We hit the road in the car today, bound for Perpignan, FR. It’s a large beautiful city near the Mediterranean coast, just above the Spanish border. Paulita and Earl tout this as their favorite city, so it was worth the 1.5 hour drive to see.
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| Purpose of today's trip: see the beauties of Perpignan |
Our drive took us out of Quillan in a direction we’d not explored much before now. Highway D117 runs East from our town almost directly to Perpignan. On the way we passed beautiful rock formations, mountains, and small villages we would have missed otherwise. There’s also a huge expanse of vineyards to see along the way, with many “Degustation Caves” for wine sampling available. We didn’t imbibe…driving, you know!
Upon reaching the surface on foot, we found all the places we wanted to see were right within easy foot-travel distance…assuming we watched in every direction for danger from cars, buses, motorcycles, electric bicycles, and electric scooters all crowded into the same stretches of pavement and/or sidewalk. I think we are increasingly wary as we get used to being “Old People” tourists!
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| Along the canal |
First stop after strolling around to get our bearings: LUNCH along the beautiful canal that runs through the old town area. What a relaxed, civilized way spend an hour or so. People-watching par excellence, shady ambiance, delicious food and a fun companion…just about ideal.
Second stop: Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste, in old town, a beautiful but atypical cathedral, with open expanses inside and many sculptures, works of art, and stained glass windows. Many people were there for their own spiritual experience, so we tried hard to be respectful and quiet as we walked around to admire the interior. |
| Old cloister quarters for the nuns |
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| Wall around the cloister quarters, with iron bars and gates |
The old town is rife with twisting interlocking narrow streets, lots of high-end shops and boutiques, plus the big buildings housing the actual governmental offices of the city. So, lots of official-business looking folks dressed in suits and carrying briefcases or shoulder bags hurrying to some meeting or other. OR to lunch! We found that, like most everywhere else in France, 12 noon to 2:00 pm is “business closed” lunch time. Anyhow, we explored the streets, saw the sights, didn’t do any shopping at all the closed businesses. Finally, we meandered through the famous “Les Halles”, an enclosed space housing prepared-food vendors, retailers, and every imaginable kind of produce or other food staple for sale. It was like our favorite open air markets in other towns, only indoors, inside this magnificent old town.
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| Palais de Justice |
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| Hotel de Marie ... City Hall! |
Last stop: Castillet, the Castle/Fort which guards the “old town’ of Perpignan. Photos and captions below show what we saw and did. Biggest accomplishment: We successfully climbed the 154 steps of the classic stone spiral stairway to the top of the Castillet Tower, where Lynn had the guts to walk the entire perimeter of the tower top taking pics, while I cowered in the doorway with my usual fear of heights! We made it back down safely, and took off for the parking lot. Amazing public art along the way.
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| Lynn made it to the top, then ran around outside on the parapet, taking high altitude photos! |
The trip back to Quillan went smooth and quick, ending just in time for us to take a nap before heading to Paulita and Earl's home for a wonderful dinner on their patio with their delightful friends and Rocco the dog! The food and drinks were excellent, and the Hit Music game at the end was a blast. Thank you all for a super evening, ending a fun day.
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| Earl was strategically absent fromthe group photo |
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| Hey, Earl wasn't in this one either; and neither was Lynn! Tina and Rocco the dog on the left, Steve and Sue in the middle, Paulita our hostess and awesome chef standing. I bet Earl was BBQ'ing the meat! |
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