Girona

Girona is in the Pyrenees about one hour from Barcelona. There is a train station here, and a lot of industry. Last night at dinner we met two people traveling here on business: a process chemist who works for Gilead Pharmaceuticals and a food chemist who works with processed meats for pizza! At the airport, which is the stopping off point for people visiting the Costa Brava, there were displays of meteorological instrumentation: there must be a lot of scientific stuff going on here!

We decided to visit because it was on the way to Barcelona where I fly out and because it was once home to a large Jewish community that temporarily lived harmoniously with Christians and Muslims. 

On arrival we witnessed another Catalonian independence parade with a drum core leading a fairly large group of protestors decked out in Catalonian flags. It seems that every building and lamppost here is decked out with slogans, flags, or yellow ribbons....the ribbons are in support of individuals sent to prison last year after the illegal vote to secede from Spain. I hear the essence of the battle is money...Catalonia is the richest province and doesn’t receive back the taxes they put into the country.

One of many signs......everywhere.

Yellow ribbons everywhere

We went to the Jewish museum. It seems there was a population of Jews - second only to Barcelona - who thrived for two hundred years or so. There were very few artifacts remaining, but it seems they were able to dig up a mikvah. Eventually the Jews were expelled or converted by Ferdinand and Isabella. Even after conversion the Jews were persecuted for not being Christian enough. 

There is also an ancient Arab bath there...built in the 12th century, which was pretty interesting, and ho hum, more immense churches. We also walked around the city atop a fortified wall...rebuilt originally from Roman times, but also used later on.

A wall portion from below.

City view atop the wall.

Toilet a few steps down from guard station on wall.

The baths...the cold room?

Another bath...medium room? there was also a hot steam room.

Ruins of a Jewish home

What Jews wore back in the day. I can’t stop thinking Handmaid’s Tale, which is not so far off...

Ornate street mosaic made from river stones.

The town is gorgeous and well maintained. It is a working town, but still there are plenty of tourists visiting. Oh and it is inexpensive...much less than Barcelona.

Albi

I’ve always wanted to see Albi, since my first visit to France in 1974. The entire region is orange from the orange brick and tiled roofs and I remember a an ancient orange bridge....

At any rate, we decided t take a side trip from Toulouse...an hour train ride ....to see the sites. It did not disappoint. The city has a Medeival, Renaissance, and modern parts. It is obviously a tourist hub evidenced by the tour busses outside the old city together with the tour groups. Nevertheless it was vibrant and interesting.

Albi was the home of Toulouse Latrec, and they have a beautiful museum housed in the former bishop quarters. There is also a church that defies description, built in the 13th century. We were told by the tourist information bureau that the church was built to be plain, somehow in opposition to the Cathar movement of the time. So, yes, it is plain on the outside, but immense...but on the inside it is anything but plain.

The church from the outside.

Another view of the “plain” church.

The Toulouse Latrec museum did not disappoint. This is a ceramic piece. The museum featured works from his early years and beyond and had many portraits from his youth done by other artists.

The building itself was quite stunning, another 13th/14th century building. The museum also housed a number of details about the refurbishment.

The ceiling of one of the galleries...there are paintings on the wood that had been painted over, but then removed.

Another room with elaborate paintings on the ceiling.

Outside the museum was a lovely garden that overlooked the river, its comely bridges, and the other side of town. We were not allowed in at first, there were bodyguards at the entrance. we struck up a conversation with them and learned that a former prime minister and current secretary of the economy was visiting the gardens. He had Laurent in his name....At any rate, we watched his entourage leave the garden and then he came out holding hands with his wife, looking extremely self satisfied. The chief of police of Albi, who spoke English, struck up a conversation with us and escorted us to a restaurant for lunch....not a tourist place he said...it had a view of the cathedral.

A view of the city from the gardens.

The formal garden.

Entree course, that’s glacé on top.


Dining in front of cathedral


Peach dessert.

Entrance to cathedral....the plainness slips away....

The walls of the “church within a church” where the bigwigs sit. It looked to be carved out of stone.

A scene from hell...the front of the church had a double mural depicting descent into hell. I kept thinking of the Cathar reference given to us in the tourist information bureau.

Conclusion: Albi is a fantastic one-day destination with stunning scenery, decent food, an excellent art museum, and I think the biggest “FU” church I’ve seen to date.

9/11 to 9/13 Carcassonne

The first thing I noticed rolling into Carcassonne on the sncf train was the view of the old city. What is that yellow stuff? I figured it was some kind of art, but what? Why would you deface the city like that? 



We kept seeing it from all directions, without a clue of the intention. In fact, our dinner mate at the Notre Dame de Abbaye dinner showed a photo that seemed to be the ultimate intention of the artist. It was similar to that below, but not quite.




On our last night we explored, trying to get the ultimate photograph and came upon this view. Voila voila voila. No one had prepared us for this view to be sure. It doesn’t look real does it?

Carcassone done in yellow aluminum tape.

But wait, there’s more. Last year we stayed at a pretty hostile little B&B near the train station, sadly pumped up by Rick Steves somewhat mistakenly I think. This year, thanks to last year’s research, we stayed at the Notre Dame du Abbaye, right outside the old city. The beauty: as a pilgrim, a bed and two meals is only Euro 25. We stayed two nights, so paid euro 19 for the second night, plus maybe euro 5 for breakfast. Hurrah! For this we had a dorm room. We actually had a male roommate, Christian I. We felt quite sad for him, a pilgrim sharing with three women. We had dinner with him, but he skulked out at dawn, cannot blame him.

Okay there’s more:

The gargoyles, this from the official cathedral, though there are plenty more churches.

This is the wall outside of Notre Dame d‘Abbaye.




Can’t stop with the painted city 

Still can’t stop.

The other thing is that when you walk outside the walled city, in an old, but not-as-old part of town, you find a lot of abandoned, or for rent shops. It is remarkable...this is a tourist town, it is the main city on the map in the region but yet it is struggling in parts. 

9/18, Pamiers to Montégut-Plantaurel, 11.8 miles, 46 floors

Today we marched through Pamiers into the city center where surprisingly a little farmers market was taking place. Jenny bought a delicious, but expensive brioche that tasted of oranges. It will be our lunch tomorrow....

We had a few false steps, but then successfully made our way out of the city, over the Pont Neuf, and up up up the hills. I sucked in all the water I brought...1.2 liters or so in the first hour....it was hot and steep! 

At the halfway point we stopped in the village of Saint Victor Rouzaud for lunch. Thankfully they had potable water for us since I had siphoned through my allotment pretty quickly. One thing we learned yesterday from our lovely host Anne, is that you can always get potable water in the cemeteries. Good information for thirsty pilgrims.

The highlight of the day was the sheep. At the end of the day we passed many hundreds of sheep. Many had bells, maybe 10%, but they made a racket .... a symphony of bells, some staccato (in the woods...what was going on?) and some clanging randomly. I could imagine a symphony being inspired by the wonderful clanging. Dozens of the sheep were sheltered under a copse of trees next to a creek. Some were resting, others drinking water, and again, others activities were unknown. 

A view of sheep.

Ok, so tonight we are at a donativo house...room and board, pay as you wish. It is a funky place decorated like crazy. I have the elephant room....

So dinner tonight was quite spectacular. We asked for vegetarian, and our hostess, Katie, gave us quite a show. For starters, cantaloupe slices with a cucumber salad on the side, plus a cauliflower salad. Next, a petit pois soup, followed by some fried Ceps foraged by our co-pilgrim Christian (Christian II on the pilgrimage). Next we have a ‘melange’ of cabbage, cheese, and fromage blanc. All served with a lovely rose. Next comes the cheese course and finally, a fruit cocktail served with a pound cake.

I am full. thank you. 

Our little group of pilgrims 

The ceps that Christian foraged today (hey, I saw some too but don’t know my mushrooms so didn’t pick(

Christian cutting the ceps.

More posturing. Dinner was super fun with lots of giggles. Three Americans with no French, two Frenchpeople with no English, plus rose. Super fun.

Good night.

9/17, Vals to Pamiers, 13.5 miles, mostly flat

Dinner in Pamiers, an amazing pasta salad, cantaloupe, bread, Rose, cheese

Jenny walking down the rock bridge

Taunya walking up the rock bridge

A rest on the trail

Selfie with Christian iii, a Dr, and Car collector that we met in Sain Amadou

Christian with British WW II Army Mototcycle

French Car made by American expat


Insidechurch at vals

Vault paintings





Outside church in Vals