaudi was killed by a Barcelonian tram running him over in 1926 – pretty ironic really. This is all built by donation and sponsorship and there must be heaps going into it as 5 cranes were in place and heaps of steel etc going in by workers we figured had a job for life! The precision and detail going into this grand building is nothing short of breathtaking – I could spend 3-4 pages writing about it but I won’t, however Gaudi’s biggest influence would have been nature and many,many of the attributes of Sagrada Familia depict this influence in astounding ways. We also passed a couple of other buildings he designed on the bus tour – Castillo Batillo and the La Pedrera . In the basement of the Sagrada Familia was a musee all about Gaudi and the initial plans and workings of Sagrada Familia. He used string and suspended mini bag weights to create the initial shape of Sagrida Familia – amazing. After that we caught the tour bus back into Barcelona centro – placa Catalunya – had a nosy through a Cortes Inglese department store – had about 7 seven floors a bit like Marks & Spencers. lookin for a replacement mobile phone and briars perfumes that got stolen. Can’t have Briar touring around Europa being not smelling nice can we… Still had a nosy – too expensive .. same in euros as nz dollars - caught the N30 back out to camp Garrofer. Another night of scheming and planning tomorrows day back in Barcelona – some dinner , a DVD and off ta bed – all this touristy stuff does make one rather tired – more so than working… yeah right you all say.
Awoke to another splendid Mediterranean day warm sunny around 20 degrees – back into Barcelona central we headed – managed to get a good pic of the infamous taxi stand at Barcelona aeroporto this trip in. We jumped on the tour bus again and headed for stop no. 6 – Placa Francesc Macia – more Cortese Inglese stores there – we were gonna buy a mobile today – and we did but from a store next door to Cortes Inglese – a cheap $85.00 Nokia and Briar picked up a cheap $23.00 euro black replacement handbag – muy bien. So feelin rather smug with what we had set out to do, we grabbed a filled roll or baguette each and caught the tour bus at stop no. 8 for the Palau Alfons Xlll / Palau Victoria Eugenia – a palace sittin on the hill built for a world expo held there in the 1930’s. It looks down over the Fira Internacional de Mostres – world expo site and the whole of Barcelona. We sat on a park bench and ate our baguette’s and then had a wander around took a couple pics- poked our nose inside the palau’s which today is used as the National art muse. of Catalunya. $8.50 each for entrada – not budgeted for today – so wandered on up the hill to the 1992 Olympic stadium and Anella Olimpica site. Got a pic next to the communication tower designed by a Japanese artiste- another couple pics standing in the Estadi Olimpica – Luis Companys – Olmypic stadium – where the 1992 games were held. (amazed to find it was designed and built ready for the 1936 games but the Spanish Civil war meant those games were held in Germany..) Cool stuff – grabbed a the tour bus from there back down to the Port Vell (Marina) and sat in the afternoon sun in a cervecia/restaurant with views over the port/marina.
Had a timber gangplank type bridge which pivoted on a pillar and rotated diagonally
to allow yachts back into the marina – fascinating to some, or nosy bastards like me.
After that our planned stroll up the famous street Las Ramblas – even took a pickie of the sign for proof. Well it was pretty much like any other city street really with a big middle walkway part and roads either side and then pavement and shops. Had all the touristy souvenir and tapas bar advertising/paraphernalia etc.etc. lotsa little market type stalls along the middle part. Several blokes made up as Statues – stat-u-bro. There was one guy on a toilet – another done as a 14th century cavalier – Edward scissorhands – another knight – they all stand there motionless until fag time with a bowl in front for donations -- aaayyy. You could tell this was a touristy town by the different types and nationalities of people, mostly from the languages you picked up.
Now it was time to head for the tapas bar we had spotted yesterday for the new revolution in tapas – called pintxos – they are small creations with bamboo type toothpick through them and you just wander along choosing what you like and then pay for the amount of toothpicks you have on your plate at the end. – sensational.
When you do the real deal tapas thing ya supposed to have several at one bar and then move onto the next. But in our haste to find good tapas bars- we got lost abit wandering and never spotted many tapas bars like the one we ate at earlier. Still it was
good wandering through the old parts (Barri Gothic / La Ribiera ) of Barcelona. We finally found a restaurant down a dingy little lane of the main haunts and shared the plato del dia ( menu of the day – night really) with a young boys french tour group who bowled in to the restaurant about ten minutes after we had arrived. It made for a lively and very noisy atmosphere. While the food wasn’t sensational there was plenty of it and reasonably flavoursome and good value for money. We rolled outta there headed back up to Placa Catalunya along Las Ramblas again to catch the N30 back to camp Garrofer and right at the end of Las Ramblas there was a student riot happening
so lotsa police kitted out with full riot gear / paddy wagons / flashing lights , even had the old eye in the sky, helicopter buzzin around and off course a couple thousand protesters marching who knows where or why- we had spotted them earlier in the day –outside a Zara store near Placa Catalunya while we were on the bus. Still this was quite exciting a part from there were no buses runnin due to blocked off streets – fortunately the marchers moved on somewhere else and freed up our bus route – which was delayed around ½ an hour – so a late ride home to camp. Still we made it safe and sound. Awoke the following morning to yet another outstanding mediterrano day- a catch up day around camp and Sitges today – both needed haircuts / trims so after a late brekkie we jumped on the bikes and rode along the less crowded beach promenade into the downtown village of Sitges. Found a good hairdresser who spoke
reasonable inglese , very chatty chap, who not only did a good job on us both but was also a reasonable pagar (price) .
Picked up some pan , a few other supplies for dinner etc. and back out to Hugo and Camp Garrofer- so good havin the bikes – good way to see villages . Did some internet research – some more laundry - the usual antipasto – chena and DVD and bedtime.
We both awoke excited about headin back into France today – so we left Camp Garrofer around 11.00am and made a beeline for the border – on our way through we had spotted a town (La Jonquera) just before the border crossing – where lotsa truckies stop before heading in France – mainly due to cheaper diesel and food prices – so there a a lot more than usual supermarkets/gas stations etc. etc there and we decided to also stock up on supplies before headin back into France- we spotted a carpark with several campervans in so that was good enough for us. We packed a whole trolley full – mainly of the refreshment kind of course- some food as well.
Hugo’s cupboards fully replenished we crossed over the border for the third time and disappointingly once again no border guards to check us out on our way through…. yeah right. Hardly seen a border guard since we got here in Europe – I wonder what they do all day or get paid ta do.?? We finally stopped for comida at a marina at Argeles sur mer about 30k’s on the French side – late lunch – 4.00pm . Then headed back towards the border again to Colloiure – the quaint little seaside town we had stayed at previously on our way back down to Barcelona. We pulled into the same Aire de stationment we stayed at last time around 5.00pm, plugged in and bunkered down for the night. We awoke to a yet another splendid mediterrano morning after brekkie and the usual 3 x S’s we headed into town for a squiz around. We walked around the Chateau Royale smack in the middle of town on the waters edge to off course. Took afew pics found a phone booth, gave Julie ( Rognes) a quick call about our drop in on later in the week if poss. After finally nutting out the phone and calling system – all in French as well we finally got thru only to leave a message on the on the mobile answer. Found a café and parked for awhile doing what the French do – café next to the beach in the sun.
We wandered through some of the older part and then jumped in Hugo and headed off to a local Supermarche in Canet De Rousillion on our way to Gruissan Plage further up the coast. After the supermarche we headed to the coast road found a spot on the promenade next to a netball court next to Canet En Rousillion beach had some comida. Then found a carwash , so we could give Hugo a good spray powerwash as it had been about 6 or 7 weeks since his last bath. Off up the coast again – some magnificient beaches – lotsa parking bays/ cars and campervans all the way along – this was still in winter come spring – it must surely get crazy around here in summer.
We pulled into one of the Aire de stationments right next to a campground in Port Leucreute – pulled in and checked it out to see if we might stop for the night here. There were around 75-80 campervans all parked along the beachfront with the vistas overlooking the beach already full and several rows of campervans behind – there was even another parking bay on the otherside of the entry road with the services and space for another 50-60 campervans, there was about 20 empty parking bays left here. Ironically the campground next door had only 6 or 7 campervans in the campground. But the campowner was smart enough to advertise laundry facilities available signs all around the aire de stationment.. which did have reasonably good campervan services but no electricity hook-up. But a lot of these campers had solar panels and satellite dishes on there campervan roofs and looked as though had been there awhile.
We decided against plonking here for the night and carried onto Gruissan Plage – another ¾ hour or so we pulled into the Gruissan Aire de stationment – paid our $7.00 euro fee and found a spot amongst the other 80 campervans parked there already. After settlin in we thought we’d check out the local town/marina and some old ruins on the top of the hill which looked like it had views all over Gruissan. The town and marina were pretty quiet – lotsa yachts/boats but no people. Lotsa apartments overlooking the Marina and port but very few people around. Bet it is rather different come summer time.
We wandered up to the top of the hill found a great spot on top of some sought of concrete water tank perhaps with 360 degree views right around Gruissan – the town – the marina – the beaches – the harbour – salt lakes – where of course they produce sea salt. As the sun settled over the distant mountains I pinched Briar and myself just to make sure we were here – haha – I also sneaked a quick peck on the cheek – how romantic of me. Back to Hugo – an anti-pasto and chena, a few games of computer hearts and mahjong and into bed for some zzzzz’ss..
Once again we awoke to another sunny but not so warm Cote De Azur morning, they had showers and loos at this aire de stationment, we managed to sneak in early before everyone arose for a quick shower- warm water even – yaayyy. No 3 x S’s this morning though – managed two S’s, so I didn’t have a shave if you’re wondering.
I had decided the previous night to do a trip inland into Cite de Carcassonne apparently the biggest fortress of its kind in Europe – with 52 towers/turrets
around the perimeter walls – just another piece of French magnifique. It even had a moat around it with no water unfortunately – but had the entry drawbridge and towers
cool stuff – unfortunately it was very touristy orientated on the inside – where people obviously lived and had there musees/ cafes/ restaurants/souvenir shops a couple of armouries complete with metal helmets/bodysuits and swords of the period. You can imagine the streets with swashbuckling buccaneers, madams, peddlers etc.etc. etc
It was well worth wandering around – had pay to much to go in the castle part which was small in comparison to the whole fortress itself.
We had managed to find a patisserie in town earlier and had the now customary filled roll/baguette and cuppa for lunch in the carpark. The hour trip inland and back out again to the coast was rather interesting as well – a lot of rugged stony land with lotsa – you guessed it – vines , vines and more rows vines. Not an area or region I thought was renound for vino. Passed lotsa campers on route – they all wave at each other, so now us being seasoned campervanners wave back as though we been doin it for years… yeah right. We are noticing far more campervanners down and around these regions now- our days of solitude are far and few between are numbered as it starts to warm up.
Back out at the coast we headed for Cape De Agde to check out there aire de stationment – couldn’t find it but parked up at the Cape point and wandered up to admire the coastal views – there were even a few people out sunbaking, it was around 17 degrees, back into Hugo got lost up some river / canal got “ma cherie” out to navigate us otta there, we then passed through a major coastal town of Sete- lotsa marina’s and yachts/ boats – big boats parked up the sought you would have seen in Auckland port when the America’s cup was on.
Around 20k’s or so further up the coast we pulled into the coastal town of Palavas Les Flots. The route out there was past many ponds and canals and estuaries and apparently the town and marina/port has been man made – don’t know how much of its for real. But it is all a protected wildlife sanctuary region – with Flamingo’s (yes pink ones of course) everywhere.
Hundreds of them with their long legs and bum stuck in the air and their heads stuck in the water feeding. As we approached Palavas Les Flots we could see a mini version of skytower in the town centre.
Had already checked it out as a definite aire de stationment stop. We found it without too much fuss and checked in for two nights – it was near the main road into Palavas right on the marina. We were later to find out that the toilet/shower block was also used by the marina folk. We managed to find a corner site overlooking the boats with the sun setting and beaming into the front of the campervan – fantastique . There were around 70 or so campers in this stationment, mostly French – a few german and Netherlands – no brits/ kiwis or aussies though. This was certainly the best aire de staionment yet – especially with the services it provided – it was very well set up for campervans. We plugged in and ate our antipasto as the sun set over the flots (we found out later it means ponds – funny that) - next morning after a nice warm shower and shave we headed into town for a bit of exploring- had found out about some free Wifi or hotspot at a local hotel – which worked – we had taken the backpack and the mini lappie with us – so sat in the hotel courtyard and opened a few emails and answered a few. Then strolled further into town – around the marina – Palavas had a canal smack through the middle of it – so you could drive ya boat up the main street almost and park it, get out and go to lunch at the many restaurants lining both sides of the canal.
We spotted the mini skytower and made a beeline for it, we paid our two euros each and zoomed up the see through glass lift around 120 feet up (7 storeys) where of course 360 degrees around – unfortunately for Briar but luckily for the budget the restaurant was closed or under going new management or direction we were told. They had headphones in English at various spots around the circular tower which described the various views , areas and info. on the local town, culture etc.etc.
Being a spectacularly sunny and clear day – the views were for miles and miles in all directions. We spent a good half hour learning about Palavas Les Flots (where we found out about ponds being called Flots in French) the protected flora /fauna the wildlife – and the eelponds – a local specialty in the restaurants – bloody French eat almost anything like kiwis. The local fisherman also are a big part of the local culture- they also park their boats up the main canal – and peddle their catch each morning – at the permanently set up stalls on the canal, we arrived a bit late too see all that, a shame really.
After much persuasion or niggling from Briar we stopped at a Restaurant called Nexxt ( looked parisienne chic) and the Platos de jour (plates of the day) looked rather apetising and value for money- I should mention we had nothing really to eat for lunch. So we sat down on an outside/courtyard tableau and ordered the set menu of the day and began our first leisurely French dining experience. The ambience/ service and later food was excellent and we both really enjoyed the experience – probably our best meal out experience so far. When it comes to eating out – the French are worlds apart from everyone else…it is a beautiful thing. The entrée/ main course and desert were all really tasty and very well presented, the service was also impeccable compared to previous dining experiences in Esphana and Portugal. We had a couple of iced teas with a peach flavour – very refreshing, water and a couple of coffees to finish all for $40 euros.
I even left a $2.00 euro tip , I was that impressed – last of the big tippers. As we waddled away I was thinking the waiting staff were saying bloody cheap tourists.
Hey I’m on a budget don’t ya know. Had a slow waddle back to Hugo along another canal which ran along the back of the aire de stationment. We siested most off the rest of the afternoon – but ventured out later that evening for a sunset treddle along the beach front promenade. We had a very lite and late dinner – a DVD and into lala land. We awoke to a different morning – it was windy and cloudy and decidedly cooler, raced down to the shower block – 3 x S’s – some brekkie and raced down to the hotel to use Wifi again before the ominous looking rain clouds approaching. We got about half an hour before it started spittin. We packed up the lappies quickly headed back to Hugo - packed up the bikes and Hugo ready for the next bon voyage.
We left Palavas Les Flots in showery weather –headed up the coast about 25 k’s to another aire de stationment – but the local council had closed it until beginning May.
So hit the trail – heading for Saint Marie Le Mer – another coastal town in a national parque area south of Nimes – we had to travel through flat marsh / swamp land called the Camargue region – which is a bit like Argentinian or Spanish caballero country. White ponies every where on farms. The Saint Marie Le Mer town had right on the promenade next to the tourist office and centro area a torro del arena – lotsa horsemanship stuff. We did notice that all the horses on the advertising posters , in the postcards and in the countryside fields we drove past were 98 % white. As you would expect there is a lot of beef around and predominately features on most of the restaurant menus but still bloody expensive.
Beef and lamb are way expensive – a good 200gm piece of scotch fillet 9 entrecot its called over here – seems through most of Europe so far) – would be around $4.00 euros – about $17-18 a kilo – on the current exchange rate that’s about $44.00 NZ dollars a kilo. So we have steak only on special occasions, the lamb seems to be a little cheaper – and frozen NZ lamb is slightly cheaper again – the local lamb both in Portugal/Spain and France so far tastes a lot different from NZ lamb, just doesn’t measure up I’m afraid at all to ours. We stopped in at an Intermarche supermarket store to replenish supplies and headed the remaining 23 k’s out to Saint marie Le Mer- with Hugo being buffeted all thwe way out by a very stiff South-easterley, which by the way blew most of the night as well – and typically didn’t give up till we left the next morning. We literally blew into Saint Marie Le Mer – once again a deserted seaside resort town – there were a few locals, people and tourists around – but once again this place no doubt would pump in summer. We pulled into the Aire De stationment if ya could call it that. More like just a car park with a dump and water station really – no chemical toilet disposal or electricity hook up like the book said. Ya just can’t tell until ya get their sometimes. We settled in with around 5 campers at that time- there was however space for about 14/15 campervans only.
We headed off for a windblown reconoiture of the local seaside village of Saint Marie Le Mer – but suprising to find quite a few tourist type shops down the usual narrow lanes in the centre of town trading – god knows who too. There were a couple of idiots like us wandering around on an angle seeing the sights. We checked the local Caballero arena and tourist info. centre out- see if anything else in the local area worth seeing.
Got blown all the way back down the promenade – luckily it was a tail wind goin home – been away for an hour ½ and 2/3 more campers there by then – and by around 6pm the car park was full with about 14 campers. Briar cooked up a yummy lamb chop dinner – with strawberries for desert. Bon apetito .
We woke with the sun beaming in but the wind was still there but certainly not like it was the previous day. We had finished brekkie and had just finished our showers around 8.45am – knock on the camper door – the local authority fee collector standing there wanting $8.00 euros outta us. Bloody cheek – considering the pitiful services they provided. – We had noticed our neighbours and a camper behind us also take off before 8.00am – now we know why – to avoid paying a stationment fee. I guess it was only $8.00 euros – not break the bank kinda stuff. We paid the man refilled Hugo with some water and dumped our grey water and drove of towards Avignon.
We decided to do a detour first to the Pont Du Gard - a Roman concrete water viaduct built in the in 50 AD. The drive through more of the Camargue region then past Nimes and finally into The Provence region and onto Pont Du Gard. We parked up in the parking lot - a few buses / campervans there already - $5.00 euro entrée / parking fee – not bad. Had to pass through yet another quaint little French village called Castillion Du Gard. The castle town overlooking the pont du gard – funny that
Had around a 10 minute walk out to see the viaduct in all its glory- man to think this was built almost two thousand years ago - unbelievable – an just to get water from a natural spring into the city centre of Nimes – where of course the romans had built a mini colloseum and several other cathedrals/buildings of significance way back then too. It took five years and a thousand men to build it – it was around 500 metres in length and rose above the riverbed it went over about 120 metres high. A very masterful piece of roman building skills – f…en amazing really.
We wandered around the viaduct in awe – took a couple pics only – as we are really on our last battery reserves before we pick up the new battery charger in a few days. – fingers crossed. The whole park and viaduct is another Unesco World heritage site – have quite a few of those here in France. Sauntered around abit more through the Jardins, back to Hugo for a cuppa and then hit the road for Avignon – yet another famous walled town – but this one was a little extra special, as it is also the only Papal city outside of the Vatican in Rome to have a Pope residing – during the mid 14th century.
The Palais De Papes was built in the 1340-s and took 20 years to complete – whilst two popes Benedict X11 and Clement V1 oversaw the construction of the gothic palace, the largest in Europe.
It also sits right on the Rhone river and our campground we were staying in was straight across from it – right next to the Pont Edouard Daladier bridge which also happened to be on the Barthelasse Island ( the largest river island in Europe 1700 acres) which the Rhone river runs down both sides of it. There is also the famous bridge Pont St-Benezet which has a poem written about it and only 4 of its 22 spans remain today – got a superb sunset pic with it all in – fantastique. We once again saundered around the Palais – the jardins which at the top give fantastique views ova the whole of Avignon – the barthelasse island (almost) the Villeneuve-les-avignon part of Avignon. We also visited the Musee Petit du Palais which had some outstanding Italian religious paintings by Boticelli/ Carpaccio and Giovanni De Paulo.
Mostly 12th century to 14th century stuff – shame about the borer on some of them had eaten away at the gold filigree paint on a few. Still interesting – I wonder what these artistes would have painted without Christianity and the crucification and rising of Christ. – fruit bowls or naked women perhaps ??? Still after a couple hours of saundering around we watched a bunch of breakdancers in the square and then headed to the plaza de horloge in the middle of the walled city – sat down at a café – a glass of rouge and rose and people watched as we sipped our wine.
Lotsa younger people about we noticed – it was around 5.30pm – still we finished our vins and spotted a creperie – Briar had been dying (ya know what I mean) to try one – so she got her wish – they make them fresh then and there in front of you – the batter is poured onto a special hotplate and then they use a special spreader knife to evenly spread the mixture evenly over the circular hotplate – once flipped on with the filling- everyone else has Chantilly chocolate or Nutella ( yes – that’s right Nutella)
Briar has the old alcohol – Grand Mariner and sugar one. Alchie !
I did manage to sneak a couple of bites - delicioso - no doubt will try another one of those some where. We then headed back to the camp – along the Rhone next to some of the luxurious tour canal cruise boats. Only one of the four parked was operating but very nice – a good way to see a country. Had a couple hours on the WIFI internet
In the camper – had some homemade pizza for tea and then the DVD and bedtime.
The usual morning routine but at a leisurely pace - we finally hit the road about 11pm – needed diesel and some food supplies – managed to do that on our way outta Avignon to our next destination. – Carpentras.
Have to really look around at Diesel/petrol prices – can differ from 0.93 to 1.07 euros per litre in France. We were heading to Carpentras to check out the Aire de stationment there for the following day Carpentras apparently shuts all the streets to (of course) the older part of town to have its weekly Friday market, I read somewhere one of the best in France . The aire de stationment in Carpentras wasn’t all that good – having only a couple parks on a busy street – and with a lot of dodgy characters around – the town streets were rather badly organised in my opinion – trafficwise – so we thought wed hightail it outta there – check out another aire de stationment in a nearby town – 12 km’s further up the mountain – Mt Ventoux – the Tour de France (cycle) race passes over this mountain- its around 2000m high. Malaucene a town at the base is around 600m high in altitude- still another quaint little French village with a decidedly quieter stationment with the same services as Carpentras and a few more campervans around – the old safety in numbers trick.
We decided this will do us for the night. – Freecamp night. Did the usual stroll and check out the town routine – around 3/4pm – shops shut for siesta time – once again another town with a small hilltop in the centre of town with panoramic views of the town and its surrounds - so up we trudged for a jack norhee.
Back to Hugo after jack via the old part and maze of alleys to Hugo- a tapas some computer mahjong and my turn to cook – honey/soy pork stir fry. The old one dish wonder – easy peasy. Hit the hay earlier than usual .
We awoke also earlier than usual – to a sunny warm(16) day – we were next to a mountain with snow on it – right at the very top. We packed up Huo after a cuppa – cleaned the toilet out – filled up with water and headed back into Carpentras – before one of those local authority chaps knocked on our door demanding $8.00 euros or something. Headed back down the mountain to Carpentras before checking out the Friday markets. Found a perfect spot at the aire de stationment to have a shower and some brekkie- on a busy street – so would deter thiefs while we were at the markets. Showered and breakfasted we hit the old streets of Carpentras and Market day.
Had spotted through a gate opening into the old part some vendors setting up trestles – so we headed there first – well that was the beginning and it went on and on weaving through the streets/lanes/plaza’s/squares even the carpark across from the old town part. All sorts of stuff for sale of course – but most of the locals were their for the food / veggies/fruit – meat/seafood/fresh cheese – the odd baguette /pan seller and other regional produce. Gotta say one thing about markets the food is always fresh and usually a lot cheaper than the supermarkets. After a couple hours of wandering – bought he odd veggie and some fruit – spent a grand total of around $5.00 euros we found a café – for an café et la and a sugar brioche bun (yum) - cafes in plazas are a great place to people watch.
Bags of goodies in hand we headed back to Hugo and hit the trail again . We both thoroughly enjoyed our first real market experience – has given us the taste for more.
We then made a beeline for a campground in Aix en Provence not only to boot Hugos leisure battery up - but it was close to Julie and Fritz’s for the following morning. Aix-en Provence supposedly chic – parisienne town –passing thru didn’t rock my boat – we found Camp Chantecler – got charged $23.00 euros – rip off
Will make sure I have 2 bloody showers at that price . Found a parcel for Hugo a couple plots down from some fellow Kiwi campers in a campervan .. We set Hugo up
For the night – plugged in etc – went and had me first shower whilst briar did some computer stuff. Then grabbed a couple chairs and botteliers of red and headed down a couple plots to have a couple with some fellow countryman/woman. After intros’
Jarod,Jasmine and 4 yr old Talia and some friends of theirs who also had just arrived that day Shaun and Emma – sat for an hour or two – exchanged travel stories – news about home – where ya headin to next – etc etc. Jasmine was around 7 months pregnant – but her and Jarod were doin a quick trip through Europe with around 10 days to go –had hired a campervan from a UK/Kiwi campervan firm. Good to chat with not only some english speaking people but bloody kiwis ta boot. It got dark to quick and it was getting colder so we headed back to hugo for dinner, DVD time and bedtime. We were both looking forward to meeting Cathy’s friends Julie / Fritz and family – yeeaayyy more kiwis, sought of (Fritz is of german decent) but spent many years living and working in NZ and hopefully pickin up some goodies . That’s all for this update as getting tired – will fill ya in about our stay with Julie and Fritz in Rognes next update – Au revoir/ bon journey for now.