Citea Perpignan

Bonjour Capitaine !

by Porteplume

.

Français:
Sur le Canal de la Robine...
Mon Père a reçu ce Voyage sur le Canal de la Robine & Canal du Midi en cadeau, pour fêter ses quatre-vingt ans!!! Regardez le très fier Capitaine.



English:
On the Canal de la Robine...
My father got this Trip on The Canal de la Robine & Canal du Midi in May 2001, as a present for his eightieth birthday !!!
Look at the very proud Captain.

Etang de Canet et de st. Nazaire

by denise16

At the south end of the beach at Canet Plage is a nature reserve, a salt marsh. Much smaller than those north of Perpignan going towards Narbonne. If you are lucky you may glimpse sight of some flamingos. We didn't get a close luck but saw some in the distance. There are bird hides around the site as there are other birds to spot. There are also some strange little reed huts which we think are fishermen huts.

Perpignan

by denise16

"Perpignan & Pyrenees"

Our son is spending a year studying at Perpignan University so recently we had the job of delivering all his stuff. Obviously we treated as a holiday a did a little bit of touring, driving back across the Pyrenees to Bilbao for the ferry back to England.
Perpignan is a fairly small city about 20minutes from the beach (Canet Plage) and about 30minutes from the mountains. What better than a long white beach, at the south end of the beach there is a salt marsh, if you are lucky you may see flamingos.
It is also a good place to base yourself if you have read & enjoyed the Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.
I didn't get chance to go shopping but did notice that there are some fairly elegant shops there, Printemps & Galleries Laffette for example.
From what my son says there are plenty of festivals during the Autumn & Winter. So far there has been a Photojournalist expo. a wine festival, an olive festival, that was also a giant festival a jazz month a caged bird show and a dog show. He's only been there 6weeks. I am waiting for hm to create a webpage of his photos, as soon as he has I will put a link here.

"Castles in the Maury Valley"

http://www.casteland.com/puk/castle/cathare/queribus/queribus.htm
Takign the D117 out of the city passing the airport will bring you to a major wine making valley, along the mountains are a number of interesting castles worth a visit.
Queribus Castle, you can park at the bottom and take a steep walk or drive to the car park below the entrance to the castle. There is a tour of around 45 minutes. Turn left out of the car park then take the first road on the right in Maury. Peyrepertuse Castle is about 15 minutes further on. The entrance charge is about 5€ for adults. Closed on very windy days but otherwise open all year.
Don't forget to visit the various caves for your wine on the way back. I would recommend Mas Camp just outside Estegel, but we stayed in a gite on this vineyard. Also worth a small detour is a visit to Latour de France, about 3km from Estegel, there is a large wine cooperative here, so plenty of choice, but it is also a very pretty little village of a hillside.

"The Historian"

If you have read this book you must visit Abbey St. Martin, quite a steep climb from the village of Casten. You drive through teh spa town of Vernet Les Bains. I wont spoil the plot for those who haven't read this good book yet, but the author has got it spot on. If you follow the track up, look for the narrow footpath to the left of the abbey to come back down, much more interesting, but a bit of a scramble, you need sturdy shoes. Also close by and worth a visit is Villefrance-de-Conflent, a fortified town with a castle. No entrance charge for the town, but they do charge for the parking (you can avoid this by parking on the roads around the town). Open all year but much less busy out of the July/August period. Seems to be an obsession with witches, they were on sale everywhere but I don't know why, it was too early for Halloween. My son and his friends went to Thomas Les Bains, a spa centre that has the baths outside, the water comes out of the earth so hot it is cooled before used.

A TRAVEL TO THE MIDDLE AGE.

by almogaver

"CARCASSONNE."

I´m sure than most people, when thinking in travelling
to this part of South France never will stop in such
a little cities, because most "tourist" travel worse
than a blind man across the world.
For me, people around in V.T. has some feeling which
is difficult to find in another kind of travellers;
we love drive one hour across desert routes to arrive
to small village only for a while.....perhaps only to
smell the rest of a far away past.
Please, excuse me if you prefere go across the world
in a different way.

Carcassonne is some place to stop and to spend one day
without any rush, walking along the narrow streets and
imaging all what became more than one thousand years
ago.
Please, don´t leave without visiting the museum of torture!!....the imagination of the inquisition was
really incredible.No more comments.

FOR MORE PICS AND INFO YOU CAN VISIT MY PAGE "CARCASSONNE".

It´s not a film, it´s a real place!!

"CARCASSONNE."

"COLLIURE."

Less than 20 Kmts. by a beautiful road near the sea, we
arrive to a wonderful small village near the Mediterranean sea. Colliure is one of my favourite
places near Perpignan.

"COLLIURE."

No great buildings, no discotheques, no cars runnig
fast, no people with radio near the beach....only
the charm of a wonderful place.

"COLLIURE."

This is peace.....