Yes, beach resorts out of season have a certain air of abandonment about them and the beach town of Palavas les Flots looked a lot like parts of Florida, in the winter, when the tourists have gone home. 

We could not go into Montpellier proper because of emissions restrictions so we headed for a municipal Aire in Palavas, just south of Montpellier and on the coast.  Denise wanted to see the famed pink flamingos of that area of the Camargue marshes. Fred wanted to take his window out and see if he could do anything about the drips in the camper, as a sunny day was forecast.

The aire proved to be huge, with 135 spaces, and we were most fortunate to get one of the very best spaces in the front with a view of the marsh and the boats along the water front.  Reminded us a bit of Duluth (!) as it was right on a canal full of boats. Although there was no one playing pétanque or boss in Duluth. During the afternoon we walked through the mostly deserted town and shared the most enormous ice cream sundae we have ever seen!  Given the prices, we decided not to eat out and returned to the camper for dinner!

As promised, the following day dawned bright and sunny, so Fred took out the leaking window and we cleaned it and its mounting site.  One of our neighbors very kindly helped lift it back up to put it back in and another neighbor helped tighten the spring tension on the inner shade and screen. 

After lunch, we biked along the bike path on the edge of the marshes and Denise got to admire the pink flamingoes (and other sea birds).

Aigues Mortes is not exactly a beach resort though there are a number of boats tied up along the canal, but it is one of the main towns in the Camargue.  Denise had visited it in 1964 and it had made a big impression on her.  (Everyone wants to visit a town whose Roman name was “Stagnant Water!” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aigues-Mortes)

We stayed at a lovely aire, Le Poisson D’Argent (the silver fish), about 5 KM from Aigues Mortes, along the bike path of the canal.  The Poisson D’Argent was originally built as a fishing farm, but now makes more money as a campground. The first day we were there was chilly but there was a little sunshine, but we had a pleasant visit to Aigues Mortes in the afternoon, including a tour on the Little Tourist Train, and a short visit to the town. 

The town is interesting because it has remained within its fortifications.  All more recent development is across the canal, so one gets a real feel of history as the fortified town walls loom in front of you.  Unlike many old walled cities, the walls are intact and, on three sides, there has been no modern development.

Each tower is from a different era, which adds interest also!

Because the walls are still intact, the town inside retains much of its medieval feel.

Friends of ours, Ron and Ton Corbin were on their way back from Corsica in their camper (Their Three Island Tour – read more here: https://travelintiger.com/a-list-of-places-we-have-visited/countries-we-have-visited-in-europe/france/provence/november-2-2023-aigues-mortes-fr) and stopped off to see us for a couple of nights.  We managed a visit to Aigues Mortes the next day and a fun lunch in the main square but the weather was not very nice.  Cold, windy and quite rainy. 

We were all hunting the Weather Channel for where we could find sunshine.  We gave up on a bike ride to Le Roi de Grau as it was so bad.

But the weather was looking a little better so we headed north to Pont du Gard.

Denise had spent time on an exchange with a French family in this part of France in 1964, so for old times sake, we headed to Roquefort to see the caves and buy some cheese.  It was a beautiful dry morning (finally) and we enjoyed the beautiful views we saw, over the valley as we drove the country roads towards Roquefort.  As it was Saturday, the town was a lot quieter than we had expected but we parked in the free Aire and then climbed up the steep street towards the top.  The place was completely empty and appeared very closed, but then we came upon the Maison Gabriel Coulet, founded in 1872, which was open.  We were able to descend to their cave, where a film described the founding of the Maison and the making of Roquefort cheese.  We then went into the storage cave where we could see wheels of cheese ageing both in the “visitor” section and in the real cave, which was separated from visitors. The magic of Roquefort cheese is the natural mold spores found in the “fleurine” caves. Fleurines are natural fissures in the cliff while allow air flow into the caves.

We then, of course, bought our cheese, a sampler of each of their four types of cheese..  This was a much smaller Maison than the enormous Societé brand which we discovered further up the street and which was much larger.  But we enjoyed the intimacy of the smaller group. More than you ever wanted to know about Roquefort cheese can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roquefort

The following day, we headed to Millau, entirely for sentimental reasons – Denise stayed there in 1964. Again the views on the route were spectacular.  We found the Aire and set out on the bikes to visit the “Vieux Pont” (Old Bridge) and “Vieux Moulin” (Old Mill) which sat upon it. 

Millau is some 3,000 years old. In Roman times it was a center of earthen ware and in the 19th century it was famous for gloves. Interestingly it was an English town during the Hundred Years War. (Much further south than Fred would have expected.) The old bridge dates from the middle ages when it boasted seventeen arches and three towers. Neglect and floods have reduced it to two arches and one tower/mill – an art museum.

We rode along the Tarn River, with the hills around Millau in full view.  We then headed into town for a coffee on the square. Never found a coffee and ended up taking the long way home – medieval towns can be confusing!

The Millau Viaduct is simply huge and amazing. Denise was disappointed that we passed under and not over it. As the wind was blowing, Fred had a more neutral opinion. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_Viaduct)

We had hoped to see some Roman ruins but they were closed so the next day we headed out towards Montpellier.

As we headed east, we stopped in Gaillac to taste some more wine!  We enjoyed a visit and overnight stay at a local family winery called Long Pech. (https://www.long-pech.fr/). We had quite the adventure getting to the vineyard. We were driving along a normal, if narrow “D” (Departmental, i.e. State) road when Miss Neverlost, our GPS, suddenly directed us off to the right. After a few kilometers of driving on single track though what felt like people’s backyards, we finally reached the winery.

We had a lovely tasting with the lady winemaker and spent the night on a hill with a view over the vineyards as far as the eye could see. 

This time we ignored the GPS and took the main road. If there was a restriction it completely escaped the notice of the steady stream of huge tractor trailers that was climbing up the same road. Was a bit of a white knuckle drive. 

This is not the first time that the GPS has steered us off of main roads, but we are hesitant to change our weight/size dimensions as we don’t want to get trapped on restricted roads. We could probably re-list ourselves as 7,5 tonnes, as the breakpoints appear to be 3,5 tonnes and 7,5 tonnes. No easy answer.

We headed into the aire in Gaillac. A former commercial campground, it is down a narrow descending trail. (Of course, we met a camper coming up.) The spaces were bound with hedges and most had picnic shelters. As the weather brightened a bit, we got the bikes out and went exploring.

The first stop was the Abbey of Saint Michael, a huge red brick complex by the River Tarn.

We wanted to see the museum but it was unfortunately closed and we had enough wine that we did not need to buy more from the Maison de Vin! We continued up to the main square and had coffee and then visited the church of Saint-Pierre.  

This church was first founded in 972 and it was quite fascinating to see the old color on the stonework, including trompe d’oeil, especially on the pillars.  Some of the paint was flaking off and some of the stone work was crumbling but it was a magnificent church and obviously still very much in use.

Unlike many ancient churches, Sainte-Pierre is not on an open square, but is completely surrounded by other buildings, even to the front.

From Gaillac we moved on to Albi, famous as the focus of the crusade against the Cathars. Catharism is a fascinating subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism. Fred remembers that when he was in college, there were posters up inviting people to discussions of Gnosticism, so at least some elements are still around.

The aire at Albi was pleasant and we could see the famous red brick church on the horizon.  It was raining, again, so we settled in.  

The next morning proved sunny so the bikes came out and we headed across the Vieux Pont (with some difficulty as it is under repair!). 

We started our visit at the Toulouse Lautrec Museum which is located in the old bishop’s Palace, an amazing building.  The grandeur of it reminded us of visits to the Prinz-Bishoff’s Palace in Wurzburg, Germany.

The art of Henri de Toulouse Lautrec on display ran the gamut from his early work, often of animals and especially horses, to his later, more cartoonish work and posters.  A bit like Pablo Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrac was an accomplished classical painter, but only achieved fame when he developed a new, more unique style, even if that style was much less technically accomplished. We did not try to photograph the actual art, but focussed on the amazing building.

Fred, never a Toulouse-Lautrec fan, bought a mug in the gift shop. The mug was decorated with a bicycle chain poster and the bicycle motif made it acceptable!

Albi is, as you might expect, almost achingly pretty.

After a great lunch (cassoulet again!) on the square, we headed to the Cathedral of Sainte Cecilia, the huge red brick cathedral.

The red brick, as opposed to the white limestone of more northern cathedrals, gives the building a different aspect. There are about 29 different chapels, each one dedicated to a different saint, and each one full of ornate and intricate stonework and frescoes and paintings, describing the life of the respective saint. 

The curved sections of wall replace the classic flying buttresses of a gothic cathedral. Folks knew their materials!

If you make a payment, you can see the inner altar and the Cathedral treasures.  Naturally, we paid up and climbed the narrow stairs to the exhibit. These included gold and silver plates and cups, art work, exquisite decorated manuscripts, and gruesome wonders such reliquary skulls.

The Basilica of Saint Cecilia is an amazing church, with a long history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albi_Cathedral Fittingly, Saint Cecilia is a patroness of musicians. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Cecilia)

Fred then decided to get a haircut so off he went again on his bike. He got rather scalped so he is lacking hair now. (Hopefully) it will grow back!

An important and tragic part of French history is the conflict between the Langue d’oïl and the Langue d’oc; a conflict of language, religion and, of course, political power.

Toulouse was an early capital of the Langue d’oc. We had not planned to spend time in Toulouse a we tend to prefer smaller, less congested spots. Then Denise noticed that there is a Cité de l’espace or Space Museum in Toulouse. And then we discovered that there is an aire right across the street. We were off. When we got there, we realized that it would required 250 yards or so in the low emission zone but we managed to get there without being stopped. We felt like we were tip toeing down the street, a challenge in a nine ton truck! Picture an elephant trying to sneak by.

It was a rather cold, grey day, but we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.  There was lots of space information of different kinds but all from a European point of view.  There is a lot more European space research than we had known.  (Despite our best efforts, we are still a bit US/UK centric in our thinking.)

We saw an Ariane rocket and a replica of the US moon landing module. 

There was an interesting presentation on the Mars rovers on a replica of the Mars landscape. It features radio controlled replicas of two Mars rovers, Perseverance (US) and, Zhurong (PRC). 

Finally, we saw both a Planetarium presentation (blah) and an amazing Canadian 3D film about asteroids.  The information on asteroids was exceptional and included where they are found, what they are made of, and various plans to deal with them if one should  become dangerous. 

There are also exhibit halls with lots of digital information and such fun experiences such as what it would be like to walk on the moon.

All in all, it was a great day. Cultural observation. We are in the off season, so the Cité de l’espace was running at reduced capacity. This meant that they shut down the snack bars, but kept the full service restaurant – sort of the opposite of what we might expect at a US attraction in the off season.

Moving into the past, we headed to Carcassone. Carcassone simply drips history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne In popular fiction, the author Kate Mosse has written several books that touch on Carcasonne, the most famous being “Labyrinth.” Central to all of this is the Cathar heresy which resulted in the only crusade ever declared against Christians: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albigensian_Crusade Today, Carcasonne is a major tourist attraction.

The closest aire we could find was in the little town of Bram, about ten kilometers away. Bram was a castrum (old Roman fort site) in the Langue d’oc, When attacked in 1210 by French crusaders, 100 prisoners had their noses cropped, their lips cut off, and their eyes gauged out. One man was left with one eye so that he could guide the others away. With a hand on the shoulder of the one in front, and the one-eyed man at their head, a file of blind prisoners wound its way to Lastours (Cabaret), a visible demonstration of the ineffable mercy of God’s Christian Army. (Sarcasm alert.) Today there is no trace of the medieval fortifications, but the street layout preserves the traditional “circulade” or circular layout.

Both the aire and the town proved to be delightful.  The aire is beside a lovely lake and beautiful views greeted us each day.  We originally planned to take the train to Carcasonne, but discovered that we would have a major trek from the aire to the Bram station and from the Carcasonne station to the old city. As Denise has a badly sprained ankle, long walks were not optimal. Then we discovered a camper parking lot, just five minutes from the old town and, with the next sunny day, we were off.

Arriving at the parking lot, we were reminded that we are not the biggest dog around – not by a long shot.

The approach to the old city is simply stunning.

One of the legends of the origin of the name “Carcasonne” dates back to Charlemagne. At the time, the city was ruled by the Moors. When their ruler, Ballak, was killed fighting Charlemagne, his widow, Dame Carcas, held the city against the French. The French settled down to a siege.

After five years, Dame Carcas hit upon a ruse to get the French to give up. She fattened up some pigs and then had them thrown over the walls to the French, who, by this time, were feeling the privations of the siege as well. When the French saw that the Moors had so much food that they could give it away to their attackers, they gave up and lifted the siege. As they marched away, they could hear all of the bells ringing, thus “Carcas sonne!” (sonner = sound or ring, as a bell) Any truth? Probably not a lot, as Charlemagne would have only been about 17 years old and the French had already taken the city, but it was enough to name the city and reminds of the long history of conflict in the region. (And lets us continue our search for strong women in history.)

Naturally, we started OUR siege with a cup of coffee at a cafe, where a local cat came over instantly to meet Fred and take over his lap! Denise was afraid Fred would never leave!

We then enjoyed a short tour in a horse pulled carriage and learned a lot about the ramparts and the different eras of their construction, beginning with the Gallo Roman one.  We tend to be military/fortification nuts and it is rare to have a guide so well versed in the intricacies of medieval fortifications.

The ramparts had enclosed the old, and then only, city, before the “modern” Bastide St. Louis was created outside, during the seventeenth century.

We then tackled the ramparts ourselves, walking up and down multiple sets of steps to towers, which all had fantastic views. 

Fred has a bit of an obsession about the way that movies consistently fail to present medieval fortresses correctly, starting with the detail that they were usually plastered smooth and white washed or painted. They typically were not grey or craggy.

Another example is hoardings and they are beautifully reproduced at Carcasonne. Basically, hoardings are wooden structures used to protect defenders on the walls, conceal their numbers, and allow them to drop nasty things on attackers. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoarding_(castle))

At various points in the ramparts were explanations of different history in small museums. 

The walk around the ramparts took nearly 2 hours, by which time we were hungry.  We headed back to our coffee site for a Cassoulet, which was excellent.  We sat out in the rear on a lovely terrace.  There was no cat, however!  Fred was disappointed!

Finally, we took the Little Tourist Train, which ran past some of the ramparts and then into parts of the lower town.  So we learned more facts about both.  A great day.

The following day was much cooler but we did take our bikes into Bram. Bram lies on a plain, beside the Canal du Midi, with the Pyrenees to the south.

We admired the circular town center.

As it was Sunday, we were not able to visit the church but the curved streets were interesting.  Lots of buildings looked abandoned.

After a quick visit to view the Canal du Midi, we returned to the camper, ready for some warmth!

We found some interesting mentions of an abandoned chateau, the Chateau de Valgros, so Fred set out on his bike to find it.

And there it was, abandoned and the victim to two fires. A plan to make it into luxury apartments never panned out. Beautiful building, but a bit of a fixer-upper.

Next up, the search for wine and cheese.

And where, you may ask, is the Dordogne? Well, it is a Department of France with a long, long history. Long as in back to the Middle Ages? Nope, longer. How ’bout the Gauls and Romans? Nope, longer. Greeks? Too soon. OK, we’ll give you neolithic, and that is why we are here. The Lascaux cave paintings are the stuff of legend.

As we headed south our first stop was at an aire on a country horse farm.  It was excellent and provided power, water and a bag of tomatoes when we arrived!  We enjoyed visiting with the horses and went to the neighboring town of Bellac for groceries and laundry.  And on to Montignac where we camped in a pleasant aire, an easy, if very steep, 20 minute drive to the Lascaux caves.

And on to a complex explanation. Visitors are no longer allowed in most of the original caves because of deterioration to the paintings.  (They are a bit old.) In the 1960’s a full size replica of the original cave was constructed inside another cave nearby. After careful measurement, some 85% of the paintings were recreated by craftsmen using similar dyes, tools and methods to those used by Cro-Magnon man – a six year undertaking.  This is Lascaux II.  More recently, a digital presentation of the cave has been opened in a nearby modern building, complete with films and other high tech displays.  That is Lascaux IV.

We chose to go to Lascaux II because we wanted the feeling of being in a real cave rather than a representation of one.  It was fabulous. 

We had an excellent guide who knew all about his subject and the paintings were large and amazingly colorful.

A visit to a different set of caves in Rouffingnac proved interesting.  This cave had been excavated to install a small electric mining train, which enabled them to limit the number of visitors.  (We are suckers for trains of any size or kind!) They had opened up the cave passages to build the railway. Most of these paintings, or mostly outlines, had been painted while the artists were on their backs and cover the ceiling. The paintings themselves are much less colorful and impressive until you realize that you have ridden a train for some thirty minutes through passages that have been cleared of mud. In neolithic times, you would have had to crawl in and then lie on your back to see much. Clearly, this was not a temple or gathering place for a lot of people.

There are many, many caves all over this area, some with paintings, and some with classic commercial cave stalactites and stalagmites.  It would take weeks to see them all but we enjoyed the ones we did see. 

We camped in Las Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sineuil (say that three times fast) for our Rouffingnac visit and while there we visited the excellent National Museum of Prehistory.

The museum, is built into the ruins of Las Eyzies Chateau, which, in turn, was built directly into the side of the cliff. The Museum has thousands of examples of tools, artifacts, statues, and recreations of paintings and dwelling caves from the Cro-Magnon era, culled from the entire area.

Moving east, we drove to Cahors, which has a most interesting fortified medieval bridge, built in from 1308 to 1378, called the Valentré Bridge, which we wanted to see.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

We knew we would have to park and take the bikes to see it as all the roads around it had weight limitations.  But when we made it to the large car park that allowed camper parking, it became clear that it was a mess, full of double parked cars, residential campers and there was not a chance we could park.  And then someone parked beyond the end of a row. Grrr! In fact, we barely got out.  Since I could not get my own shot of the Valentre bridge, I am shamelessly stealing this amazing shot by my neighbor Bruce Dale. Bruce did this for a living for National Geographic and you can see more of his great work at: https://brucedale.com

So we gave up on Cahors and drove to St. Cirq Lapopie, a village east of Cahors, that Denise wanted to visit.

It was an amazing visit.  We camped down by the river with a full view of the hilltop village above us.

We took the bikes, grateful for their electric feature, and climbed the steep winding road to the village.  This village defined the term “vertical real estate” and the views from it were amazing.  We visited the church of St Cyr and Ste Julitte, saints dating from the fourth century, and saw at least some of the 13 historic buildings there! 

Unfortunately, a lot of the artisanal shops that Denise wanted to visit were closed.  The shoulder season really closes up in October.  But a cafe on the main square was open and we enjoyed a coffee and an ice-cream before heading back down the hill.

Both the road we took in and the road by which we left were amazing. 

They were one lane, winding roads along the cliffs with incredible views and we came upon a couple of small villages which did not even show on the map. 

For example, the village of Lugangnac had a full size old fashioned windmill with sails and a chapel beside the road with a plaque “For Bread and Prayer”. 

We stopped at the next larger village Limogne en Quercy for coffee in the village square.

Denise went wandering while Fred ordered coffee and went to the boulangerie to acquire a treat to eat with it.  He came back with apple goodies and an absolutely huge bread that we shall be eating for months! (He is no longer allowed into a boulangerie without adult supervision.)

Coffee and goodies accomplished, we pressed on towards Toulouse. From the Neolithic to the Space Age!