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| Paris In Sites Newsletter Direct From France Edited by Linda Thalman Travel & Leisure Articles |
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Boullay - Collioure - Barcelona Spain - Gan - Cordes sur Ciel - Boullay by Car
September 2006
By Linda Thalman
Leaving at a leisurely 9 in the morning from Boullay les Troux, 35 kilometers
south of Paris, we headed for... somewhere in the direction of Barcelona.
We didn't reserve in advance for our first night and we didn't have a goal
other than to get within a couple hours of Collioure in France on our way to Spain.
We took the autoroute A-10, then the A-75 in the direction of Clermont-Ferrand with a lunch break in
a sleepy town called Riom. The market had packed up and we thought it seemed like siesta time
except it wasn't hot enough for a nap.
Then we headed for the hills southwest of Millau... into the fog and the rain and
we saw simply nothing of the beautiful countryside for over an hour.
Ending up in Lunas, exhausted from not seeing more than 3 meters ahead of our faces,
we truely thought we were on the moon. Yet we found a very pleasant manor hotel,
with a comfortable room and a restaurant. There was a nice pool, but it was already closed for
the year.
Leaving the hills of central France, we dipped down towards the Med, around Beziers and on
to Collioure. Frankly from Narbonne to just a few kilometers north of Collioure, I wouldn't
want to spend a holiday. Even in the off season, it is flat, overbuilt and just plain boring.
Collioure is anchovy country. So my partner, Pierre, had 3 anchovy dishes for lunch and bought
anchovies in a local shop to take home. Anchovies are not my favorite food,
so I had a warm seafood salad - delicious.
The vieux quartier du Mouré is doable and though it's just a bit of a hike up the hill to
see the back streets you'll discover wonderful views, art galleries, quaint front doors, windows and ambiance.
The royal castle has no furniture but its feet are literally in the water.
The views onto the two ports and the town are famous as the 'fauvist' art movement started here.
Matisse and André Derain painted Collioure in the summer of 1905 - and their paintings are
splendid, just splendid. Other artists such as Braque and Picasso also immortalized this delightful
medieval town.
Yet Spain beckoned and on we went south along the coast to find our first tapas lunch across the border.
Borders are just spots in the road today, as one can drive without showing passports or even stopping
between France and Spain. And the euro is used as well. Bye-bye pesetas.
Then, we zipped along the autopista to Barcelona and found our hotel with relative ease.
A compact room at the Hotel Urquinoana with a small balcony ideally suited to visit the highlights of Barcelona.
I'd looked high and low for a reasonably priced hotel and Hotel Urquinoana fit the bill.
At 89 euros plus 7% taxes the night for a one-star hotel with fridge, wi-fi in the room, hair dryer,
a bottle of red wine, underground parking across the street (very expensive in central Barcelona - nearly
as much as the room for one and a half days!) and super friendly staff, what more could one want?
Well, we wanted tapas, and tapas we got. Barcelona has its share of modern, boring bars and restaurants,
but if you look and walk and look at bit more, you can enjoy real food and excellent wine.
The sky was blue. The temperature 25 degrees Centigrade during the day and still warm in the evening.
It was almost off-season. A perfect short-stay in a beautiful city that is proud to be Catalunian.
I was surprised that I could read Catalan almost as well as Spanish. Catalan has a lot of French and Italian
influences - or maybe it's the other way round. In any case, Barcelona is vibrant, pretty, fun and friendly.
Aiming for Lerida, then Zaragossa, north to Huesca and the Pyrenees to get back to France, we enjoyed
the emptiness and the rugged views.
Another tapas lunch in Huesca, a quick walk round the old town, a side trip to Jaca and its old town
and off we went to the beautiful Col du Pourtalet and down the Ossau Valley in France.
We stayed with friends who live near Pau, out in the middle of nowhere on a road with no number or name.
What a beautiful, calm, dramatic setting - with the hills in the foreground and the mountains in the background.
I could have stayed for days to paint and relax.
Our lunch on the terrace with a view on the garden and the hills was perfect. We chose the
menu dégustation with accompanying wines for 65 euros each. Each dish had its own wine, so we
were able to have a perfect wine for each course and not worry if a bottle of red or white would
go with foie gras, mushrooms, fish, veal or dessert.
See: http://www.hostellerie-horizon.com/carte-eng.html
for the current seasonal menu.
Don't forget to visit the wine cooperative at the bottom of the hill for Jurançon wines. You won't
leave the shop without at least one - or 12 bottles!
The afternoon was quickly passing, so we aimed for somewhere past Albi - going through the Tarn, Lot and Averyon
regions.
 My oh my, but France is beautiful. Rolling hills, green, just a hint of the autumn, sunshine, cows, sheep, horses, farm houses, small villages... just bliss. The temperature was dropping a bit as the sun set and we decided to stop in Cordes-sur-Ciel. And what a good choice it was. Perched high on the hill, there was a room at the inn. The inn has a three-hundred year old wysteria in the courtyard, a winding staircase, leading up to the tastefully done room 9 with a large modern shower room. Just delightful. Following a quick visit to the local wine shop we had an excellent dinner and the friendliest service you can imagine in both the restaurant and the hotel. Cordes-sur-Ciel is one of those fairytale medieval cities which has preserved the cobblestones, the look, the feel, the shops, the welcome, the everything that made us say, we will go back again.
All good things come to an end, so off we went towards Paris, through bucolic countryside, a lunch in Auvergne and then we just ticked off the last four hours on the autoroute back to our quiet village of Boullay les Troux.
Manoir de Gravezon
Casa Païral
Neptune Restaurant - Michelin One Star
Urquinaona Hotel - One Star
L'Hostellerie du Vieux Cordes - Three Star
See also: http://www.cordes-sur-ciel.org/
Hostellerie Horizon – Hotel & Restaurant - Gan, France
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Pressing on, we drove across the incredible bridge at Millau - the second time we've crossed it in
the past couple years. The bridge is an absolutely magnificient piece of engineering -
and designed by a British architect. It is worth the detour for the beauty of the beast.
But what a jewel of a port town Collioure is. Our hotel was delightful, perfectly situated, with a
dainty pool, lovely large patio courtyard with a fountain, trees and flowers.
We had an excellent dinner at the Neptune restaurant. This Michelin one-star restaurant has a superb
view on the port and the town and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal.
With only two days to see the sights we managed to explore the old town, the Gothic quarter, Las Ramblas,
Montjuïc, the port, as well as visiting the City Museum, the Picasso Museum and the Gaudi designed
Casa Milà also known as La Pedrera apartment building and we squeezed in a guitar concert, too.
Fortunately we were heading out of town rather than into town on a Wednesday morning. The commuter traffic
is horrendous. Tailbacks for kilometers and the Spanish drive pretty crazily. It's not as
wild as Palermo or Naples, but only articulated lorries with two-ton cement blocks paid any attention to
the 120 kilometer speed limit on the open roads.
Before really heading from home we stopped at the Hostelierie de l'Horizon for a wonderful lunch prepared
by Chef Pierre Eyt and welcomed so warmly by Monique Eyt. This was our second visit to this ever so delightful
hotel and restaurant. The swimming pool, spa and sauna and 10 lovely rooms make it an ideal place to stay.
We then took a quick detour to Najac and with the fog rising around the town it was another
magic moment. Oh, la France - just ever so special.
General Information
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Linda Thalman
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Email – Linda@wfi.fr
Web Address – http://www.parisinsites.com/
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