After travelling along a magnificent coastal route in southern France we arrived in Spain. The road was windy and narrow, and as we were going over the Pyrenees, it was mountainous as well. But well worth it - there were some lovely towns and gorgeous views along the way.
First stop was Collioure. This town, with its bays opening on to the Mediterranean has a long history of visits by Phonecian, Roman and Greek sailors. It was a fortress of the Kings of Majorca and many Crusaders passed through here. The history of southern France and the Romans is amazing, as it is hard to understand how they travelled so far and wide in those times. We found a park on a cliff facing the sea for lunch. A tree laden with green figs was right in front of us, and all around the blue, blue sea. Amazing just how blue it was.
Enroute to Spain
Looking at Collioure
Notre-Dame-des-Anges, Collioure
Château Royal de Collioure
Next was Port Vendres, a fishing port not far from the Spanish border.
Notre-Dame de Bonne Nouvelle. Port-Vendres
Port-Vendres
Scenic vineyards
Pyrenees
Not long after lunch we were nearing the Spanish border. Exciting! We hadn’t been to Spain before. Both France and Spain have a huge train station in the towns closest to the border. In France it is Cerbere, and in Spain Portbou. I was surprised how big these towns were. Even more surprised when I saw El Port de la Selva in Spain. Rather than a town of pinks and apricots, it was dazzling white. And lovely. White so suits the beach towns.
Cerbere
French-Spanish border
PortBou, Costa Brava, Spain
Portbou
Llanca, Spain
El Port de la Selva
Spain
We continued over the mountains and then Cadaques came into view. Another gorgeous white town. A town built around a bay of the clearest blue water, with rocky cliffs covered in wild flowers and terraces with tables waiting for tourists to drink and eat. The old part of town had steep winding paths where old ladies walked ever so slowly with their sticks, and old gents walked their dogs.
Cadaques blue house decoration
Uphill in Cadaques
What a great day, but then to find a place to stop. We drove inland to a village called Navata. Here a local restaurateur let camping car people stay in his carpark. In return we were eat at his restaurant. We both had brain challenges here, as we shared the parking with a couple from Netherlands, and another from Germany. So I got to practice my rusty Dutch, and Bob had fun conversing in German.
Our dinner had an entree of local charcuterie (cold meats), bread and olives, and the main was meat of various kinds. We had more meat than we usually have in a week, but the restaurant guy was lovely and sharing the room with our new Dutch friends was fun as well. A lovely day.
Dinner in Navata
This featured blog entry was written by jannettek from the blog Time to travel.
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