Category: Découvrir la France

Post by Ella A small restaurant serving small dishes. All divine. Cured anchovies and bread with tomato Crunchy risotto biscuits with olives, aioli, kale and honey Sautéed mushrooms with chestnuts and topinambur cream Roasted eggplant with burrata, sun-dried tomato and almond pesto Croaker in coconut and dill jus

Post by Ella Yesterday, after arrival and check in, we headed for the Gothic Quarter which abuts a bay on the Balearic Sea. We are staying in the neighborhood Eixample. Straight down our boulevard to La Rambla where we joined mobs headed towards Rambla de Mar.  I was unrealistically hoping that the crowds had died…

Post by Ella Our journey started in the dark, frozen air. It was 1°C which is about 34°F. I’d made a deal with our talkative Tesla Uber driver, Dominique, to give us a ride to our bus stop. At 5:45am, we were trundling our luggage down cobblestone steps to the dirt path that followed the…

We trooped out the Aude gate of Cité Carcassonne this morning. Then took a steep path down to the walking bridge spanning the Aude River. We were headed towards the Bastide Saint-Louis, a section of the old city settled around 1260 by Cathar citizens expelled from their homes in the fortress where we were currently…

Post by Ella Carcassonne has the Bastid (old city) and the Cité, the medieval village). We are staying within the ramparts of the Cité but it is an easy walk down off the hill and across an old bridge into the bastid. We spied the Cathedral Saint Michel from the ramparts of the Cité. And…

Post by Ella Grubb says “hey look, another carousel” “You’re kidding, right?” No, he wasn’t. I say NO. What do you say? And how about this? Reindeer going on a track, like a train? Grubb says yes, I say no.

Post by Ella Dinner last night (Thursday) was cassoulet. It’s a big thing here in Carcassonne. Every restaurant menu has at least one cassoulet on its menu. I might have mentioned before, a cassoulet is a rich, slow cooked stew. A medley of meats (sausage, mutton, pork and goose are the classic combo) and haricot…

We made it to our castle in Carcassonne where we’ll be staying a couple of nights. This will our final chance to go medieval before we take bus to Barcelona.  The cobbled paths of the castle were pretty quiet last night.   The moon was rising over the battlements. And a big bowl of cassoulet was waiting…

The Maison Carré in Nimes is a Roman temple built in 19-16 BC.  I had read about it and thought we should stop in Nimes on our way to Carcassonne to take a look.  Nimes is not an easy city to negotiate by car.  It seemed like there was a roundabout every two meters where we were supposed…

Post by Ella We are now in the old city of Carcassonne , staying in a house within the ramparts. I am working on a glass of red from Carsac. A gift from our host.  So I’m relaxed…now. But earlier…. Driving from Avignon to NImes, well, first of all, we had a few misfires getting out…

Only four spans remain of St. Benézet bridge built in the 12th century over the Rhône.  Considered a marvel in its time with twenty-two spans, it was a major pilgrimage route in the Middle Ages between Italy and Spain. Damaged by flooding over the centuries, the stone bridge became too expensive to maintain.  Now it juts into…

It was starting to rain when we left the abruptly curtailed medieval bridge after visiting the Palace of the Popes.  So we quickly angled down a couple of side streets and found the Angladon Museum Jacques-Doucet.  Taking up a couple floors of an old chateau, the museum has a collection of art that was acquired by Jacques-Doucet,…

For most of the 14th century the Catholic papacy took up residence in Avignon.  This all had to do with French king Philip IV getting in a deadly spat with Pope Boniface VIII.  While Rome was in bickering chaos, Philip was bent on centralizing the church.  The next seven popes made Avignon their base where Benedict VII built…

Post by Ella I’ll just say this about that. Rumbling through the Palais de Papes in Avignon today, there was a surprising art exhibition adding to the decor of the somber early 14th century rooms. This and then that. That and then this.

Post by Ella Our apartment in Avignon has equaled our place in Nice. A spacious two bedroom, separate kitchen and living room, two full bathrooms. On Rue Victor Hugo no less. We’d arranged to meet host Adrien in front of the building (on Monday) to get the keys and get checked in. A few minutes…