Collioure

Saturday 13 October 

We woke up early today and were ready to go by 8.30am. The journey out of Le Grande-Motte was easy and surprisingly deserted as it was rush hour. Clearly not in this town. Before long we were on the free motorway and on our way to the Spanish border area.

It was another lovely day and the sky was clear and bright with small white fluffy clouds. We went through Montpellier, Fitou and other wine growing areas. In the distance we saw looming the mountains of the Pyrenees huge and black against the sun. 

On the way we stopped off at a supermarket for some milk, bread and custard flan for our second breakfast. Our destination for the day was Collioure. We were told about this village by Greta who said it was very nice. We arrived at the Aire at about 1.30pm in time for lunch (baguette and Brie and a large mug of Yorkshire tea) The Aire itself is basically a large car park and you have to pay €10 for the evening. There are no facilities worth mentioning.

The walk down to Collioure is all down hill and very steep. It took no time at all go get to the bottom. The town is very picturesque and has a curved beach with slopes of vines and olives rising to ridges crowned with ruined forts and watchtowers. It's setting and monuments inspired Matisse and Derain in their painting - its understandable why as the light was great.

We had a good look around the town and walked along the harbour wall to the small chapel. There is an artists' quarter in the beautifully painted narrow back streets which gives the the town its unique character. There is also many restaurants and cafe’s.

The walk back was not like the walk down and we arrived back at Campy hot and with a burning sensation in our legs. Still it was worth the effort and we had a great visit.

Kevin

Matisse