Lost in France: Part Sept - Coming to a Close

I haven't posted a photo of it yet, so before we leave, here's a photo of the house we've been staying in, complete with statue of David and stream running out the front.

Monday was a public holiday in France for all saints day, so we decided to stick close to home in case things were shut. We climbed up to the chateau ruins above Mas. Unfortunately it was drizzling, but we managed to get a few minutes of sun and for those few minutes, the view was great.

The ruins aren't well maintained like the others that we've seen, so they're covered in vines and have trees growing out of them. In some ways it gives them more character.

From the ruins, we walked to the nearby town of Roquefere, which is very pretty. There is a chateau (or really big house) in the town that's built on top of some rocks, like most houses in this area seem to be.

We turned up at the local Auberge, which had come highly recommended, to see if we could have lunch there, but it was all booked out, so we had to go home and eat this instead.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and drinking wine.

We went for a drive along the coast on Tuesday. We started out in Narbonne, which isn't strictly on the coast, but it used to be before it silted up and now it's 10km from the coast. There's a massive cathedral there, but after they'd finished building the Choir and the Towers, the halted construction, so it's only half finished. It does look a little funny, but it's massive now, so I can't imagine how huge it would have been with a Nave added on. Here's a tower and the choir to the right. Unfortunately it was a bit difficult to get a photo of the church in full because the other buildings were so close.

There's a museum of archaeology next to the cathedral with apparently a fine collection of roman mosaics and paintings on stucco. Unfortunately we discovered that it's closed on Tuesday. So we made do with wandering around the cathedral before we headed off.

As we drove south, we could see the mediterranean to our left and the pyranees to our right. Pretty impressive!

It was really windy, though, so we couldn't spend much time on the beach at all. We managed to get this photo of me on a mediterranean beach before the sandblasting drove us away. Poor Paulie did not even want to get out of the car, but I forced him to so he could take the picture.

We drove as far as Port Vendres, which is a Catalan Port, despite being in France. Apparently Catalonia extends into France. It's all very confusing, but it did mean that they have tapas bars, so I just went with the flow.

The architecture here is a blend of French, Spanish and seaside, which makes it quite quirky, unlike many of the towns we'd driven through that looked like French versions of Noosa or Surfer's.

One thing that I found particularly disturbing is that they park their boats in the same haphazard way as they park their cars. There were no marina berths, you just tie up to the harbour next to another boat. Crazy!

Our final full day in the south of France was spent castle hunting again. We started out at Chateau de Puilaurens, which was built on another rocky mountain. We arrived just as it opened, so we were the only ones there right up until we were leaving. The views were spectacular (again).

The next castle on the list was Chateau de Puivert. This one was on a plateau, so a lot easier to get to than the previous. The owner was apparently living there whilst rennovating. Hmmm... rennovating, you say... I guess there was some scaffolding there in some areas, but it wasn't looking super sturdy and there weren't even handrails on the spiral staircases. I'm pretty sure the owner must have been a crazy/eccentric old man. You'd want there to be central heating in the areas you were living in!

The view from the top of the central tower was pretty amazing, but due to lack of handrails, I got to the top of the staircase took my photos, yelled at Paul to be careful and then bid a hasty retreat.

The final castle was called Chateau de Arques. This was in a valley, so even easier to get to. This one was partially rennovated. Although it was pretty good, Paul and I both agreed that it could be improved with the addition of some replica furnishings, so you get the idea of how it would have looked at the time.

We're now in the final stages of packing up. The bags are packed, the house has been cleaned and we're about to sit down to a farewell lunch of pate, roquefort, saucisse and tarts. A fine way to bid farewell.

We've had an awesome time here in France and have already started planning the next trip. Although we're sad to leave, we're looking forward to seeing family, friends and our puppies again.

Lost in France: Part Six - another bridge, more food and a cave

We had checked the weather forecast online several times last week to make sure that we had matched our activites to the weather. We planned a trip to Millau on Friday when it was due to be a sunny and only partly cloudy day. As we drove to Millau through fairly thick fog, we wondered whether the internet had got it wrong. Surely not, not the internet. It knows everything. So we drove on.

When we arrived in Millau, the weather couldn't have been further from the forecast. There was low, thick, grey cloud and it was cold and windy. Oh internet, how could you let me down!?

We did the best we could, but unfortunately the contrast between the white bridge and grey skies isn't great for photos, so you'll have to take our word for it that the bridge is amazing. It's an engineering marvel. It's taller than the Eiffel tower, at 343m, and is almost 2.5km long. It took 3 years and 400 million Euros to build. Insane! I mentioned previously that they didn't build bridges like they used to... well this one is definitely as impressive as the Pont du Gard, if not more so.

After admiring the bridge from several angles, we drove on to Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, the home of Roquefort cheese. This cheese is made in the caves in the hillside that were formed during a rockslide. The largest of the cheese producers is La Societe, who produces over 70% of the world's supply, but only 30% of which is exported - how much cheese does France eat!? We took a tour of La Societe, which included a tour of several of the 13 levels of caves, an animation, a sound and light show and a cheese tasting at the end. Let's face it, the latter is what sold it. Even the lonely planet said that the sound and light show were feeble, so we weren't expecting much. It might have been more interesting if the commentary came with subtitles, but we made up our own storyline to tell how the Abbot came to Roquefort and decided to make cheese in some caves. Judging by everyone else's reaction to the actual commentary, ours was much more hilarous. It could have starred Ben Stiller as the Abbot in the movie version.

One thing that the lonely planet didn't prepare us for was the fact that the rows and rows of cheese in the caves that we visited are all plastic! I was devastated! Fortunately the cheese tasting at the end managed to ease some of my pain. We weren't allowed to take photos in the cave - presumably so that no-one will be able to recreate their patented plastic cheeses, so you'll have to make do with the photos of the cheese that I bought. Three types of roquefort and roquefort pate. That's 660g of cheese that we had to eat in 5 days. PS, that's the plastic cheese on the bag - don't be fooled!

On Saturday morning, we visited the Carcassonne markets again to buy some more fresh produce. There's a whole stand dedicated to pumpkin/squash. There are varieties I've never seen before. Of course, I had to try some.

This is the Jambon that we've been eating. It's cured and then dried, so it's like a cross between ham and prosciutto.

I love these olives!! They're buttery, and not too mushy and not too salty or vinegary. Absolutely delicious!

I'm guessing this is similar to a cauliflower. I really wanted to buy some and try it, but the queue for that stall was really long and there was only one person serving. My attention span couldn't hold me there long enough!

Monday is All Saints Day, where everyone visits the graves of their loved ones, so carnations are everywhere.

After our trip to the markets, we visited a winery that came recommended, Chateau de Pennautier. We had lunch there followed by wine tasting. If you're ever in the area, you have to go. It was fabulous. Just simple, regional food cooked really well. My confit duck was one of the best I've had. Melt in the mouth meat and really crispy skin. Paul's tartare for entree was delish and his lamb and fig tagine-thing (that I can't remember the French word for) for mains was superb.

The wine tasting we did afterwards was great. The sommelier was lovely and the wine was really good. We tried a number of reds, made from different blends of atlantic and mediterranean (this region sits right in the middle) and ended up buying a couple of bottles of a Shiraz / Cab Sav blend that we're hoping to bring home safely. Although, with the restrictions on liquids in your hand luggage, we're trying to figure out how to best to pack them in our suitcase.

As a bit of an aside, we keep seeing these signs for an Australian Park. We think the Kangaroo looks a bit funny. Must be a French one.

We were told by some locals that we should check out the Cave at Cabrespine, because it's massive and very impressive. We turned up there on Sunday morning, just before opening time and were the first ones into the cave. They weren't running tours for a reason that the man's English and our French didn't stretch to, but they had electronic information panels that spoke when you hit the correct sequence of buttons on the touch screen. So we started our tour. It took a while for our eyes to adjust to the darkness, and after a while we could just about see some rock features. We thought we could see the ceiling, but could only see a big black hole where the ground would be. We peered like this around the whole of the cave, thinking that yes the size was impressive, but we wish we were there when there was a guided tour, because we were sure they'd have a torch to highlight all the impressive features that the interactive guides were talking about.

Just as we were finishing up our journey through the cave, a large group of French people came through and after them one of the guides came running through and turned on the lights. Now it all made sense and it certainly was impressive. We went back for another walk through and it was amazing. It is too difficult to capture the sheer size of the cave in the photos, but here are some of the features. For a reference, the Eiffel tower would fit in there.

After the caves, we drove on to another natural wonder, the longest drop waterfall in Europe (or so we were told). You wouldn't know it from any of the signs or the road leading up to it or even the look out deck. It could have been just any other waterfall. Considering they have so many tourists without any real publicity, I guess they don't need to advertise all of their natural wonders.

We're now in the final stages of our holiday. I don't want to go home! I'm having too much fun exploring France!!

Lost in France: Part Cinq - Castle Hunting

On Thursday, we set off south off Carcassonne to find some more Cathar strongholds. We didn't start off well. Instead of taking us on the dual carriageway, our sat nav (Karen) took us via some very windy, narrow mountan roads... again! It took us 2.5 hours to get there when it should have been under 2. Not happy, Karen!

When we eventually got to the first castle, Chateau de Peyrepertuse, first mentioned in 1070, it was well worth the drive - it was impressive in the extreme. Built at the top of a cliff, it would have been almost inpenetrable. The climb alone would have worn out most invaders - or at least those who had been indulging in the local cuisine!

Believe it or not there's a castle on top of that rock!

The sights inside the castle were also pretty impressive and the view from the top was amazing. The castle is in two parts a lower part and an upper part. You climb to the lower part from the carpark. You wouldn't have those sorts of paths in Australia, but they're fairly sturdy by French standards. The top section is reached by steps carved out of the natural quartz rock over 750 years ago, so they're quite worn and very slippery. All that separates the steps from an 800m drop is a rope handrail. The climb is definitely not for the faint hearted and it took me quite a bit of mental strength to get up to the top. Meanwhile children were happily running up and down the steps while parents were trying to pretend they didn't exist. I think parenting is non-existent in France. But that's another story for another day. Here are some shots of the castle.

(can you tell I'm terrified)

(can you tell that Paul's not)

After this we had lunch at a nearby Auberge. We had the set menu, which was a salad for entree and a casserole for main. The salad is definitely not a salad for vegetarians!! There were 2 types of cold meat and 3 terrines and a bit of lettuce and tomato for garnish. The casserole was pork, olive and capsicum and was served with chips. It was fantastic. Very homely, but very tasty.

The next castle was Queribus, first mentioned in 1020, which was agian built high on a rocky mountain. The views from here were again amazing, but there were so many out of control children and so many steps, my focus wasn't really on taking photos, but getting out of there alive.

This is Paulie pretending that he's not being deafened by the screams of 400 young children who are bored and want to go home, but whose parents aren't willing to listen or entertain.

We chose to ignore Karen on the drive home and go back by the dual carriageway. It was through the foothills of the Pyranees, so was quite windy, but the roads were wide, and recently sealed and lanes were marked, so it was practically a motorway compared with what we had to contend with on the way there. Karen is now being heavily monitored.