“🎶and it’s getting better, warm and wilder, getting better every day”🎶

With the  arrival of daughter on 3rd January we decided to start exploring in earnest (no, we haven’t changed the name of the car or the mode of transport).   We decided on Narbonne and its seaside partner Gruissan as being easily achievable in one day. (We always have to factor in a good 90 minute “refreshment break”.)

Obviously,  the lack of Christmas decs is a local thing   In Narbonne we were blinded by them, all in the best possible taste. Narbonne is a pretty town of ancient honey coloured buildings and a must to return to.

 

But perhaps, even more so, because,  overlooking the town square and all its Christmas gaudiness is a most beautiful building, possibly 1800 or earlier, dedicated to “the women of France”

We chose Gruissan as our refreshment break because it was on the coast   It is obviously a big water sports area in the summer but at the beginning of January the wild birds reclaim the land and swoop around annoyingly, at us, the interlopers. I saw my first flamingoes, standing around miserably on one leg (presumably to try to keep at least one leg out of the freezing water) –  they looked less pink than blue with the cold. In fact we saw one fall over into the water –  obviously trying to warm both feet at once.

Gruissan is famous for two things   One is the fact that there are 1300 wooden houses standing on stilts.   On our visit it looked like some ghostly Atlantis:  grey wooden shacks, risen from the depths of the ocean,  seaweed fanning out from the stilts like shredded stockings,  wooden shutters banging and the wind howling through the empty streets.

However, the other claim to fame is, and I quote Wikipedia here: “Also the home of Gary W. Harvey the reputed inventor of time travel using the ‘magnetic pulse resonance theory’ to excite atoms into a single vibration direction at previously thought unachievable speeds. His sudden disappearance is thought by many to be the result of a ‘journey that went wrong’!!

On Friday last we ate breakfast in the garden.    22 degs and sunny.   We went for lunch with our friends from Gabian – ‘La Maison’ in Tourbes, a local village.   Best food we’ve had since we arrived and not an oyster in sight!   Yippee!

Darling daughter was flying home from Montpellier so we decided to spend the day there.    Another beautiful, buzzy city with great Christmas decs! (last mention, I promise).

Gazzie had done his homework this time.   We got lost going to collect Sara and she was waiting an hour for us to find our way into the airport.  This time we parked on the outskirts of town and caught a tram into the centre   The trams are amazingly beautiful, painted in bright colours and designs by Christian Lacroix.  Cost for three, return tram fare and five hours parking?   Just under 5 euros   What!

Lordy, Lordy I’m not liking the “W” word any better and we walked so much yesterday that my legs are two inches shorter.   Or so it feels this morning. Did I moan?   Did I say, “Gazzie can we please get a taxi?”   Yes I damn well did.    Did he listen?   No he damn well didn’t.

He did allow us our refreshment break though and we chose  our restaurant by the name.    It was called ““Comme un dimanche sous le figuier”. Or “Like a Sunday under the fig tree”.

It was quirky and wonderful inside.  Food was pants!

 

The tough part, dear bloggees, is the saying goodbye.  Tears were shed at Sara’s departure.   Despite resolutions regarding drinking and eating, I have to admit, we screamed with delight when we saw an open supermarket and like the true French we have become, we rushed in for pain. fromages et vins.  And sought comfort in those in front of the fire,