Anne and Maddy - Our Travel Adventures: March 2016

Tuesday, 29 March 2016

Our last week in Marseillan

On Saturday, 3/26, I stayed in all day suffering with my cold. Easter Sunday, time change, I just made it to mass. The church was packed so I stood thru the mass. There was a baptism during the service. In the afternoon, Maddy and I took our friend Mike Worsham, from the tourist office, to lunch at Le Boulevard in the village. Unfortunately my taste buds were not in good shape, the food looked good and seemed to taste good...... Maddy went to the Easter Parade in the village while I stayed home and nursed my cold. Maddy's report: Scary floats, bands, confetti, lots of people and of course Maddy met a nice French gentleman, Albert. To our surprise, Priscilla and I heard the door bell and who was at the door but Maddy and her new friend. Albert lives in Marseillan Plage with his sister. He has traveled a lot and told us that life in France is hard, better in the USA he thinks. Seems it is hard to earn a good living in France for him. We had a nice visit and afterwards a lot of ribbing Maddy for bringing a boyfriend to the apartment!

On Monday, 3/28, we tried to go to Sete to extend our car rental. We were stopped about half way there by the police who told us that the road to Sete was closed and would reopen the next day. We tried an alternate route and sat in a traffic jam. We decided it to turn and visit Carcassone, the medieval hilltop citadel, an hour drive from Marseillan. Quite a few people were visiting the magical, fairy tale like city. It is the Easter break for many of the French. The ancient walled city began with the Romans and Visigoths but later flourished in the 12th century by the Trencavel family. It would be fun to stay at one of the hotels in the old city. On Tuesday we visited Sete, extended our car rental, walked around the old town area of Sete and had lunch. Two cokes were 6.80 Euros and wine was 2 Euros, makes sense why the French drink wine all the time! On Wednesday we said goodbye to Priscilla and drove her to the Sete train station, heading for Marseilles to join her husband on a river cruise. Later that day Maddy and I visited the cemetary in Marseillan overlooking the Etang de Thau. The oldest marker I saw was 1832. Mike told us that there is an older cemetary but it is not open for visitors. There are discussions about moving the graves from the old cemetary and developing the area. We bid Mike farewell and promised to keep in touch via email. We drove to Marseillan Plage for lunch where we tried mussels and a local fish. The mussels were served in their shells, and also on our salad with a tasty dressing. I would pass up the opportunity to have mussels again, but I am glad I tried them because Marseillan is full of farms on the Etang. We spent the afternoon walking the promenade and relaxing by the beach listening to the waves, a great way to bid Au Revoir Marseillan. This was such a wonderful trip, we traveled over 8,000 miles thru France, Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia! A memorable experience! Tomorrow we take the train from Sete to The Charles De Gualle airport where we will spend the night and leave for home in Saturday, April 2nd. Au Revoir France!

The medieval citadel, Carcassone

The moat around the citadel, now grassy area

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair...........

Just like a fairy tale....

Pedestrian walkway in Sete where we had lunch.

Canal to the Etang from Sete

Au Revoir Priscilla, at the Marine bar for farewell drinks.

Our last afternoon on Marseillan Plage, the sea was roiling with waves.

Au Revoir Marseillan!

Saturday, 26 March 2016

Spain & France Sightseeing

On Wednesday, 3/23, we left for Zaragoza, Spain, a 5-1/2 hour drive from Marseillan. Maddy wanted to experience the Samana Santa (Easter Holy Week processions) that we saw in Córdoba and Rhonda a few years back. We arrived in Zaragoza and planned on attending a 9:30 pm procession. It is a big city with a very nice old town area. We wandered the streets and had tapas in the Old Town. A very beautiful plaza and cathedral (very ornate) and some Roman ruins. Unfortunately, the procession didn't compare to the pageantry in the southern part of Spain. Maddy was very disappointed. There was only one float with the Blessed Mother (not carried but on wheels), lots of cone shaped hooded pilgrums, Spanish ladies with their mantillas and many drummers. There were lots of families waiting to see the procession.

The next day, Thursday. 3/24, we drive to Sitgas (about 2-1/2 hour drive from Zaragoza) recommended by Thom, Maddy's brother. It was a nice city on the waterfront and nice promenade on the Mediterranean. But it was too crowded for my taste and it isn't even the busy time. We had lunch in Sitgas and drove to Roses, on the Costa Brava in Spain. We all enjoyed this quieter town with a promenade by the water where we walked and had a sunset cocktail. We then headed for Cadaques, recommended by my friend Denis. It was a beautiful, zig zag road to get to the city, but it was too crowded and not fun driving thru the tiny streets, definitely a pedestrian haven. The locals were coming to the sea to enjoy their Easter break. It is worth taking the ride into the city and seeing the old town, but better visited when the tourist season is slower. On our return home to the apartment, we visited another one of the most beautiful medeival villages of France in the Orientales Pyrennes area - Castelnou. A very quaint and picturesque village where we had Racoulet, traditional French fondue lunch - yummy! The village is picturesque and definitely worth a visit. We returned to the apartment in Marseillan on Friday, 3/25. Maddy was the unfortunate one to catch a bad cold at the beginning of this travel week, and I was blessed with it upon my return to the apartment. I guess we're lucky we didn't get sick until the end of this adventure.

Pedestrian walkway thru old town in Zaragoza

Santa Maria Cathedral - very ornate inside

Cathedral at night near the Erbo River

Ebro River across the street from the Cathedral.

Samana Santa Blessed Virgin float in Zaragoza, Spain

Promenade in Sitgas, Spain

View from our room in Roses, in the Catalonia region if Spain on the Costa Brava

Most northern point of Spain in Roses.

Gem of Costa Brava

Driving thru winding, mountain roads to Cadaques, Spain.

Cadaques - Salvadore Dali lived here.

Castelnou, (Orientales Pyrennes France) situated in the rolling hills of the eastern Pyrennes

Priscilla at the entrance to Castlenou - entrance arch from 14th century

Our lunch of traditional Racoulet, French fondue.

Narrow cobbled streets

Population according to one French tourist is 70 people.

Saturday, 19 March 2016

More traveling! Italy and France

Madalyn and I left for Marseilles on March 17 to pick up Priscilla, our new friend from California who we met during our India trip. She will be traveling with us, then meeting with her husband for a Viking River cruise. From Marseilles we drove to La Spezia, Italy. Our first adventure was visiting Cinque Terre, the five picturesque villages along the Mediterranean - Monterroso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarolla, and Riomaggiore. In 2011 the villages experienced devastating rain and mudslides, with Monterroso and Vernazza almost completely ruined. So thankful they were able to restore the villages to what I remember. We purchased a full day Cinque Terre ticket for 12 Euro each which gave us access to the trains from village to village. We boarded the train in La Spezia and Maddy thought we needed to have our ticket stamped. We didn't look for a machine and figured we would stamp it once we arrived at our first stop, Monterroso. We didn't think much more about it, until a train employee asked to see our ticket. She asked where we boarded and why we don't have out ticket stamped. We had to pay a 5 Euro fine for each ticket. Locals are fined 50 Euros! Tickets must be stamped so it shows the time you started, and prevents people from free rides.... At our first stop, Monterroso, we decided to walk the 2 miles to the next village, Vernazza. After 1/2 hour of climbing steps, Maddy turned back to take the train instead. Priscilla and I continued the hike. After an hour of climbing more steps, we started asking all the hikers heading in reverse to Monterroso how much longer we had to hike before reaching Vernazza. Everyone told us we had more fun in store.............. It took us 2-1/2 hours, up over 500 hundred steps, it was a good work out and we met so many nice people, and the views were breathtaking. When we reached Verrazano, we met Maddy and headed to find some beer. We went to a bar where we met up with a group of 6 Australians who had passed us up on the hike. We drank, laughed and enjoyed our time with them. We met many Americans on the trail from all over - Idaho, California, South Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Canada, and Australia. We visited the three other towns which are about a 10 minute train ride apart. After Cinque Terre Maddy and Priscilla went out in the evening to check out the St. Joseph festival in La Spezia, while the lazy one stayed home. On Saturday we visited Lerici and San Terenzo, two villages next door to La Spezia. On Sunday morning we left La Spezia and visited Portovenere, a quaint village 10 minutes away, now one of my favorite! Breathtaking views from the church at the sea. Then we left for Nice, France where we spent the night. Nice has a very nice boulevard with palm trees, promenade by the sea, and many, lovely buildings. We walked to the old town for dinner then back to our hotel enjoy the views. I am very blessed and fortunate to experience all these wonderful places.