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Flight On Ryanair
Leaving London, Luton airport at a civilised time, mid afternoon.
We met a couple on the plane, Sandra and Mark, also an estate agent they knew..
Ryanair to Beziers-Agde airport. We paid extra for taking luggage aboard. That meant we had no extra allowance for a wheel on bag, just an underseat bag. I had a large black leather tote bag. I carrid my laptop separately in a pink padded bag. If challenged, I could have put it inside the tote bag.
Day 1 (Sunday night in Montpellier, Campanile) 2024 Jan 7th
Beziers-Agde airport.
We arrived at 16.10, which was tea time, so Trevor stopped for a coffee before collecting the car to strart driving.
First Food Airport lemon tart
Lemon cake at the airport cafe. Top marks. A great start. A good memory. Sharp. tasty.
Europcar
A large car..
We took photos. no instructions from the rep.
CAMPANILE
1 First night at Campanile Hotel, Montpeller Jan 7th 2024 Sunday
Drove to the Campanile hotel on the ouskirts of Montpellier.
The hotel restaurant was closed on Sunday. Reception suggested two chain restaurants, one a pizza or burger, the other USA style. We had come to sample France so thought we would drive into Montpellier and find a French restaurant. However, it was hard to get past traffic jams and one way systems into the centre of Montpellier.
Restaurant - Buffalo Grill
So we took the advice of the hotel desk and went to the Buffalo Grill. Although this is American style, it is a French chain.
Buffalo Grill Restaurant - fun for families. Good avocado toast.
The starter was avocado on toast, with other vegetables, very tasty, as well as vegetables and heathy.
The highlight was the starter, and the decor, of booths.
The meat was a bit tough, chewy, but I had ordered well done. It was good enough.
Children ran around in the first half of our meal, but they left later.
Day 2 Jan 8th 2024 Monday
Lemon cake
Lemon cake which was had had at Beziers airport cafe appeared again at the Campanile hotel breakfast. Must be a local thing.
DAy 2 Monday
Montpellier By Day
Montpellier was much better by day, large impressive buildings of the university across a canal with watertop pedestrian paths.
Campanile Hotel - Monday night the restaurant was open. First two courses, pizza, pasta. A bit ordinary but very filling. Waitress in jeans rather lowered the tone.
Set meal, budget friendly, filling, a bit mundane. pizza or, pasta, or burger for two euros more.
However, we finished on a high note.
Wonderfal violet ice cream.
Day 1 Night in Campanile Hotel, Montpelier.
Helpful desk staff, Canadian.
Room had a Nespresso coffee maker. Toilet separate was miles from a washbasin, inconvenient.
DAY 2 Breakfast At The Campanile Hotel
Breakfast, chocolate brownies soft centre for breakfast and orangje juice machine.
Monday in and around Montpellier
Day 2 Night at Campanile Montpeller
Drove from Montpellier to Béziers
En Route
In the afternoon we visited D'Amile vineyard Mas D'Amile, vineyard, I photographed her on her front doorwtep. She was known as the garagiste, making wine in a garage. Now her premises are a bit bigger, and the vines, and her sitting in her rocking . She is a vinoble, has a vineyard and a winery.
Sète
We liked Sète, on a quaint river
Known as the Venice of Languedoc
Drove on the littoral, a finger of land running parallel to the coast through marsh land. The Grand hotel by the waterway was being rebuilt. It was like the Swiss riverside towns (the two with bridges) and jolly shops along the sides of canals or rivers.
Wishlist Landmarks In Sète
Paul Valery Museum
This is the main attraction, in my opinion. Paul Valery, artist, and interesting quotations, on the lighthouse and other places.
My favourite of his quotations, is A poem is never finished, only abandoned. Wikiquote has so many in small print that I gave up and went to top ten Paul Very quotes in brainyqoute.com
https://www.francethisway.com/places/sete.php
The decorated chapel is an uphill hike. The msueum of modern art sounds interesting for a rainy day. The museum of modest (everyday rubbish objects) could be a diversion.
...
Day 3 Tuesday Hotel first night at Hotel Des Poetes, Beziers
FRONTIGNAN Winderful wine shop
Had every kind of wine including some sweet wines for me. I bought one called Harmonie. The shop was full of amusements. All kinds of shapes of bottles. I bought a leaning bottle. I saw bottles with the shape of grapes, a guitar. A truck. Something for every kind of customer..
Agde Garden City
Agde had lots of elegant housing, a bit like Hampstead Garden Suburb. Extremely elegant. But we could not live there. Not shops nor activity. Curved buildings and trees. Modern. Lovely. But not lively.
Hotel Des Poetes, Beziers, was by the park with statues of local poets and Victor Hugo.
Parking down the side road.
Warm welcome from staff, owner, helper Teresa, aand student M.
Evening meal at Le Chameau Ivre, meaning drunk camel. Wall of wines. choice of bar stools or tables.
Day 4 Beziers
Next day we visited the tourist office and discovered that the camel is the symbol of the city of Beziers because legend said somebody arrived by camel.
Morning we visited the hilltop cathedral, gave them our small change.
Afternoon
Visited Galeries Lafayette. No toilets. Bought a hat.
Down to the Polygone mall.
Open sided and drafty and rain coming in and puddles.
NO FREE TOILETS
You had to pay for toilets with a jeton. You had to by the jeton with coins, which we no longer had because we had given our small change to the catheral.
A cafe upstairs had no toilet
They said, 'You have to go into the town centre for free toilets.'
So we did - we left, very stressed.
Our evening meal was a much posher place, confusingly named Hotel Ambassador restaurant, no longer a hotel, hasn't been for several years, but retained the name. White table clothes, huge place. Lots of staff watching you and amuse guesles.
Day 4 Wednesday
Pezanas
We drove to Pezanas. We visited new friends we had met on the Ryanair plane, Sandra and Mark. Gated propery. Their pool in open only in July and August and allows no recliners. They love cycling locally but you cannot leave a bike because increasingly tough robbers will cut chains with machine tools.
Lunch at Pezanas. Restaurant Bernie's, for the owner, not Bernard but Bernardette. 3 course meal reasonably priced.
Evening first night at Hotel des Poetes in Béziers.
We were cold but the owner carried up a heater, and brought a second chair folding, so we could both sit at the tiny table at our laptops.
Meal at
Day 5 Thursday
Drove to Narbonne which has a ruined cathedral.
....
.......
First night at Dali hotel, Perpignan.
The best of our hotels was the Hotel Dali in Perpignan. Predictive text turned my text to hotel deli. Convenient underground parking was attached to the hotel. The huge breakfast included freshly squeezed juice from a machine containing oranges.
Free water with mint and lemon and ice dispenser was on reception.
Was anything missing? Maybe more enthusiasm on check-in on busy Friday when we checked in, more friendliness and time to chat on the empty weekend when we checked out on Sunday.
Walked about 15 minutes to La Decouverte, pretty restaurant with pink lit tree in the middle.
Day 6 Friday Jan 12th 2024
Breakfast in hotel Dali, included freshly squeezed orange juice machine, hazelnut coffee from another machines, smoked salmon, crispy bacon, plain bread, seed bread and currant bread, almond milk, almond tart, donuts, yogurt, prunes and assorted nuts, fresh fruit salad, local butter in small cracker shapes with foil covering, .
Saint Canet had cofee on coast by sea
Along littoral with sea both sides,
Saint Cyprien,
Argeles - yacht harbour where we met the son of the agency which let houses.
stop w Stopped at a huge supermarket for a toilet and noticed the wine shop and shops outside the supermarket in the same building
Hyper Argeles sur mer intermarche for a toilet
Collioure tiny cute bay with an agency called Paradise
Banyuls sur mer
Cave de L'Etoile (cellar of the star in French). Free tasting. No sweet wine, not in the fridge and he said it would take an hour to cool it.
. Had a private view of the cellar. Toilet.
In Perpignan walked up white steps to the old town with alleys, some filled with rubbish, to the restaurant Au Grain de Sel. No wine list. They brought out bottles of red then white wine and let us taste each. Wine by the glass six and a half euros, all the same price.
Toilets had lovely soft toilet paper but as usual in this part of France no hand lotion.
Pea soup free amuse bouche in small espresso coffee cups.
Starters
Trevor had truffle foam with an egg uolk hidden underneath.
Main courses
Trevor had quail, white meat, perfectly cooked, same vegetables as mine.
Main course veal, perfectly soft and thick, sweet potato crisp, lots of vegetables which is unusual in France and many places nowadays.
Dessert, lemon meringue with rosettes. Brittle base, sharp lemon, sugary soft meringue. (I would have preferred fruit added.) Very friendly staff. The one who spoke English was only 16 years old. The chef was shy but keen and happy to please.
Trevor had souffle.
Night at the Dali Hotel in Perpgnan.
Port Vendres, huge port as well as a marina to drive all around, admiring the amazing walls and the church facing the water.
Day 7 Saturday
Hotel Dali. Crispy bacon, scrambled egg so-so, more of the smoked salmon, yogurt, fruit, currant bread, hazelnut coffee.
Delightful Decor
All the lights are different.
Looked at the free map on a tear off pad. Found an apparent hotel which is a free municial attraction in the old town opening 11-5, with indoor garden courtyard and frescoes up an inner staircase.
Free local newspaper in several sections on Saturday,
In the afternoon we drove up into the mountains. Winding roads.
Our purpose was to visit Katie Jones and see her winery.
Carcassone.
Hotel Le Donjon.
The hotel does not do dinners. The toilet was outside the bedroom, but alongside.
Restaurant Le Table de la Bastide.
basement with curved roof.
Highlight of the meal was dessert, surprise lemon. The shell is wafer thin chocolate. Inside is a white mousse. At the base inside is a thin layer of green pistacchio.
If you can't manage stairs or you are claustrophobic, there are four table on the ground floor but I recommend the cellar room if you can get a table there.
Came back and photographed Carcassonne by night.
Carcassonne, France, by Night. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Sunday Jan 14 2024
Breakfast in the Hotel Le Donjon. Excellent, honey thin and thick. Excellent Danish pastry with apple in the middle. Perfect scrambled egg, good brown bread.
The bthroom has wonderful aromatic minty soap in the dispenser, but no conditioner. I asked at the desk. None available.Hard boiled eggs. I learned the French, oeufs dure.
Walked around Carcassonne walls by daylight.
Then walked past shops towards the cathedral in the centre.
Were offered truffle cream on bread at a truffle shop.
Wanted to see inside the cathedral within the town walls, but it closed 11.45 other days and 10.45 on Sunday.
Popped into the top hotel, Cite hotel. It has a grand piano. And a restaurant.
Ring
Facing the cathedral is a souvenir shop with a huge number of inexpensive souviers including a lot of jewellery. I bought a ring for 4 Euros in the shape of a green enamal fish.
Drove through Narbonne, not so imprseed the second time..
Motorway Toilet.
Free.
Return to London, Luton on Ryanair.
We had too many bags becuase of the wine and had to throw away leaflets and food.
Our flight left at 16.35, half past four in the afternoon.
We found our friends Sandra and Mark again.
You could run a week long trip midweek to midwek, Wednesday, from Beziers. Or return earlier or later fom another airport. Many epople who live in France go to Barcelona airport, which is a two hour drive from this area and offers several flights a day to London as well as flights to Singapore and worldwide.
On the flight back we met up with our new friends Sandra and Mark who we met on the flight out. They said you can find flats to by incondos with pools at sur plage, but there is nothing to do there in winter.
Back in London I looked at a brochure I had been sent for Mayfield villages in Watford. Tey have an indoor heated pool,a restaurant, a shop, grounds looked after by staff, and activities such as bridge clubs. They help you with decluttering - sounds ominous, like they have no storage space and tiny rooms. My husband sayd he does not want to be with people who will go dolally, and only returied people. The age group is over 50.
I tried searching for retirement villages in France.
Useful Websites
See my other posts.
Wikipedia Beziers
Sete
Sete
https://www.francethisway.com/places/sete.php
https://www.brainyquote.com/lists/authors/top-10-paul-valery-quotes
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