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Catalonian Capmany to an old favourite L’Estartit – Mountains and the Mediterranean
Camping Alberes in Capmany boasts of being the first campsite over the border with France in Spanish Catalonia. After parking up in the cork forest, with the russet toothed mountains on the horizon, we walk the 500 metres into the fortified village. Old stone houses, arched doors big enough to fit your horse and carriage…
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The Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean Sea at Collioure – home of the Fauvists and the iconic Hôtel des Templiers
From the minute we hit the D81, the sinuous coastal road to Collioure, memories assail us. We had many happy holidays here with our teenage children and a collection of various friends. But there’s more to celebrate here than memories, the Pyrenees undulate down to the postcard blue sea, the vines cling to the hillsides.…
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Border hopping between France and Spanish Catalonia
As we’ve said before, sticking to an itinerary is not our style, so it is that our art tour of Languedoc Roussillon takes us into Spain, where the temperature is five degrees higher than its French Pyrenean neighbour. From here we plan to border-hop back into the artists’ haven of Céret. Soon we’re winding up…
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We get distracted in Arles – City of Art and Philosophy
Even the ring-road round the centre is graceful in Arles, wrought iron balconies on creamy limestone, where we park up before passing the Medieval and Roman town walls. The park by the walls hosts a striking WWI memorial fountain. The agonised face of a woman defending her children stops us in our tracks. Not far…
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In Van Gogh’s Footsteps in Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer
Before we check out Van Gogh’s series of works painted in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, we trundle around the vast marsh and lagoons which border the sea beside Camping La Brise de Camargue. It is big sky country here, the sun breaking through white clouds, strings of riders out on horseback threading through the marsh’s paths. An egret…
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The Pink Salt Pans of the Salins du Midi at Aigues-Mortes
There’s only one thing left to do before we leave Palavas-les-Flots, we need to visit the small 18th Century fort, La Redoute de Ballestras, on the Lac du Levant. Once protecting the town from pirates, it now houses a strange museum with the works of Albert Dubout, an artist who specialised in cartoons of the…
Campervan Therapy 