It was 11PM. Our bus was on its way back to our various hotels to let us (some of us) stagger off the bus and into bed. The way back was a lot more raucous than the way out to our destination: Les Vignerons de Ponteilla, yes, a vineyard. A show-and-tell about wine-making and a 5-course supper awaited us. Half-way home, the bus spontaneously erupted into song: ‘Alouet-te, gentile Alouet-te’, you know. There was one German song about Edelweiss, you know, from The Sound of Music, but it was too down-beat for the crowd. Of course, we had had to visit some wineries in Roussillon, and this combo looked right, and right it was. Booked from the resort, it was a half-day vineyard and supper visit. The five-course supper was served right down in the cellars among huge barrels on long trestle tables with the winery’s products in abundant supply. The roughly forty of us had been picked up from several neighbourhood hotels in Canet. What a great chance to talk with folk from Germany, Brits, not to mention the French from all over France. A truly enjoyable evening.
Vicky and I first had our encounter with this area of France ten years earlier, when we flew through the area by car stopping only briefly to gawk at the city of Carcassonne and its medieval fortifications, and the port town of Collioure, right by the Spanish border (the southernmost point of France besides Corsica) before heading on to Nice and the Cinque Terre in Italy, our destinations that year, but we promised ourselves that we would be back.
This time our destination for our week’s stay was Canet-en-Roussillon, on the south-west coast of the French Mediterranean, five kilometres from Canet-Plage, on the beach. We were using our timeshare points in an exchange through RCI International to stay at the Cela Malibu Resort. We had not actually come for the beach – we came for the medieval castles and abbeys – but what a beach we found! Stretching for more than forty kilometres from Cap Leucate in the north to Argelès-Plage, near Collioure in the south, it most resembles the south-eastern coast of Florida, but with what a différence. On your way to the beach in the morning, you might stop at the little boulangerie in the morning and purchase your baguette for the day, then pop into the charcuterie, a little further down and pick up some regional specialities to have with your baguette for lunch, and if it’s not too early, stop at the Cave Gustumo to pick up a half-bottle of the local red or white. Keep in mind that most stores close between noon and 2PM. If it’s Thursday, you must go to the impromptu marché behind Place de la Mediterránia, which you can smell before you see it, to pick up your veggies, fruit and cheese for the week. If this is September, the peaches are in season and to die for. Fragrantly aromatic - ripe and sweet - you must have more than one - and unless you live in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, you will find nothing like this in your local supermarket. If you’re that way inclined, visit the little Casino de Canet-Plage , right on the Place, and give some money to the local economy, or maybe you’ll get lucky.
OK, so we spent a couple of days on the beach, but for us, the highlights of the trip were the towns, the castles and the Romanesque abbeys scattered everywhere.
An absolute must-see is the Benedictine Abbaye St-Martin du Canigou perched on its cliff-side, a stiff 50-minute climb by foot path from the starting point of the village of Casteil in the foot-hills of the Pyrenees. To get here a car is a necessity. The path is 1600m in length with an elevation gain of 300m – not for the unfit, however, it is paved, so very pleasant. Little narrow cars bring the necessities of life up to the Abbey as it is the only access. The higher you climb up the switch-back path on one side of this steep and narrow valley, the more and more spectacular the views become on the other side…. And finally, the small Abbey itself – a little treasure begun in the 11th century founded by a great Catalan family. It fell into ruin at the end of the 18th century and was rescued, resurrected and rebuilt in 1902. It is still a working abbey and if you would like to see the cloisters and have a guided tour of the interior, including the medicinal gardens, there is a small entrance fee. Check for opening days and hours. For those wishing to enter into the life, work and prayer/meditation of the community, a limited number of stays of up to six days are available.
On the way to the Abbey, you must stop to see the walled town of Villefranche-de-Conflent, in its gorge, a World Heritage Site, and a beautiful “village” on the Têt river as well as the fortress of Fort Liberia on a hillside overlooking the town. Both date from the times when this area of France was in constant dispute between Spain and France, changing hands. The Marquis de Vauban, the outstanding military engineer of his time built the fortifications which are impressive for a town of such a small size, and if you are a castle-hunter like me, you will pay the CAD$6 for a chance to walk the ramparts, and see what the defenders of the little town would have faced.
From Canet, the small city of Perpignan is almost next door, and another must-see for (among others) its old Arab and Romany quarter, with its winding narrow streets, full of stalls selling trinkets, jewelry, kebabs, baklava, spices, herbs - tiny eateries, cafés and North African boulangeries. If you didn’t know better, you could be in a souk in Morocco. After the hurly-burly, you can take a siesta in La Miranda Gardens surrounding St. Jacques church after you have seen the remains of the impressive one- time fortifications of Perpignan, as well as underground rooms to house soldiery.
Perpignan used to be the capital of the Kingdom of Majorca in the 13th century, which lasted about a hundred years before disappearing, so the Palais des Rois de Majorque is worth a look. So is the Castillet – a mini fortress, now a museum. If you just want to people watch in the grand style of European cities, you couldn’t do worse that Le Grand Café de la Paix in Place Arago.
Not to forget, this is Roussillon and the landscape is dotted with vineyards and their caves (not caves). There are, literally, hundreds of wine domains in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. In fact, just one kilometer behind Canet-Plage, you can visit the 19th century Chateau L’Esparrou and their extensive vineyards, sample their wares, and, if you like, buy a six-year-old Carignan-Syrah-Grenache Côte-de Roussillon for as little as CAD$22, or last year’s Merlot for CAD$9. The regional specialty is Muscat de Rivesaltes, grown extensively in Roussillon. This is a sweet dessert wine, with a distinctive bouquet and flavor. We had one at the Ponteilla estate, where we had supper, an excellent 1994 vintage at 15.5% alcohol by volume – you sip it – very similar to Sherry, slightly oxidized – Rivesaltes Ambré. Guess the colour…
Another worthwhile outing (there are so many from Roussillon), is the seaside town of Collioure, with a pebbly beach, two, count them two, fortresses guarding the harbor, and yet another up on a hill, plenty of shady eateries and souvenir shops…. What’s not to love… and not even to mention a longer, but worthwhile excursion to Nimes, with its extremely well-preserved Roman Arena – a double-tiered ‘coliseum’ built around 70 AD still in use for concerts. Imagine having your lunch inside, where the Romans sat to watch the ummmmm... entertainments.
I can hardly wait to get back there – except for this grrr pandemic.
Ah well, soon.
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