Category: Montpellier Area
Discussed in this Episode
- Elyse's Voicemap Tour of Toulouse [03:06]
- Collioure on the Vermeil Coast [06:18]
- Historical development of Collioure [08:31]
- Catalonia and the Kings of Majorca [10:06]
- Counts of Roussillon [11:15]
- How this area became part of France [13:55]
- General Vauban and the fort he built in Collioure [15:04]
- Collioure as a Navy Base [15:43]
- Spanish Refugees and the Retarida [17:41]
- The arrival of artists in the 1870s [20:57]
- Matisse and Derain [25:45]
- Fauvist Movement [26:57]
- Collioure Today and the Fauve Trail [31:40]
- La Maison du Fauvisme [32:38]
- Notre Dame des Anges [31:40]
- Le Musée d'Art Moderne de Collioure (outside the old village) is not as good [32:38]
- Enjoying Collioure and the Bay [32:12]
- Local Gastronomy and Wine [39:59]
- Anchovies in the Catalonian style [39:59]
- Port Vendres and why you should see it [39:05]
- Driving to the Point Béar Lighthouse [41:04]
- Anse de Paulilles and the Nobel dynamite factory [44:21]
- German bunkers on the coastline [47:33]
- Banyuls-sur-Mer [49:35]
- Terraced wine fields [50:04]
- Spas at Banyuls and La Table de Jordi Restaurant [50:04]
Annie Sargent 0:00
This is Join Us in France Episode 262. Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent and Join Us in France is a podcast where you’ll hear pragmatic advice for your next trip to France. On the podcast, we talk a lot about Paris. But we love to talk about the rest of France as well.
Annie Sargent 0:19
And today at least, and I take you to the lovely city of Collioure and the Vermeille Coast near the border of Spain. I love interviewing regular visitors to France but at least brings her unique professional input. And I always learned so much from her.
Annie Sargent 0:36
Today she’ll tell us about the historical development of Collioure, how this area became part of France, about Spanish refugees, and the Ritarida, who came through Collioure, German bunkers on the coastline, the arrival of artists including Matisse and Derain, in the 1870s, the fauvist movement.
Annie Sargent 1:00
Of course Collioure today, best ways to enjoy it and the bay, local gastronomy and wine. Port Vendres and why you should stop there. It’s very close to Collioure, driving to the plant be lighthouse, the Anse de Paulilles and the dynamite factory. Banyuls-sur-Mer she has a hard time saying that word but it’s really easy: Banyuls. And Elyse shares a great restaurant and hotel recommendations too.
Annie Sargent 1:34
If you enjoy listening to Join Us in France. please consider supporting the show on Patreon where you’ll get exclusive content or make a donation by clicking on the tip your guide green button on any page on Join Us in France. com. Details of how you can spread the Christmas cheer after my conversation with Elyse.
Annie Sargent 1:56
I am not certain there will be an episode next Sunday on December 22. I am trying to set up a recording about Christmas markets in Amiens and Ghent in Belgium, and Reims but it’s not quite buckled down yet. So I’m not sure I’ll be able to get the interview. So if you don’t hear from me on December 22 next week, I’ll be back on December 29. And have a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.
Annie Sargent 2:24
Show Notes and transcript for this episode are on Join Us in france.com forward slash 262 262
Annie Sargent 2:32
Hello Elyse!
Elyse Rivin 3:03
Hello Annie!
Annie Sargent 3:04
How are you?
Elyse Rivin 3:05
I’m fine!
Annie Sargent 3:06
It sounds to me like you’re getting awfully close to releasing your VoiceMap for Toulouse!
Elyse Rivin 3:11
Hallelujah! Do I say that again? Jah jah!
Elyse Rivin 3:18
Yes. hopefully hopefully if all goes well, my VoiceMap for Toulouse will be ready for Christmas time
Annie Sargent 3:26
Right. Oh, that’s wonderful. So for if this is your first time listening to the show, VoiceMap is an app. It’s a travel app. And it lets you take self guided audio tours of lots of places in the world. I have created three of them for Paris.
Elyse Rivin 3:45
Yeah.
Elyse Rivin 3:45
And Elise is doing one now for Toulouse, and she has plans for more. And I have plans for more too, because I think VoiceMap is a great way to discover a city because you can do it on your own time. You can go out when it’s not raining. You don’t have to set up an appointment for, you know, right now we’re having a bunch of strikes. Well, if you can’t get to where you’re supposed to meet your guide, I mean, for as much as I like in person guiding. Sometimes it’s just not the right time to do it, you know, like you can’t get to it or it’s raining or it’s too hot or whatever. With the self guided audio tours, the app tells you meet me in this place, and you go
Elyse Rivin 4:28
And you go
Annie Sargent 4:28
And it’s magic when you get there Elyse starts talking to you!
Elyse Rivin 4:33
Me my voice Really!
Annie Sargent 4:35
Yes.
Elyse Rivin 4:35
Like Annie
Annie Sargent 4:36
It’s it’s amazing. So that’s the VoiceMap app. I will and of course the app itself is free. You can install it on your iPhone or Android and and then you purchase specific tours.
Annie Sargent 4:53
And to purchase the tours you’ll email Elyse and let her know that you want her tour and then she’ll send you a code
Elyse Rivin 4:59
And it will be Wonderful,
Annie Sargent 5:01
Or you can also buy it directly through the app. That’s right, that’s the other way to do it, right? Yeah. Anyway, so bravo!
Elyse Rivin 5:07
Thank you. Yes, it’s been, it’s been a fair amount of work. But it is, of course, I would like to say also that occasionally, if you have a group of people, it’s nice to have a tour with me. If you have three, four people, and you want to do a little tour, because the differences and that’s also I mean, I think I think both are good. And I understand perfectly because I’ve used the equivalent of a VoiceMap in lots of places. When I want to see things, and I’m, I’m on my own, and I like the idea of listening to it and stopping it when I feel like and putting it on again and everything. Right. And if you have a little group, if you have a little family group or Google little friends and you want something customized, that’s when a private tour is a nice idea.
Annie Sargent 5:52
Yes. And there, they both have their place and they both have they’re both very good. And it’s true that if it’s a group of people that And everybody putting on their headphones might not be ideal. Yeah, no,It’s not as good. It’s not it’s not as good. But you know,
Elyse Rivin 6:07
And then you can chat about it. But But definitely This is a it’s it’s meant to be something so that you can think about it as you’re walking around. And hopefully this is what people will do.
Annie Sargent 6:18
Yeah. Okay, so the topic of today’s conversation is not, no, it’s not,
Elyse Rivin 6:23
Not the VoiceMap and it’s not Toulouse
Annie Sargent 6:25
No, it’s Collioure
Elyse Rivin 6:27
It’s Collioure and the Vermeille coast.
Annie Sargent 6:31
Vermeille coast
Elyse Rivin 6:33
Vermeille is?
Annie Sargent 6:35
It’s a color
Elyse Rivin 6:36
It’s a color, it’s a red.
Annie Sargent 6:37
Red, okay, I wasn’t sure!
Elyse Rivin 6:40
It’s it’s the color red because the walk a lot of the rock and the soil in that area is in fact very, very reddish. It’s a particular tone. I mean, from painting I since I paint and it’s a very specific kind of red but very nice name and where we’re at Talking about and obviously, one of the reasons is that it is a place that is fairly well known by tourists. People have heard of it. A lot of people have actually gone to Collioure. But I don’t think people know really what its true history is, but it’s part of the south eastern coast of France before you get to Spain.
Elyse Rivin 7:08
It’s pretty close to Spain.
Annie Sargent 7:08
I think it’s 27 kilometers from the Spanish frontier border and
Annie Sargent 7:21
Yeah, it’s pretty close to Spain.
Elyse Rivin 7:29
It’s the last stretch of coastline on the Mediterranean. The mountains there are called the Albère.
Annie Sargent 7:36
Okay
Elyse Rivin 7:37
And a jet out into the sea. And if you are further if you are a little further north, if you are following the the sea, the coastline, one of the big beaches after Narbonne for instance, you can see the Albère it’s kind of like a peninsula that juts out into the sea. And that’s really it’s like a huge cove. And Collioure is at the beginning of that, and we’ll follow it around and we’ll talk about Collioure. And then a little bit about Banyuls, which is the other town that’s literally on the other side before you get to Spain, you know, have this big big Cove, but it’s really the last stretch.
Annie Sargent 7:41
So it’s kind of part of the Pyrenees. I mean,
Elyse Rivin 8:20
It’s definitely part of the Pyrenees. It’s Pyrenees in the area called the Pyrénées Orientales which means the Oriental or Eastern Pyrenees.
Annie Sargent 8:31
Right. It’s the heart of Catalonia.
Annie Sargent 8:31
Right.
Elyse Rivin 8:31
And part of the whole history of Collioure which is interesting, because it has nothing to do with the reason that most people go there these days. But part of its history has to do with the history of Catalonia.
Elyse Rivin 8:46
It’s the heart of Catalonia and in in doing some research, because having just been there a couple of weeks ago that was gave me the idea to talk about it. But I thought well, even me, I know it’s more recent History which is connected to a group of artists, but I didn’t really know about its ancient history. And so it’s actually kind of interesting. Well, I mean, it’s interesting from my point of view, when you see what has happened to it.
Elyse Rivin 9:15
For instance, what I didn’t know is that the Romans actually had a settlement there. So it’s a place that goes back very, very, very far.
Annie Sargent 9:24
Right.
Elyse Rivin 9:24
It goes really back as far as we can go in terms of settlements, probably even the Greeks at some point, after they settled Marseille they were traveling around, they were looking for places have to do what the French like to call comptoir, which means a trading post, basically, and because there’s this huge, enormous Cove there, the Romans settled and did their first fortifications there.
Elyse Rivin 9:48
But then, for centuries, it was really part of Catalonia which was not part of France. Catalonia was part of what of course, is a separate kingdom. It wasn’t even the kingdom of Spain until much later on. It was the kingdom of Catalonia.
Annie Sargent 10:04
It was its own thing.
Elyse Rivin 10:05
It was its own thing.
Annie Sargent 10:06
Yeah.
Elyse Rivin 10:06
And in fact, the kings of Catalonia were on Majorca.
Annie Sargent 10:11
Oh yes.
Elyse Rivin 10:12
So it was Majorcan
Annie Sargent 10:15
Right when you visit they do have impressive palace on Majorca
Elyse Rivin 10:19
Yes, they have an expressive Palace in fact Majorca is the place I am really hoping to go to one day I’ve never been.
Annie Sargent 10:25
Oh, I’ve been.
Elyse Rivin 10:26
It’s supposed to be very beautiful.
Annie Sargent 10:27
It’s a great cruise stop!
Elyse Rivin 10:28
It’s a great cruise stop. It but it turns out that the the counts of the council kings of Majorca controlled must most of this area and I suppose that was because they were interested in having a coastline that was defendable and so they were the first ones to actually build fortifications there. Massive fortifications.
Annie Sargent 10:51
Now you’re talking about the fortifications around Collioure.
Elyse Rivin 10:53
Around Collioure. Yes, yes good. Sorry about it from Collioure. And there was a chateau built there in the seven hundreds.
Annie Sargent 11:02
Oh, wow.
Elyse Rivin 11:02
So it goes back really far. And probably also the Chateau, which was a fortified castle was to defend against the Sarrasins who were making incursions into as far north as as, you know, France at that time.
Annie Sargent 11:15
Poitiers.
Elyse Rivin 11:15
And and they went much further in fact. So then it’s very strange because Spain, which was a separate little princedoms, I never know what to call them, because some of them were counts, and some of them were dukes. And some of them were kings, and I don’t know how you mix all that together. And they were little separate entities. Yeah, entities. There were counts of Roussillon.
Annie Sargent 11:40
Okay.
Elyse Rivin 11:41
And they fought with the kings of Majorca.
Annie Sargent 11:44
Okay, so Roussillon is a little further north than Collioure
Elyse Rivin 11:47
Right, but it’s still the that section of the eastern part of the Pyrenees and going into the region of what we would call the Corbières, which we know from the wines, right?
Annie Sargent 11:58
Well, I also know it because I go there.
Elyse Rivin 11:59
You go there, I think of it because this is wine country you know, and and so they fought over it a lot. But in any case, they were still part of this world of Catalonia, which means that the language they spoke was Catalan.
Annie Sargent 12:17
Oh, sure.
Elyse Rivin 12:17
Not French.
Annie Sargent 12:19
Oh, no, no, yeah. Long ago nobody spoke French.
Elyse Rivin 12:22
It was because it wasn’t French.
Annie Sargent 12:24
Yeah, there wasn’t a French yet.
Elyse Rivin 12:26
And the name comes from the French version of the Catalan word. And in France in the 1400s it was simply called Coulière.
Annie Sargent 12:36
Coulière, OK.
Elyse Rivin 12:38
So it’s almost it’s like the vowels got reversed.
Annie Sargent 12:40
So, COU
Elyse Rivin 12:40
LIERE
Elyse Rivin 12:46
And it means a rounded Bay.
Annie Sargent 12:49
There you go. That’s exactly what it is
Elyse Rivin 12:51
Excatly what is right!
Annie Sargent 12:52
Descriptive.
Elyse Rivin 12:53
So it was a very important residence for the kings of Majorca. And between the 1300s and the 1600s. It was batted back and forth between and fought over between the kings of Aragon, the kings of Majorca, the Council of Roussillon and the kings of France.
Annie Sargent 13:16
Okay, so.
Elyse Rivin 13:17
Okay. Well, you know, this is a territory that obviously…
Annie Sargent 13:21
So it went back and forth, I assume
Elyse Rivin 13:22
Going back and forth enormously. And interestingly enough, part of it is because of this bay that was there, that the fortifications that were there from the seven hundreds were very good. They were reinforced several times over the centuries. And they were considered to be a very important military outpost for watching what was going on on the coast.
Annie Sargent 13:44
Yeah.
Elyse Rivin 13:44
So obviously, that was its principal interest because it was just a small fishing port outside of the fortified castle basically.
Annie Sargent 13:54
Yeah
Elyse Rivin 13:55
And then what happened was in the early 1600s under Louie the 13th the French King. A treaty was signed with the Spanish King and all of Roussillon became French. In 1681, to be exact.
Annie Sargent 14:14
1681, OK.
Elyse Rivin 14:14
Oh, recent, past and ish, compared to in fact, it was signed by Louie the 14th.
Annie Sargent 14:15
Okay.
Elyse Rivin 14:17
And when it was signed Vauban, General Vauban, who is this wonderful man, I don’t know if we’ve really talked about him or we’ve talked
Annie Sargent 14:30
We’ve mentioned him a few times
Elyse Rivin 14:32
We really should talk about him some.
Annie Sargent 14:34
Yeah
Elyse Rivin 14:35
He was this incredible engineer. He was a nobleman who was a general and he was an engineer, and he was responsible for most of the fortifications on coastline that still exist in France. And he would often and this is exactly what he did here. He took the ancient fortress that was really ancient and he rebuilt it and he turned it into a huge military fortress.
Annie Sargent 15:04
Okay.
Elyse Rivin 15:04
So today when you go to Collioure because it is really the way most people enter you park in the park that’s more modern, generally speaking, and you walk along this walkway on one side you have the water of the of the bay. And on the other side, you have these enormous enormous enormous stone walls that are still part of the fortress.
Annie Sargent 15:09
You mean cliffs?
Elyse Rivin 15:13
No, no the walls. It’s actually the walls of the fortress.
Annie Sargent 15:34
Ah Okay
Elyse Rivin 15:35
If you I mean, the way we walked in was, I think that’s, there may be other ways.
Annie Sargent 15:41
Yeah. I know what you mean now, sorry. Okay.
Elyse Rivin 15:43
So on one side, you have the water of the bay. And you’re going you can see in the distance, you can see other parts of fortifications with the church tower. And then in fact in front of you a little further up. You can actually see cafes and things like that, but on your left are the walls of this enormous military fort, that Vauban built, and that is what is there to this day. And what he did was he made it a fort that was important for the French Navy. So even in the 17th century was a very important naval base.
Elyse Rivin 16:19
The town was not a tourist town of any kind. I mean, it really was a military fort.
Elyse Rivin 16:22
And what happened was that that lasted up until the time of the French Revolution. After the revolution, interestingly enough, its military function changed and it became a training place for the Navy, which I didn’t know. And if you go into when you go up to go into Collioure, and you do if you go this way, I don’t know if they’re really other ways of entering the old city itself. You have to go around part of the wall, the fortress and you cross over these teeny little bridge, but before you do, there’s now this huge plaque, this big sign in French and in Catalan and in English. That gives you a very brief summary of the history.
Annie Sargent 16:23
Not back then!
Annie Sargent 17:11
I see.
Elyse Rivin 17:12
Because it is still used for the training of the Navy SEALs, the French new navy seals, okay, the ones that are the guys that go under boats to blow them up like they did in the 1990s with the Greenpeace boat, that’s where they were trained. So it’s actually there’s a part of it that’s off limits, it’s still military. But what was interesting to discover, which I didn’t know since this fortress is still very imposing.
Elyse Rivin 17:41
Not only is it still run by the military by the Navy, but in 1939. It was used as a prison for the Spanish refugees, because the French were not very nice with a Spanish refugees at the beginning and the end of 1939 the Spanish Civil War basically was ending. The General Franco won the war, and there were hundreds of thousands of Spanish who fled Spain. Yes, is the period that’s called the Retirada. And they came over the Pyrenees in various different places. And many of them came through this area because there was a major route or by boat, and they were put into the fortress as a prison. And
Annie Sargent 18:29
Yes because later, about half a million of them settled in, in southern France.
Elyse Rivin 18:34
Yes.
Annie Sargent 18:35
But so apparently it was very difficult at the beginning.
Elyse Rivin 18:37
Well, it was very difficult and in fact, it’s a whole long story that it’s very there’s no one specific place to go and see anything about this this history of of France, but they came across in various places over the Pyrenees. Many of course came to Toulouse there were over 150 or 200,000 Spanish refugee.
Elyse Rivin 18:56
Going up by I knew a lot of them.
Elyse Rivin 18:58
Right, in Toulouse. But that’s Lot of them did come along the coastline. And apparently, there were a lot of there was a lot of ambiguity in terms of the French government not wanting some of the diehard militants of the Revolutionary Army…
Elyse Rivin 19:17
Right.
Elyse Rivin 19:18
In France because they were worried that they were going to stir up trouble and turns out, yes, then, of course, the irony is that they were among the first to join the resistance against the Germans during the World War Two. But what happened was that and I’m reading now because I wrote this down just one of my notes. Over 100 of these militant Spanish were actually tortured to death in this fort in Collioure. So it really has a very, very complicated history.
Elyse Rivin 19:45
That’s terrible.
Elyse Rivin 19:46
Yeah, they were. And then, of course, what happened was when there was a huge scandal about this that came out in the newspapers in 1939, and many people who transferred to a place called Camp Vernet. Which I’ve heard of, which was a huge camp. Wouldn’t go so far as to call it a concentration camp. But it was a holding camp for thousands and thousands of Spanish refugees, and it was inland. And so they were evacuated out of it.
Elyse Rivin 20:16
But the Navy kept it, it was occupied. The fort itself was occupied by the Germans. During World War Two. They installed there, they were the ones who put in new cannons and built block houses along the coast. But they took over this fort. That was the fence that was actually built by Vauban. And the irony is that in spite of all that, which is kind of like the part of the black history of Collioure in the 20th century, starting at the end of the 19th century, Cpllioure which was other than the fork, just a charming little fishing village.
Elyse Rivin 20:57
So you have the big fort, which is really imposing I mean, the walls are extremely high. It’s enormous. And then next to it just built right up against it, you have this lovely colorful little village that was basically a fishing village. And that starting in the 1870s was where a group of artists discovered that they could do some lovely painting. And that is why To this day, most tourists go to Collioure because its associated with Matisse and with a whole group of artists that were called the Fauves.
Annie Sargent 21:31
Fauves, yes.
Elyse Rivin 21:33
And the idea of the Fauves
Annie Sargent 21:37
Which means Fauve in French means
Elyse Rivin 21:42
Wild!
Annie Sargent 21:43
Yeah, beast.
Elyse Rivin 21:44
Beat, yes.
Annie Sargent 21:45
It’s it’s like you if she mentioned a fauve you think of a lion. A male lion.
Elyse Rivin 21:53
Exactly.
Annie Sargent 21:54
Yeah.
Elyse Rivin 21:55
It’s a wild animal. Yeah, the The term was used by An art critic at a moment in art history in the 1880s, or may have been actually there 1890 I’m not even sure. But the reason why is because this group of artists and the first one actually to go there was Matisse, and then another artist named Andre Derain who is very, very well known artists from that time period. They were friends. And they went, they traveled a lot in the south of France. They we spent a lot of time on the Riviera. They did. These are artists who came after the impressionist and of course, they painted outside they were inspired by the light and the light in Roussillon is very vivid. Yeah, it’s very vivid. The sky is very, very blue. The water is very, very dark blue and the light is magnificent. And the houses were very, very colorful.
Annie Sargent 22:54
Yeah, so fauve another meaning for it in French is the color. It’s a type. It’s it’s a hue of red
Unknown Speaker 23:01
fourth we, because I know move is a purple.
Annie Sargent 23:05
Yes, that’s different color. It’s it’s red, almost like what you see in a flame. Ha the type of red you see. So it’s almost an orange like my hibiscus over there. Yeah, it’s a tiny bit more rather than that and it would be fauve.
Elyse Rivin 23:21
Oh, that’s interesting. Yes, well it comes from that because what happened was that this was a period of experimentation in painting. And the artists that were part of this movement decided that they were going to use the color pure out of the tube. No mixing of the colors. If you work with paint, what you know is that if you mix two colors together, it doesn’t matter what two colors I mean, we know most people I think know that blue and red together make purple. But when you use colors directly out of the tube, and we’re already at a time when colors were starting to be made in tubes not just fabricated by the artists themselves. You know, they were still doing that, but they were still they had ready made colors. They’re very vivid and very saturated colors.
Elyse Rivin 24:07
And what these, this particular group of artists wanted to do was use only these pure, very saturated color. Not realistically at all, but to convey the intensity of the color and light in these places that they went. And they said, they settled in Collioure because of the intensity of the vibration of the light off of the sea, because it is really amazing. It’s blinding it sometimes if it’s a very sunny day, and the houses are very colorful, they’re all colored different colors. It’s very beautiful to see.
Annie Sargent 24:42
How long did they stay there?
Elyse Rivin 24:45
Well, they didn’t. They stay there probably for about 10 years.
Annie Sargent 24:49
Okay, that’s a long time.
Elyse Rivin 24:51
Off and on.
Annie Sargent 24:51
Yeah
Elyse Rivin 24:52
Off and on. They had. They they all rented houses there. And they would go together and they It’s very interesting because it was a time period, which is not the case anymore with artists in general. But it was a time period when artists went as little groups together, you know, like friends who were into the same kind of art, and they would go, and they would rent a place. Whether it was the same house or just houses next to each other, I have no idea actually. But they would work together.
Annie Sargent 25:24
Right
Elyse Rivin 25:25
So that they could see what each one was doing. And they would talk to each other about their work because they were inspired by the same things. So at a given time, and this is of course, the group that is started out being simply called the post impressionist but became known as the Fauves
Annie Sargent 25:42
The Fauvisme.
Elyse Rivin 25:43
Fauvisme exactly.
Annie Sargent 25:45
Yeah, fauviste.
Elyse Rivin 25:45
You have Mr. Matisse, Derain. Who is an artist I actually, I like his work a lot.
Annie Sargent 25:54
Your headphones…
Elyse Rivin 25:55
My headphones are falling off,
Annie Sargent 25:57
Put them back on!
Elyse Rivin 25:59
An artist named Marquet. Who’s very interesting
Elyse Rivin 26:03
Marquet? MARQUET
Annie Sargent 26:07
I don’t think I’ve been familiar with if
Elyse Rivin 26:09
If you go to the Bemberg Foundation and here in Toulouse a couple of his pieces that are very nice.
Annie Sargent 26:14
Okay.
Elyse Rivin 26:16
Strangely enough an artist that is known specifically for work in Toulouse Henri Martin and an artist named Signac.
Annie Sargent 26:27
Oh, I’ve heard of him! He did a huge. He did the huge monumental piece inside of the where they have the weddings in Toulouse.
Elyse Rivin 26:36
No, that’s Henri Martin.
Annie Sargent 26:37
Ah! Ca c’etait Henri Martin? Ah, OK, OK.
Elyse Rivin 26:40
Right that’s Henri Martin. Henri Martin got the honor of having the most space inside the city hall for doing paintings.
Annie Sargent 26:47
But it kind of looks like Signac as well.
Elyse Rivin 26:49
Yeah, these are all post impressionist guys.
Annie Sargent 26:51
Okay, okay.
Annie Sargent 26:52
And two people who are mostly associated with Cubism, strangely enough George Braque and Juan Gris. And they were buddies, all of these guys. And so they would go and they would stay a month or two. Not all year, but a month or two, obviously mostly in the spring and summertime. In Collioure. So this is 1880s 1880s Yep, right started in the 1870s. But it’s the biggest time for it is the 1880s 1890s. That movement, the Fauvism actually went into the maybe 1900. I mean, it’s a lot of these movements kind of lasted, had this high period and then just petered out and became something else after about 10 years or so.
Elyse Rivin 27:34
But the name, which is really interesting to know, I don’t know, I don’t remember the name of the art critic, but a group of them had put on a show. And just like the term Impressionism came from an art critic who and it was a negative term, I mean, looked at a painting by Monet, and said, What the hell is this impression This isn’t a finished work. This is just somebody doing a sketch. It’s like an impression of something And the guys with a Monet and his friends, they went, Okay, we’re Impressionists.
Elyse Rivin 28:04
You know, so what happened here was that the art critic took a look at the paintings, particularly the work of Matisse and Derain because they were using explosive saturated color in a largely non realistic way, you know. Derain did paintings, not very big, but the trees are red, the sky is purple. I mean, you know, it’s just, you know, it’s like wild animals. It’s disgusting. It’s wild colors. This is disgusting. Yeah, it’s like, fauve.
Elyse Rivin 28:05
And they went, yeah, yeah. It suits our idea of what paint should be. Their idea being that you don’t mix colors. You don’t use gray’s you don’t use blacks. You give it a punch. I mean, this is what they wanted to give it a punch. Now, the reality is that you have artists like Matisse who lived a very long, long life.
Annie Sargent 28:52
Yeah.
Elyse Rivin 28:53
Who went who, whose work was always about color in some way or another. His work is very joyous, but he went through Different stylistic periods. And then you have other artists like Derain, whose work is really to this day associated with Fauvism. And and whatever else he did, it doesn’t compare to the work that he did when he was in that particular time period.
Annie Sargent 29:18
Interesting.
Elyse Rivin 29:18
to the period that was
Annie Sargent 29:19
Yeah, things moved along. Things changed rapidly. In the, you know, with paint with this, this art within 20 years, they would totally change how they represented things. Yes. It was really a, you know, quite surprising.
Elyse Rivin 29:38
Well, the reality is that, starting basically, I’d say starting in the middle of the 19th century, and right into World War Two, so 100 years, it’s almost like every 10-15 years there was a new movement. Yeah, and they and some of them had lasting effects. Yeah, and and really are important in terms of what the influences that they’ve had on other people since, and others came and went in short term and just kind of pulled out. You know that.
Annie Sargent 30:08
Yeah. It’s very interesting. Only people who study art would know about them. Yes,
Annie Sargent 30:12
Yeah.
Elyse Rivin 30:12
Exactly. Right. Right. Or look at them even ironically, because it has nothing to do specifically with paintings. But the movement called Art Nouveau, which is largely about decoration and architecture. It’s a movement that didn’t last more than 10 years. But every movement seemed to have caused another movement. It was like action reaction, that kind of thing.
Elyse Rivin 30:28
So this is really what put the town of Collioure on the map as a place for people to go and visit. And what’s interesting is that all of this is parallel to the time when these other things were happening and it started much earlier. So in 1905, Derain spent a whole year in Collioure, Matisse was with him. And they asked for people like Picasso and Dally who were not necessarily doing the same kind of work. But who were people that they knew these were, they were all people who knew each other. They invited them to come and this is how Picasso and Dali started hanging out along the coastline of southern France,
Elyse Rivin 31:20
Right because they’re both Catalan anyway. They were pretty young then.
Elyse Rivin 31:24
They were. In 1905, Picasa was 30 or 31. Yeah, I’m not even sure Dali. I mean, it was they were all young. I mean, basically, the Matisse was already a little older. But but they were in the same you know, same same category.
Elyse Rivin 31:40
So if you go to Collioure now the, the village itself, not the fortress, the fortress you see from the outside. I don’t know if you can even have access to the inside because it is still a military base. But the village of course, is a very touristy, it’s very beautiful. It’s very, very, very Colorful, it’s not flat, it’s very charming. It’s got these tiny little narrow alleyways with the houses that are all very different colors. It’s very fauve-like in the houses, and there is a Fauve trail you can follow. It’s actually on the sidewalk and little streets. And you can walk around and go up and down and in and out. And then when you get done with this little walk besides visiting the church, which has a side of it, that’s old fortress that hangs out over the water, and the walls over the sea. It’s very lovely little town,
Annie Sargent 32:36
So is that the one called Notre Dame des Anges.
Elyse Rivin 32:38
Yes. Okay. Yeah.What you can do then is you can go inside this teeny little museum called the Maison du Fauvisme. Uh huh. And it’s very nice. It’s very small, but it’s very, very lovely and it gives you examples and the history of Fauvism and how it evolved as a style of painting and the color involved in it. And it’s charming. It’s not a big Museum at all. The Museum of Collioure which is outside the old part, and not so interesting. Okay, but this little Maison du Fauvisme it gives you some you have a couple of little examples of Derain and Matisse and other painters and it really shows you the evolution of their painting style with all the colors you know,
Annie Sargent 33:27
Right right. So the sad truth is little museums like that can’t afford a Derain or a Matisse. So they probably have maybe some sketches or maybe some tiny pieces or reproductions.
Elyse Rivin 33:39
Exactly tiny pieces or reproductions. You’re absolutely right that that is the problem. But cool your I hadn’t been back in a long time we were we spent a weekend doing a little bit of this coastline and everything and I I know that everybody goes there lots and lots of tourists go there. Lots of people I’ve met lots of people I’ve done visits with and they say, Well, when I go to the coast I’m going to go to Collioure. And I keep thinking, Well what do they really know about Collioure? It’s interesting that it’s become a spot that people hear about that everybody wants to go to.
Elyse Rivin 34:12
Now we were there on a weekend. That was the weather was iffy. This is the end of November. There was a lot of wind. I’m not a big fan of wind. Part of the other weekend events that we did that you know, it was a little hard for me because of the wind. But even so, and it was chilly. It wasn’t a warm weekend. But even so it was packed with people. Yeah, it was absolutely packed with people.
Annie Sargent 34:40
It scenic.
Elyse Rivin 34:41
It’s very scenic that the view of the bay and of the mountains is magnificent from there. The fortress is very imposing. The village is just gorgeous and of course it’s filled filled with you know, cafes and restaurants.
Annie Sargent 34:57
Do they have any the boat rides or anything like that, that you noticed?
Elyse Rivin 35:01
I think that they do some outings in the summertime. They do a cross outing I believe that you could actually go across the bay of from, but I think it’s just one of those things where it depends on the weather.
Annie Sargent 35:14
So we had another episode about Collioure. It was Episode 179. And that was more like a trip report. You know? Yeah. It’s called Callioure Travel Tips. And it was with Matthew Gamache, who had stayed there with his kids. So we talked more about what it’s like the beach to this to that, you know, the food. Right. But we didn’t go at all into all this history. No, it’s great that we’re talking about the history because it fascinating!
Elyse Rivin 35:39
You know, it’s very, very touristy. I mean, it’s it’s, it’s even for me, who generally likes things that are touristy. I think that there would be days in the summertime when I would not want to go.
Elyse Rivin 35:50
Right.
Elyse Rivin 35:51
It’s kind of like Carcassonne. It’s a place I love but there are times of the year when it’s just too filled with people for me, right
Annie Sargent 35:57
so offseason, it’s okay.
Elyse Rivin 35:59
Really nice. And I know one of course the it’s kind of a joke because if you live in the south east of France, everyone knows Collioure not because of the painting but because of the anchovies. Because it’s the home of anchovies. It is this it is still the place where there were two. I don’t even know if you’d call them factories because I stopped in one of them bought us a bunch of stuff, where they actually this is where anchovies come from in France.
Annie Sargent 36:30
So this is this is Catalan style anchovies, which is not the super salty, awful stuff that some of them can be what they can be, I’m sure but Catalan style anchovies are like little tiny filets. Yes, a little bit of oil and some seasoning. And usually a little bit of vinegar of some sort.
Annie Sargent 36:50
It depends because when I went into this, we went shopping. And by the way for those people who are interested in doing a visit to call your if you are interested buying the anchovies. Don’t buy them in one of the little shops inside the village, go to one of these two places that are within walking distance from outside where the parking area is. Because there’s a it’s if you buy it and inside the village it’s twice as expensive for the same exact thing. Yeah, you have a much bigger choice.
Annie Sargent 37:20
The they, they have two sections, it was very interesting. One section is anchovies just in brine. And strictly so you have to wash them off before you can eat them and prepare and prepare them. Yeah, and the other is anchovies in oil and then anchovies with herbs and anchovy paste and all these other things, right so
Annie Sargent 37:41
So yeah, in my family because we’re all from around here we have various recipes of anchovies and some it’s hard in Toulouse to find the fresh stuff Yeah, it’s not fresh because like you said it’s just brine right just barely cooked and then you just have to season it the way you like, right? And oh, yeah, it’s it’s a big thing. And this is the type of thing you bring out at apéritif, apéritif right it’s it’s perfect you just eat it with a toothpick it’s very small little fish fillet
Elyse Rivin 38:06
it very very very tiny yeah and I and you either love them or don’t I mean I happen to love
Annie Sargent 38:13
them when they’re super salty right but but the more fresh Catalan style anchovies will be so delicious actually and
Elyse Rivin 38:21
of course you know the
Elyse Rivin 38:25
Americans know Caesar salad a real Caesar salad has anchovies in the in the sauce yeah but here something interestingly enough that doesn’t come from Collioure but actually is technically I think closer to nice is the pissaladière. Yes. Which is a like a pizza dough with a layer of cooked onions and anchovy filets on top. Yes,
Annie Sargent 38:49
yes, delicious. Good. It’s really good. Yeah. And then anchovies are lovely because it’s a very sustainable fish. Yes, they’re tiny little fish. Yes. So they don’t take years to grow. You know you can eat anchovies till kingdom come they will have them they will have them.
Elyse Rivin 39:05
Yeah. So to continue because this is with it along this coastline actually this was we did it to see in the opposite direction but we’re going to go south from here okay just and as you go south it’s going to go to the two towns that are the basically the last two towns before you get to the Spanish border one is Port Vendres.
Annie Sargent 39:28
Yeah okay
Elyse Rivin 39:29
Which is a real port and which in spite of what you just did, which is make that face and which my husband did, I actually liked.
Annie Sargent 39:39
You liked it?
Elyse Rivin 39:39
I liked it. I liked it not not it’s not pretty. But what I liked about it was that the, the, it’s a huge port. That’s a real port, a real fishing port and also a port for maritime activity, and it’s in this tiny, tiny town. The little Bay and I found it very charming and very untouristy. And after Collioure it was refreshing. Well,
Annie Sargent 40:06
that’s true.
Elyse Rivin 40:07
This is really refreshing. And also strangely enough in the area it’s Port Vendres that is known for having the best restaurants.
Annie Sargent 40:17
I bet it does because it’s in this is where there’s the population the year round population.
Elyse Rivin 40:23
Year-round population and it’s weird. The real the chalutiers, which are the fishing boats, right? really come in now.
Annie Sargent 40:30
Okay, okay. I will give it another try.
Elyse Rivin 40:33
So it’s not because it’s gorgeous, because it’s not but it’s a it’s charming in the sense that it’s authentic. It’s hilly. These towns are all you know that once you get up off the bay, it starts going up into the hills. I walked up a little bit I walked around. There’s something about it. It’s it just I thought to myself, Oh, okay, this is what I could imagine all of these towns being like, maybe 4-50 years ago before they became very, very very touristic now.
Elyse Rivin 41:04
But none of these places are very far apart. It’s like you end one and the other one begins. Yeah. And in between, you have little sections of gorgeous coastline with cliffs. And two of the things that we did one of which I did in spite of myself because I didn’t want to was go to the side of the light house of Point Béar
Annie Sargent 41:35
Point Béar
Elyse Rivin 41:38
B-É-A-R.
Annie Sargent 41:42
Oh, OK.
Elyse Rivin 41:43
And the reason we went there, and this is very,
Annie Sargent 41:46
This is something you walk to?
Elyse Rivin 41:47
No, you take your car on this road, that’s a very, you drive along with. There’s a there are signs indicating it I mean, it’s a place that tourists go to all the time, but you take this very narrow road along a cliff out of once you get out of Port Vendres. And it’s follows along with cliff and you get to the end of this road. It’s a magnificent, magnificent view of the ocean of the ocean of the Mediterranean, within enormous cliffs, and there’s this lighthouse. But it’s the famous because this is where they measure the winds.
Annie Sargent 42:29
Ooh.
Elyse Rivin 42:30
So we went there because my husband would like to be a seagull, you see. So he thinks that wind is the most wonderful thing in the world. I could barely get out of the car. Yeah. But he did. And I watched I got back into the car, actually. And I watched all these people, tourists come and go walking and it’s a place you can walk and you can visit the lighthouse. It’s an automated lighthouse. But there are a few houses of people who actually worked for the the maritime system that that lived there. And if you follow the path to the White House, to the White House to the Lighthouse, you go to the other side. But from where I was, which was on the base side, you have a view, a spectacular view of the last bay that you get to, and the town of Banyuls is on the other side.
Annie Sargent 43:24
So you’re saying that wrong.
Elyse Rivin 43:25
I know. I never had known how to say it.
Annie Sargent 43:27
Banyuls!
Elyse Rivin 43:29
And in between where the lighthouse is and Banyuls
Annie Sargent 43:35
Banyuls, Banyuls-sur-Mer
Elyse Rivin 43:38
Is a huge, huge beach and several
Annie Sargent 43:43
Sandy beach, right?
Elyse Rivin 43:44
Sandy beach and some very, very well. How do you say balisé English? I don’t even know anymore. well taken care of coastal walks.
Elyse Rivin 43:56
Right. So there’s a whole series of coastal paths.
Annie Sargent 43:58
So well maintained paths.
Elyse Rivin 44:01
So while he was trying to be a seagull, seeing if he’s seeing his arms would float him out above above the rocks, I was appreciating the view and took a bunch of pictures actually on the other side from inside the car from inside the car and from standing on the other side of the car away from the wind.
Elyse Rivin 44:21
And then we continued south, and what we did was we stopped at a place that I never heard of before. And this is a place called Le site de l’anse de Paulille. I think it’s Paulilles but I
Annie Sargent 44:37
So spell it
Unknown Speaker 44:37
P-A-U-L-I-L-L-E
Annie Sargent 44:46
yeah, it could be either one. I’m not sure.
Elyse Rivin 44:48
And we’d have to ask a local.
Elyse Rivin 44:49
I have to ask. I really have to ask. I didn’t I actually went on Wikipedia again to to confirm it, but I didn’t look for the pronunciation. I had never heard of this place. But my husband had. And sure enough, there are the signs because it has been a nature preserve since the year 2008. And it’s on the side of what was the Nobel dynamite factory.
Annie Sargent 45:12
Good grief.
Elyse Rivin 45:15
And so this is what’s fascinating about it is that there are vestiges actually of the factory that have been turned into a museum. There are two, two trails that you can walk the cliffs that are it’s absolutely gorgeous stuff. It’s not very long to do. There’s a huge parking area. But the site itself which is behind this magnificent Beach has been turned into a park so it’s very green and very well taken care of. And in the height of the season, there are places where you can get something a snack, the thing was closed because it’s none most of the things they are not open on the weekends.
Elyse Rivin 45:54
But the beach is gorgeous. The path to do hike on are absolutely magnificent and they take you up Little bit on the cliffs, and you get a view over the bay and over the sea, which is absolutely magnificent. And it turns out that it’s because the factory, which was there until 1984 move from seven from 1870 till 1984. It was the Nobel factory in France, which I didn’t know. That’s where they produced all of the dynamite. It’s been turned into a national park.
Annie Sargent 46:32
Do you know why they put it there like did they have
Elyse Rivin 46:36
Because of the, at the time it was built, it was there was nothing around. So they didn’t have to worry about the explosives endangering anything in terms of city or habitation and because of the water. I see because they were using water for the process. I think they were using water for the process and they were also I think using the water for cooling.
Annie Sargent 47:01
Yeah, I have no idea how you make dynamite.
Elyse Rivin 47:03
I have no idea how you make it either. But
Annie Sargent 47:05
So did you go into the museum?
Elyse Rivin 47:08
No, it was closed. Okay, it was closed it there, there are certain things that are only open in the height of the season. And then there are other things that were simply we were there on a Sunday. I don’t know if there was a particular reason that particular that day it was closed. But what was interesting was that it’s really the whole The site is gorgeous, huh? It’s absolutely beautiful.
Annie Sargent 47:30
You get to see the factory from the outside?
Elyse Rivin 47:33
You can get to see the walls of the factory from the outside. Okay. And what’s strange is that that’s on one side of this very huge curved beach, which is this magnificent Bay, really, anse I guess it which is a small Bay. And on the other side, this is why it’s very strange are cement bunkers from the Germans.
Annie Sargent 47:54
Yeah, so photos of that. Yeah. bunkers. They look like Cylons.
Elyse Rivin 47:58
Yeah, I am It’s very strange you know and and at first when he said well we’re going to go to this place and it used to be where the Nobel dynamite factory is and I went really really we’re going to do I had never heard of this well I guess maybe it’s because it’s only been open as a park since 2008 I guess. But it was lovely as you
Annie Sargent 48:20
know, I this is the kind of place I drive past it to go to my apartment.
Elyse Rivin 48:24
And I never stopped you never stop. I want you to stop right stop stop. It was it was really lovely. And not only that, but the hiking in these these trails. I mean, you know, you have to climb a little bit events, but it was very beautiful. It really was it was one of those nice days where it was and then once you get there there are benches I mean, there’s a real beach and then if you go there’s a wall that protects not has nothing to do with the factory, but now that they’ve made it into a park, so there’s a wall it’s not too high, it’s about four feet high. And that protects the the beach because there are winds, so the That keeps the sand from being washed away, basically inland. And on the other side, they’ve put up picnic tables and benches and it’s very green. And there’s a huge parking area. And it was really wonderful
Annie Sargent 49:13
bathrooms, maybe bathrooms. Yeah.
Elyse Rivin 49:17
And it was very much You know, it was fun because coming from here, it was real Mediterranean vegetation and cactus and tamari trees and pines, you know, coastal pines. It was it was nice. I like I like
Annie Sargent 49:32
the wind you like Yeah, yeah, there is windy over there.
Elyse Rivin 49:35
Yeah, it’s windy there. And this was not as bad as the lighthouse. I mean, the lighthouse was like, really, I am not a seagull. I mean, I will never be one either, you know, and then last but not least, or blast wherever is Banyuls.
Annie Sargent 49:53
Banyuls-sur-Mer
Elyse Rivin 49:56
Banyuls-sur-Mer. They didn’t say that. They just say Banyuls.
Annie Sargent 50:01
Oui, Banyuls, oui, mais ça s’appelle Banyuls-sur-Mer
Elyse Rivin 50:04
Which is touristy. Yeah, very charming. Not as much as Collioure you know that as much as Collioure yeah and not a very different it’s it’s the center of winemaking. It’s bigger it’s much bigger than Colloioure it’s actually a small you could say it’s a town. It’s not quite a city, but it’s definitely not a village Ah, it is the center of winemaking. And it’s got also a lot of spas. And we went to this hotel that was to die for.
Annie Sargent 50:35
Oh, what was it called?
Elyse Rivin 50:39
She’s asking me a question. I have the paper at home and look at me. I forgot.
Annie Sargent 50:43
You didn’t write it down?
Elyse Rivin 50:44
I didn’t write it down.
Annie Sargent 50:45
Okay. I’ll call you tell I’ll put it on the show notes.
Elyse Rivin 50:49
Even my husband who hates hotels, loved it. And it was like the room itself was just okay. It was a normal regular room with teeny mini balcony with a view out that you got to see a little bit of the water and a little bit of the hills. But it was upon the hill. It was gorgeous inside this hotel. It’s a hotel it’s been around for, I think she said it was 80 years old or something like that. It was absolutely fabulous inside.
Elyse Rivin 51:15
And all of these hotels there, have spars, and they use the seawater. And you can go there just and use it as a hotel or you can go there and have all of these treatments. You can have a massage, you can do all of these other things. Yeah. And it’s known for that kind of thing.
Elyse Rivin 51:33
And it’s known, of course, being for the center of wine production. And the wines of this area are basically mostly aperitif wines.
Annie Sargent 51:41
Okay, so little sweet.
Elyse Rivin 51:43
They’re a little bit sweet. But they also have two very, very good dry wines there. We bought a bottle of one of white and one of red. They’re not cheap. These are very, very, very good wines and it turns out so From the fact that we liked staying there, we had dinner in a wonderful restaurant and I will tell you the name because I could not believe we could not believe how great it was and how inexpensive it was. And it’s called La Table de Jordi.
Annie Sargent 52:16
De Jordi ? C’est dur dur d’être bébé !
Elyse Rivin 52:21
Pourquoi ?
Annie Sargent 52:22
That’s an old song
Elyse Rivin 52:23
It’s an old song?
Annie Sargent 52:24
By Jordi !
Annie Sargent 52:26
Honestly, Annie for people who like fish and seafood and other things, it was original, it was delicious. It was copious and it was not expensive. And it was someone at the reception in the hotel. When I asked, Where should we eat? She said, Well, there’s only one place and all of Banyuls-sur-Mer my news that she thinks is really good and the others are not there. And we went there and we luckily reserved a table because it was it was packed.
Annie Sargent 52:57
Probably small. Yeah,
Elyse Rivin 52:58
It was medium size but, but was unbelievably good
Annie Sargent 53:04
La Table de Jordi
Annie Sargent 53:06
And I’m giving them a nice big plug. Yeah. And I’ve had the most wonderful kind of seafood stew I can it was just absolutely fabulous. It was just amazing. And it turns out so
Elyse Rivin 53:16
Banyuls
Annie Sargent 53:17
Banyuls. Don’t think about how it’s spelled. Just repeat!
Elyse Rivin 53:21
Banyuls.
Annie Sargent 53:23
Yes, there you go!
Annie Sargent 53:25
Banyuls
Annie Sargent 53:26
It’s the spelling that’s throwing you off.
Elyse Rivin 53:27
Yeah. It has been producing wine since 400 BC, or by the Greeks and the Greek and in the Romans. And it’s cépage that is this variety of grapes are unique to this Cove and this area. And it has been famous all this time. All this time and still to this day, because of how steep the vineyards are. I bet they are incredible to see they are terraced and steep. With stone walls holding them up, which is probably one of the reasons why the wine is not cheap.
Elyse Rivin 54:05
Right!
Elyse Rivin 54:06
Because everything is picked by hand by hand. Everything is done by hand. They’re carrying the baskets with the grapes on your back. I mean, it was unbelievable to see as you drive through and around because we did some back country driving just to see because the town itself is down below. There’s a bay. The restaurant is right on down below right on the water. That’s where everything is. That’s where the shops are and everything but then the hotels are further up in the hills. It’s also developing and then the vineyards are above that. And you can take these back roads, there’s a back road that takes you up where you get a view over the entire town over the sea and everything else. Everything is very well marked by the way. There are signs everywhere, giving you directions how to get places to take hikes,
Annie Sargent 54:53
So, how many days would you say you need to see all of these things you mentioned?
Elyse Rivin 54:57
We get it in two days
Annie Sargent 54:59
Two days is all, so one overnight. So you drove early in the morning from Toulouse?
Elyse Rivin 55:05
We could have done two nights two nights easily. Yeah, I really would have, I would have preferred it considering what we did. And also because it didn’t give us that much time in each place as much as I would have liked, especially the coastal outdoor kinds of stuff to do. My suggestion is a two nighter basically really.
Annie Sargent 55:24
And you could stay in any any of these towns?
Elyse Rivin 55:27
Any of these towns,
Annie Sargent 55:29
Right. Because it’s so close. Exactly. But you have to have a car.
Elyse Rivin 55:32
Yes, yes. Yeah.
Elyse Rivin 55:34
Well, you can take you can take the trainand get off at one. Any of them because it’s the same train. I see. In fact that Port Vendres or at Banyuls, you can get out and you can actually but they’re very steep. And it’s not that easy to get around other than down below by the water in any of these places, right. But there is a train This is the train that goes to Port Bou. Okay and it stops in all three stops in all three it’s a local train
Annie Sargent 56:05
I see
Elyse Rivin 56:06
that you can actually pick up at narbon if you know I mean you can do it from almost any direction north or west or whatever.
Annie Sargent 56:13
So if the train is running it is a good option yes it’s
Elyse Rivin 56:16
a good option but if you really want to be able to take advantage of the beach to go see this on square this gorgeous beaches and all that you really need a car. Yeah, yeah, really need a car. It’s it would be very hard to do well, unless you’re a bike.
Annie Sargent 56:33
Really well, you know, next week, I need to go away with my daughter for a few days may show you so don’t
Elyse Rivin 56:40
go to work for the Chamber of Commerce. I should go back? Let’s go Let’s go together. I loved I loved it. I mean, it was very strange because I realized that my original idea was, oh, I want to see the Mediterranean and then like stop at Collioure. I haven’t been there in ages but I knew we didn’t want to stay in Collioure and I loved where we stayed. I really did.
Elyse Rivin 57:05
I love, yes that was in Banyuls. And and really, of course it was off season. So to be warned. I mean, I got an incredible price on the hotel room and it was just because it was off season. But it was it was great. And I loved what we ate. And I loved visiting the the coast and and seeing all these different things. And the three towns to be honest, are all very different. So between the three you have one that’s a very authentic kind of more almost working class maritime town. That’s Port Vendres. But it’s interesting. I think it’s a really interesting place to spend an hour two I mean, we Yeah, that kind of thing. And that’s from there
Annie Sargent 57:05
That was in Banyuls, right?
Annie Sargent 57:07
and apparently it has good restaurants
Elyse Rivin 57:14
and it has good restaurants and it’s from there that the road takes you to the lighthouse if you’ve interest if you really want to do that. And then it blends into Collioure which is north of it and then it blends into the Anse. And then further south to get the ball. I mean, it’s so all of them is within 15-20 kilometers. Wow. You know. So it was it’s a great section to visit.
Elyse Rivin 58:10
Awesome. Thank you so much. And that was really, really interesting. Well, thank you. I’m glad we did it. So if you want to listen to the other episode about Collioure it’s 170 What did I say? 176? 175? 174!
Elyse Rivin 58:24
174, there you are are. Yeah, yeah. And it’s lovely. Long live the Roussillon, Catalonia and the Mediterranean!
Annie Sargent 58:30
Yeah, it’s, a lovely part of the world. just lovely really is.
Elyse Rivin 58:35
Here’s to our wine and anchovies.
Annie Sargent 58:37
All right. Oh, you make me hungry!
Elyse Rivin 58:40
Bye Annie!
Annie Sargent 58:41
Au revoir !
Annie Sargent 58:43
Thank you Oscar wash, and Amber brown for pledging to support this show on Patreon this week. patrons enjoy several rewards that you will find listed @patreon.com/joinus that’s p a t r e o n.com. joinus no spaces or dashes, I just shared a pre show conversation I had with Elyse about the strikes going on in France right now.
Annie Sargent 59:09
And I’ll release a new lunch break French hopefully before Christmas, but for sure before the before the end of the year. Now this is not something I’ve talked a lot about, but I did one this week. So I want to bring it up.
Annie Sargent 59:21
I offer a service where you can email me your itinerary. Then we talk about it over the phone and I send you my custom recommendations over email. And you can get all of that for a $50 donation, email annie@joinusinfrance.com to set it up.
Annie Sargent 59:40
And if you’d like to support the show without spending a penny you wouldn’t have otherwise. Before you go shopping on Amazon, go to the bottom of any page on Join Us in france.com and click on the Amazon ad because you came to Amazon through my site. I get a small commission it pays podcasting bills and it doesn’t cost you up anymore. Same thing with the booking.com ad for your hotels and thank you very much.
Annie Sargent 1:00:08
Okay, for my personal of this week, this is a bit of a strange one. We have a mulberry tree in our yard. It’s a lovely big tree that makes a lot of shade, big, big leaves. It’s gorgeous. But mulberry trees grow very fast. Each year, you have to cut it down pretty much to the trunk, and it grows thousands of pounds of new branches within one year. Last year, we hired a guy and he was super fast and effective. And we could do that again.
Annie Sargent 1:00:38
But this year, I’ve decided I might regret it that I’d like to keep those branches and mulch them and use the mulch in my flower beds. Because, you know, in the spring and summer, I’m always fighting weeds so might as well match right? French people do that and I’m French, so why not? Maybe it was a crazy idea.
Annie Sargent 1:01:02
I ordered a branch mulching machine on Amazon. I had never used one before. It was a German brand was, you know, middle of the road price. And it worked great. Great for three minutes. And then the fuse blew. So I tried to reset it. I read the instructions several times, and nothing worked. And it’s one of those machines that’s, you know, it’s all encased in plastic. You can’t open it to change the fuse. So I needed to ship it back to the manufacturer in Germany.
Annie Sargent 1:01:33
Now sometimes Germans because I live in Europe, I buy a lot of stuff from Germany, right and sometimes they send you really good instructions, but this time they didn’t. They sent me a list of drop off points. You know, they had about 50 around the Toulouse area. I tried a local grocery store and a printer store. That’s how it works in France. You can pick up and drop off packages at various stores. You know, florists eyewear stores are sorts of places.
Annie Sargent 1:02:01
But when you show up with a mulching machine, they can say no. It’s too big. It’s too heavy. And that one was both. So I emailed the company and I didn’t hear back right away. In the meantime, I got another Amazon delivery because it’s Christmas, you know? So I asked the guy if by any chance he could take this package for DPD, that’s who delivered the package in the first place, and I had a voucher to send it back through DPD. He said, No, they are our biggest competitor. But he was super nice. And he told me about the DPD depot where the size and the weight of the package wouldn’t matter.
Annie Sargent 1:02:38
So I went there. And the new guy I talked to, he said, your shipping voucher says DPD in blue ink. That means you’re supposed to go to Chronopost, which is the post office kind of fast shipping service. How was I supposed to know that I asked him, you know, and he just shrugged his shoulders and said, Look, lady, if you drop it off here, it will stay here forever because it’s blue and we only take the red.
Annie Sargent 1:03:12
Okay, thankfully Chronopost was only a few blocks away. And to my great surprise, they knew that when DPD is written in blue, they they’re supposed to take it. I was sure. I was sure they would say, lady, are you stupid? It says DPD on the voucher, and here it’s Chronopost. What are you doing here? But no, they didn’t bat an eye. They got the memo. So finally my broken machine is on its way back to Germany.
Annie Sargent 1:03:40
So I’ve decided to buy a new mulching machine locally, you know where I can just drive it back if it breaks, but I’m really afraid it’ll break too. I don’t know. Do you match your own branches? Are these machines worth the trouble? I’d love to hear back because I mean Maybe it’s just a French thing. I hear people running these machines in their backyards. They have a very specific sound, you know, it’s a thing here and I listened to gardening shows on French radio, and they say mulch your branches. And you know it’s there, right? Because a bag of store-bought mulch is like 10 euros so it’s the smart way to go.
Annie Sargent 1:04:21
We have thousands of pounds of branches every year. So you know, but I have to find a machine that will work for lots and lots of mulberry branches. So I’ll keep you updated. We’ll see how far I go with that one.
Annie Sargent 1:04:37
If you want to recommend the podcast to someone who already listens to podcasts, tell them they’ll find Join Us in France, wherever they get their podcasts and if they listen to music, but not podcasts on their phones, tell them to search for Join Us in France on Spotify or Pandora. And if they don’t normally listen to anything on their phones, send them to Join Us in France dot com and thank you for listening and spreading the word.
Annie Sargent 1:05:04
Send the questions or feedback to annie@joinusinfrance.com. Have a great week of trip planning or a great weekend friends. I’ll talk to you possibly next Sunday. But if I can’t get the Christmas interview, I’ll skip one week and I’ll be back on December 29 Merry Christmas to you all and Au revoir! Well, I should say Joyeux Noel to you all, right!
Annie Sargent 1:05:30
The Join Us in France Travel Podcast is written and produced by Annie Sargent and copyright 2019 by addicted to France. It is released under a Creative Commons Attribution non commercial no derivatives license.
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Episode PageCategory: Montpellier Area