Faded glory and skies in Carcassonne
Our first really, really ancient site was found in a town called Carcassonne, about an hour away from Sete.
There’s a whole city at the foot of this hill but, really, this is the reason it generates tourism.

May’s no history buff, but even she loved this place.

There’s not much to write because places like this are always a million times better once you’re actually there.

Inside the fortified city, contemporary houses and cafes are in abundance. May couldn’t believe that some people wake up to this view every morning.

Sam acted as May’s tour guide, re-telling story upon story of this place:

“…but before that battle, there was the one where the city was besieged and starving, so the queen fed the last bit of grain to the last pig. Then, the idiot threw the thing over the wall towards the enemy. It burst open, and when the soldiers saw that the city had so much food they could even feed their pigs grain, they gave up and went home. Yeah, it IS interesting isn’t it…”
Eventually, the weather turned terrible: thunder, lightning, wind and rain. It was kinda cool to see it from this place but, it was also not that cool cos we were in thongs and shorts/skirt and no warm gear. We tried to wait until the rain finished. So we went and had a pizza in a cosy little café. In the end, we left when the pouring just began. We ran down the hill, through the town (pizza’s still undigested) and onto a train. THEN, off the train, we had to run across the canals to our hotel in Sete. And this was the result:

So, next time you’re thinking of crusading through France in summer, make sure you pack an umbrella.

Ready, Sète, Go! CONTINUED....

There was only one hotel suite available in all of Sete for this night. And it was made for giants….It was the first bed in which Sam’s feet didn’t dangle over the edge since puberty.

A good rest later, and we were ready to continue our journey to another coastal town, Agde

Unfortunately, the weather was bad, so we curled up at the café on the beach and took this one photo of, well, beach. It looked much, much better from where we were sitting, then through the lens but I suppose that’s how it goes.

Ready, Sète, Go!
Our next stop on our mini vacation was Sète, a little coastal town with beaches, port and canals. Parfait!
So this is one of the canals that makes this place la Venise de Languedoc. It seems like the whole city is on the waterfront, and even the homeless locals are relaxed enough to give us advice about beating sunburn.














And this is the port, which is the second largest on the Mediterranean, and shelters one of its largest fishing flotillas. The fishing behemoths are almost the same height as the apartments, and are pulled up on either side of the port, the canal, and each other, resulting in some pretty dubious double parks.














It’s almost inevitable that les specialités Setois include crevettes, moules, loup, racasses, st. pierres, galinettes, sarans, tete de baudroies, girelles, congres, and other assorted crustaces, coquillages and poissons. So, Mayan and I went for a (long) stroll down the quay to pick our favourite seafood restaurant…
We settled on the one with the biggest menu at about 8.30 (just before sunset), and sat down to a gargantuan set menu that included (only the hilights) escargots de la mer,…














…soupe de poissons,…














…paella avec fruits de la mer et poulet,…














… and the traditional sardines grillées.


















Having stuffed ourselves well into the 11th hour, we wandered off, thinking we’d have to leave the other speciality of Sète to the next day. Having so much waterfront, the Setois seem to have hit upon a great tradition: to celebrate every sunset at one of the café/bar/glacier/cocktail/tea houses on the canals.














Now life wasn’t all sunsets and tequila sunrises. There was a certain amount of recovery to be had every next day.




























The plages at Sète are well-equipped and well-attended, and really cold. It’s all well and good for the poms and the Germans, but for the French and us it seemed a bit more relaxing to work on our sunburns instead.
Other interesting facts about Sete include their popular tradition of boat jousting. We didn’t get to witness an actual joust, but we did see all the boats lined up, a few of them practicing, working on their acceleration so that one of the crew, standing on a platform extended out from the stern of the boat and holding a lance, can knock off his counterpart going the other way. It’s not something you’d start a feud over, but definitely something you’d construct huge stands to watch from for.
















TO BE CONTINUED

First Excursion to Simiane and Bouc cont...


The city is gorgeous. With narrow streets from one thousand years ago




















and what seems to be a community obsession with pot-plants.

















People must have been really short 1000 years ago…This is just the average front door.






















But this mini-opolis makes May feel right at home.

First Excursion to Simiane and Bouc

While waiting for a potential apartment, Sam and I decided to go on holidays, like the rest of France. Our holiday started with a trip to the two towns in which Sam will teach: Simiane and Bouc Bel Air.

Simiane is a little village on the side of a mountain. It has two main streets, for Deux Chevaux (the old car in the pic.) to drag race on.

We walked a while, circling the pretty, old houses until we found the new school. Voila, this is Sam’s new workplace. The inside remains a mystery, because like us and the rest of France, it’s on holidays.











Interestingly, the boulangeries are never on holidays (there would probably be a national uproar). So, even though the butcher, the school, the builders and the pub are on holidays, lunch is never a problem. We even got to trial the Tart au Simiane.







Truth be known, after a couple hours in Simiane, we were bored and ready to move on. Since the bus wasn’t coming for another three hours, we decided to walk the five k’s to Bouc Bel Air.
The ascending trip up the mountain to Bouc Bel Air was somewhat of a challenge in the extreme heat. But this is what the surrounding villages look like from the top. The rock at the top of the middle mountain in the distance is called Le Pilon de Roi- and gets snowed on in the winter (some trivia for you)!


to be continued...

We’re still in the market

You often hear stories about the food in France, and the markets of fresh fruits and vegetables in the towns and villages of Provence. It couldn’t be true that people buy their groceries from someone without their own store, outside, in a cobblestone courtyard. But it’s absolutely true. And, en plus, the vegetables are so sweet and juicy they attract bees.















So, you have all your regulars; cucumber, beans, capsicums, potatoes, herbs, etc.. And then there’s the tomatoes. Have a look.



















Have another.
How big do you think they are?
Double it.
How tasty do you think they are?
Triple it.
Who do you know who dearly loves tomatoes?














Of course, there are the regular ones, and the roma ones, and the cherry ones, and some other varieties, like Coeur de boeuf (I don’t know why they’re called this), but les tomates catalan à l’ancienne are a little discovery that show the awesome selection of food you can find at the market here.
As well as the fruits and vegetables, there are a few other typical Provençal delicacies sold at the markets.

Les saucissons et les fromages being sold in the market is one of those postcard images that actually exists and is really common. There is a market almost every day within walking distance, with the same spread of products, plus a few more (fish, bread, honey, oil, whatever).
So if you decide to come to Aix, and stay with us, you’ll no doubt find yourself accompanying us one morning to do the shopping, and perhaps stopping for a little picnic in front of the cathedral. So, if giant (fruit) and beanstalks appeals to you, better make a booking.

The Friendly Planet's Guide to Provence

We’ve learned that the best way to enjoy France is to do it the same way the French do.
So, when in Provence…

…sample the pastis (once).















…enjoy un café-croissant, or une croque monsieur-chocolat chaud every morning.















... never settle for one glass, order un quart du rosé.












… and, bien sur, visit the daily markets.















Of course, between all this frenzied action there’s time for un petit pause.



















Meanwhile, we’re still searching for an apartment.

french fries in marseillaise


Having spent almost a week visiting agences, putting up petites annonces, and searching the newspapers, universities, telegraph poles and the internet for colocataires (sharemates), we decided to spend Sunday somewhere else. Besides, everything was closed anyway, and it was a really beautiful day. So, we went to Marseille.

It’s a little bit really different to Aix.






It’s huge.
It’s also on the water. This is the vieux port, the first city in France, founded by the Greeks. Around the corner is a huge modern port, but here it’s all pleasure yachts, fishing boats, and restaurants serving couscous.









We walked all the way down one side of the port, admiring the yachts,
















and the huge cathedral Notre Dame de la Garde, with a giant golden statue of Mary on the tallest tower.
















It was such a hot day that there were heaps of people sitting by the water, some cooling their feet, and others dodging the boats.
















Which Sam thought was a great idea.















There was a couple sitting on the rocks, and every now and then the woman would go for a little swim. But the man didn’t seem to think it was very safe. Anyway, Sam dove in and survived, and after a while the man started asking if it was safe, if it wasn’t too cold, how was he going to get out… Eventually he jumped in too, and they both made it out alive, upon which the man totally confused us with bursts of jovial Marseille-ese. I think we’ll have to spend another year in Marseille once we finish in Aix to learn the language.

We finished off the day with a visit to the local palais and headed back to Aix, which is only 20 minutes away, but has a completely different attraction.

Viva la France!!!

After thirty gruelling hours on four different flights, nous sommes arrives en Aix -more formally known as Aix-en-Provence.
Below are a few first snaps of the city. It's old, with small laneways and rundown apartments, one of which will hopefully soon be ours.
Eventhough on our fourth day here, we remain homeless (don't worry, by homeless, i mean in a hotel) we are well fed. The French have created a system whereby even the most modest of travellers can eat well. We eat croissant for brekky, baguettes for lunch and wine with dinner. Hardly worth complaining about.

To top off the good food, there is good weather. The temp varies daily but it's always hot in the morning, and then there's a five o'clock breeze, much like the freemantle dr, which is welcome.


There is also awesome shopping!! From Hermes to Monoprix (which reminds me of Target), shops line the alleys and have proven difficult to re-visit as there is a serious lack of street signage!!! Luckily, they're on soldes (Guess what that means?!) which means you don't have to think about a purchase over un café.

We haven't had much time to explore outside the city, but we'll do that after we find an appartment and things settle down a bit more.

So wish us luck!!!

We hope you are all going well, and uni or work etc is not too stressful. And if it is, why not take a holiday here with us!!!