La Paloma has a selection of family bikes for guests to use. This is not our family, in fact they are not even our bikes, but you get the idea.

Forget tightly packed tourist agendas and let daily life be the attraction for a change. If done properly, shopping for dinner can be a full day’s entertainment in France.  From La Paloma you can bike or walk to several vibrant village markets using the old railway track.

To access the path from La Paloma, turn left out of the gate and left again into the housing estate just before the bridge as you leave Arles-sur-Tech. When the road ends, the trail begins! Follow the Tech River as it makes its way through pleasantly shaded forest canopy.

 

The path turns back into road in the spa town of Amelie-les-Bains where there’s a quaint daily market in the old town square and a bigger market each Thursday morning by the river.

Artichokes from Amelie market. Steam them and dip the leaves in melted butter or olive oil, messy but divine!

Sylvie Longue’s fresh goat cheeses smothered in chopped shallots, peppercorns or Mediterranean herbs from her stall at the town square market aren’t to be missed. Nor are the many other local Catalan specialties like artisan cured charcuterie, organic olives,  sheep cheese and almond sweets.

Picasso’s Peace Dove drawn in Ceret, probalby. Come on be honest, how hard can that be to do?

Céret is bustling on Saturday mornings when the weekly outdoor market takes over the streets. Here you’ll find bright Catalan fabric and pottery, farm fresh produce, cheeses, wine, spices and more. If you can find an empty seat, Café Pablo is a perfect place to people watch. And the restaurants in the Place des Neuf Jets will tempt you to maintain your slow pace with a seriously long lunch.

Feeling really sporty? From Céret there’s a 28 km long cycling route all the way to the sea. If you don’t mind a climb through coastal vineyards you can reach Collioure for its lovely Sunday market. Don’t leave without trying fresh marinated anchovies or a glass of the famous sweet Banyuls wine.

Cycle or get the bus back to La Paloma, unpack your basket, pour a glass of your favourite domain, choose  a terrace, and let the French l’art de vivre  move you. Bon appetit!

Love and War in the Pyrenees, A Story of Courage, Fear and Hope, 1939-1944 is a book by local writer Rosemary Bailey. It’s a memoir and historical look at this region told through the stories of the people who live here. It’s a winner of the British Guild of Travel Writers Award for best narrative travel book.

A peak inside:

It began with a pair of shoes, worn espadrilles, the canvas faded, the ribbons twisted and frayed, the rope soles shredded and dirty. I saw them in the tiny museum of St-Laurent-de-Cerdans, a French Pyrenean village near the Spanish frontier where espadrilles and the traditional striped cotton Catalan fabric are still made. The espadrilles, along with a battered old canvas rucksack, were evidence of the passeurs, illicit frontier guides, who had criss-crossed the rugged border paths here, helping refugees to escape during the Second World War. The village of St-Laurent is tucked beneath the mountain, and looking upwards from the street the hillside is incredibly steep. Anyone anxious to escape would certainly have needed a guide.

I began to wonder what had happened in this region, my adopted second home, a magical land of sea and mountains and two countries (three if you count Catalonia). This eastern corner of the Pyrenees, where the mountains meet the Mediterranean, had been no great theatre of war. There were no films about dramatic Allied landings and no bloodied battlefields to see. But by 1939 the Pyrenees stood at the frontier of two wars, with refugees escaping in both directions. I was sure that the war had marked these people deeply, that the landscape held many memories.

If you’ve read the book, we’d like to know your opinion. Feel free to leave a comment to get a book discussion going.

 One of the best ways to do this is by walking. With a limitless number of paths crisscrossing the region, there’s something here for all walking levels. While spring is in full swing, our current pick is a coastal trail on the edge of mountains and sea.

 This easy coastal walk begins in the village of Port Vendres, famous for its deep water port and fish market.  The oyster bar here,  LaCriée, serves up fresh shellfish by seafood handlers clad in fishing boots and rubber aprons. Enjoy a glass of AOC Collioure white wine with your oysters, and you’ll blend perfectly with the natives.

SMELL: The walking path begins on the other side of the port where wild Cape Béar juts out into the sea. Breathe deeply and take in the briny smell of salt water and Mediterranean ozone.SEE: As you walk, look down into blue-green water for glimpses of sea urchins and other sea life. Follow the yellow-blazed trail as it leads upward and outward toward the Cape Béar Lighthouse.  Look back for views of snow-covered Mount Canigou in the distance. This is where the Pyrenees tumble into the Mediterranean! The coastal coves on the cape are perfect havens for sailboats and picnics.

FEEL: At the tip of the cape is the lighthouse with a rugged trail encircling a jagged coastline. Below the lighthouse is a tiny hamlet of fishermen’s houses accessible only by foot. Here you’ll find inviting lagoons perfect for bathing in warm Mediterranean waters. Let your skin soak up the healing sea and sun.

HEAR: Sea birds, sea breezes and the sounds of tranquillity will soften any stress you’ve carried with you. Let it all go and enjoy the moment.

 

Begin where the map says 'plongée, then follow along the coast to the Phare de Béar and return the same way. Count on at least two hours round trip, longer if you take it slow.

Sainte Tombe At Arles sur Tech

Having suffered ritual humiliation from friends and family for missing a flight to La Paloma  last month I was determined not to give them another opportunity as I prepared for the second leg of my Gatwick – Knock, Knock – Girona trip to collect our granddaughter for our Easter trip.

Arriving on the outskirts of Knock five, yes, FIVE, hours early for our flight we had plenty of time to kill and as we entered the town the Irish bar offering all day Irish Breakfasts and draught Guinness seemed to offer the perfect distraction.

If it had been up to Millie we would have gone straight to the bar but my grandfatherly instincts kicked in and I decided I would be derelict in my duties if I didn’t encourage her to explore the Knock Shrine which was heavily signposted around the town.

Despite her protests and insistence that she had been there before and knew all about it I swung the car into the car park past the line of gift shops and challenged Millie to share with me her knowledge of this, clearly highly popular, pilgrims’ destination.

I marched Millie through the perfectly manicured lawns towards the museum past the lines of pilgrims queuing at the shrine commemorating the appearance of ‘Our Lady’ at Knock in 1879. As we walked I mused out loud about how ‘convenient’ such a sighting could be for a small village in the middle of nowhere and the extraordinary impact it could have on its financial well being.

Whilst my faith in the existence of ‘Our Lady’, let alone her manifestation in a small village in Ireland, may be lacking I have a firm belief in mobile phone etiquette so was content to ignore the small vibration in my jacket pocket as we progressed pass the pilgrims bungalows.

It was only as we begun our tour of the museum that I deemed it appropriate to take a cursory glance at the text on my phone. URGENT – Your flight has been cancelled! That night, instead of savouring the delights of the emergency pizza from the freezer at La Paloma, strategically placed to feed late arrivals, we ended up back in the pub in our village in the UK.

Forty eight hours and £140 later we are finally arrived at La Paloma having travelled via Stansted, London, Epsom, Guildford, Reading, and Bristol where we spent the night in a mobile home at the end of the airport runway and dined with a construction crew from the M5 in the local pub.

Whilst this experience has not dented my agnostic faith it has encouraged me to remind friends of La Paloma about Arles sur Tech’s own links to the world of mystical apparitions. Despite extensive forensic research is has proved impossible to explain the mysterious phenomena of the Sainte Tombe in the Sainte Marie Abbey which yields gallons of ‘holy water’ each year with no sign of any means of replenishment.

If you want of find out more about this you can do so here and if you decide to investigate and are in need of somewhere to stay you can check La Paloma pricing and availability here. A word of advice to the sceptics, perhaps you should keep you comments to yourself, at last until the seat belt sign goes off – but then again…!

John

Footnote – The ‘mobile home site’ at Bristol airport is actually part of Forge Accommodation and provides good, cheap, clean overnight accommodation for travellers taking early fights from Bristol airport. The pub is the Airport Arms across the road and does great value food and good beer.

Heading for a Blue Sky Holiday!

22 Degrees and sunny in Arles today!

Clearing the decks in the UK today before heading out with kids and grandkids for a couple of weeks of wine, chocolate and sunshine.

John

The lounge at La Paloma has been designed to take full advantage of the stunning views across the valley.

The lounge is a large double aspect room with south facing, full width, patio doors and provides comfortable accommodation and a wonderful location for contemplative reflection as you gaze across the village to the hills on the opposite side.

With three sofas and an armchair there is plenty of room for your whole party to relax in comfort.

Ample sidelights make the lounge a great place for quite reading in the early evening.

The winter temperatures in this part of France are fairly mild, and the house is centrally heated. However, for additional atmosphere and some extra heating the traditional French Godin is available for your comfort.

The old town around the cathedral can only be described as elegant. Fabulous medieval architecture, stylish shops and great restaurants.

You can see here for more details. http://www.girona.cat/turisme/eng/activitats.php

One of our favourite restaurants is:

Cafe Le Bistrot
Pujada Sant Domènec 417004 Girona, Spain972 218 803

Food iis mportant to us so the house has a well equipped kitchen with seating for at least 8 people and a large dining room for serious feasts.

Some of us like to do a day trip to ski at Les Angles which is about two hours away.

Others like the coast and you can be at the beach at Collioure in about 40 mins.

The stunning views from the path above Arles sur Tech can be reached in a couple of hours from La Paloma.