The day we left Barcelona ended up comprising an expected and an unexpected adventure! Read on, if you are interested.
The expected adventure
Many months ago when we first planned this trip, Sue contacted her Internet Bookgroup friend Dvora whom she’s known for many years now and who lives in Figueres, just out of Barcelona. As a result Dvora gave us a few pointers for our trip, including the recommendation to see the Palau de la Musica Catalana. We arranged to meet for a couple of hours in Figueres, on our way to Avignon (which was also Dvora’s recommendation over our original plan to go to Carcassonne).
All went to plan and we arrived at Figueres Vilafant, a little out of her town, where we were met by Dvora. We’d agreed in advance that we’d rather be shown some sights by a local (Dvora has lived in Catalunya for a decade or so) than visit the Dali Museum. (Dali was born in Figueres.) It was a good decision, because Dvora took us to a gorgeous little medieval town called Besalú, on the Fluvià river, and which was, in its heyday, the capital of its region. We saw old buildings and squares, markets, the site of the old sinagoga, and pièce de resistance (which Dvora, like a good tour guide, took us to last!), its old stone bridge. Len and I love a good bridge. There’s something about bridges. They are often aesthetically pleasing, but there’s also that sense they convey of both joining places and going places that. Love bridges – and this one didn’t disappoint. It’s a 12th-century Romanesque bridge which has a gateway at its midpoint.
As we walked, we talked a little about Catalan independence because we had discovered that the next day, September 11, was a public holiday. Like our ANZAC Day, it commemorates a defeat. In this case, on 11 September 1714, Catalan troops fighting during the War of the Spanish Succession were defeated by the army of the Bourbon king Philip V of Spain. Dvora supports the Catalan separatist movement, and told us that on the public holiday, there’d be a human chain extending down the coast from the French border in the north to Valencia in the south and that it would culminate at 17:14 (to signify 1714!).
Anyhow, after a quick refreshment in a square there, Dvora drove us to Figueres’ main station for the next stage of our journey. We’d had a lovely time and much appreciated her giving up her morning and getting out her car for us! And so, we set off for ….
The unexpected – or, semi-expected – adventure
We say semi-expected because we had discovered the night before, via an email correspondence with our hotel host in Avignon, that French trains and buses were going to be on strike that day! Would you believe! And we had a particularly complicated trip to make: Barcelona to Figueres Vilafant, Figueras to Cerbère where we planned to activate our two-country Eurail pass, and then Cerbère to Avignon. As it turned out, and with a suggestion from Dvora, we trained to the last Spanish station on the line (as it wasn’t going through as usual to France), Portbou, and then taxied over the border for €15 to Cerbère where we spent the night.
While we were disappointed to miss one of our four nights in Avignon, we could have ended up in far worse places. Cerbère is a fascinating and gorgeous little town nestled in the cliffs just past the Spanish Costa Brava (the taxi ride around was beautiful) and we stayed at a lovely hotel, La Dorade, run by an extremely hard-working couple, Yves and Anne. Yves’ grandmother had started the hotel in 1929! They worked all day since, as well as having accommodation, they run a day long cafe-bar-restaurant.
So, after doing a little reconnaissance walk around town, we had a pleasant coffee and cake – a gorgeous Red Fruit Crumble and an Almond Tart – in the afternoon, talking to three English tourists of similar age to us. We had been intrigued during our walk to notice references to Catalan – the flag, references to Catalan food – though we were in France. Anne said, when we asked her about it, “I’m Catalan”. A quick check with Dvora when we let her know we’d arrived, confirmed our suspicion that much of southern France up to Perpignan was once Catalonia, and that even people in Aix-en-Provence have been known to fly the Catalan flag.
We ate at the hotel again in the evening where we tried an intriguing dish of Monkfish, Dates and Endive. Sue loves fruit with lamb and chicken but had never had it with fish before. Len loved his aromatic beer … Actually the whole meal was fresh and lovely, but this is not a food blog so we’ll leave at that!
So, all was well that ended well … and we were in France, which felt somehow comfortable, much as we loved Spain and Portugal. We know the language and culture a little more I guess.
Three-words
LEN: Off the rails
SUE: Friends, Flags, Food
and the stills…
… and the movies…
A video of Sue and Dvora in Besalù
This post makes me so happy. The slideshow, particularly. Photos of you both! Of desserts! Fish! Dates! A funny bench! And I’m glad your train debacle ended in happiness. Mine was just aggravating! (And that was the night I ended up calling you in tears at 2am (my time) from the hostel in Paris because of my foot and you told me to go to hospital in the morning. Remember? So yes. You did far better.
Thought you’d like this post! Can always tell! And yes, we remember only too well, at least the toe more than the train debacle!
What a great day! How fabulous to meet up with Dvora! I was glad to see food photos too- the monkfish looks intriguing. The sardines looked great.
Thought you’d like this post Louise. The sardines were wonderful. Best of the trip so far … And I guess that will be it given we are moving inland now. And it was special of course to meet Dvora, albeit for such a short time.