We made a trip to Saint-Hilaire, a former abbey near Carcassonne, managed by Benedictines. The earliest documentary evidence dates back to 825 – so we are again in the era of Charlemagne. Today there are no more monks or nuns – the buildings including the chapel, however, are restored and may be visited. Inside there is a beautiful fountain where a bunch of pigeons enjoy their bath in the sun. Coming now to the real…
Le Lac (the lake) and Le Boudin (black pudding): where is the connection?There isn’t any. On a rather cold day in February we went to Lac de Montagnès in Southern France in La Montagne Noir, the most southern part of the Massif Central. The sky was blue, the sun was brilliant, only the temperature was rather low. We were at about 600-800 m & some snow had survived here and there – not only on…
Lagrasse, a village and home to about 600 people, isn’t far from Carcassonne. It’s rated one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (the most beautiful villages of France). So my better half & I decided to make a trip to Lagrasse. It was a cold, but beautiful day beginning of February with a dazzling blue sky and a dazzlingly bright sun. There is the medieval village Lagrasse and there is the Abbey Sainte-Marie de…
What reminds me of Vienna these days?We are in Southern France – and for about 2 weeks (end of January & beginning of February) it was really cold: one evening it started even snowing & all was soon covered in a nice white snow layer. Even in the morning there was this specific quietness that only snow provides … However, some hours later almost all was gone, at least where we live in Carcassonne. The…
Our 1st month in Carcassonne is done: it’s time to give an overview of Carcassonne & our life so far i. e. how we manage to adapt to life in the Mediterranean area – in general & in winter. Yes – it’s winter. To be honest I hadn’t expected temperatures around 0° C … from what I had read so far resp. what climate tables presented. Well: we had pullovers & coats & whatever is…
On our way to SouthernFrance we made a stop-over in Dijon. For a day we stayed in Dijon and started in the morning with strolling around the city. Dijon is famous for its extraordinary mustard – although (as I learnt) the mustard is no longer produced in Dijon. It’s the result of an unfortunate court decision – decades ago – that stated that there is only one way to create Dijon mustard, but it’s not…
Nous sommes arrivées. We have arrived. In Carcassonne, Languedoc, Southern France. What happened?End of last year I announced that we are moving – mainly in order to explain the discontinuity of new posts. After all we planned & prepared 2 moves. We lived in a rented house for about 20 years – and decided to leave. Can you imagine … how much stuff accumulates during more than 2 decades? Quite a lot. We made many…
Marrakesh – one of the mythic places of the world? In my notion: yes – a mysterious exciting place arousing curiosity over & over again, a very old religious force once reaching up to Southern Spain, a traders’ emporium connecting Sahara desert’s horsemen & warriors with Europe & Middle East – as well as a famous hippies’ paradise in the 70s becoming a notorious cosmopolitan party community in the 80s & 90s… until now… ……
The Belgian coast seems endless: long and wide sand beaches, spacious promenades, huge buildings lining up like a barrier against the rough North Sea – which wasn’t by far so rough when we stayed there … It is a great beach to relax & recover from daily stress. All along the coast there is a tram line called DE KUSTTRAM, about 66 km long – the longest tram line in the world – with 68…
I started my looking back … series some weeks ago with a summary about our holiday in Tuscany in 2016. Now it’s our visit to Malta! (Why do I do this?Well, technically many features of my blogging platform have been enhanced … also sometimes there are too many photos requiring too much storage space … Concerning my growing blog size as well as the progress it seems sensible to attack old posts and streamline them.)…
Coming back to our trip to Brittany in June … When cruising Brittany – at least a small part of it – we encountered remains from the Neolithic age. Generally we are talking about the period of 5800 – 4000 BC. All over Brittany there are stones arranged in straight lines, burial sites made of stones piled high, giant lumps of rock … My better half & I visited some of the sites. It was…
Early season in Brittany … early season in Normandy! We left Brittany for a short trip into Normandy. It isn’t as if Brittany is suddenly short of any fantastic sites, gorgeous beaches and cities w/ impressive cathedrals … My better half & I decided to visit Mont Saint-Michel which is just behind Brittany’s border to Normandy. So during our 1st week we made some preparations like the routeing, which ended up in deciding to spend…
After starting posting about Brittany in early season last week now some impressions about our trips exploring the neighborhood of Saint-Armel where we stayed, meaning mainly exploring the coast. Saint-Armel lies at the Golfe du Morbihan and we made some boat trips as well as excursions w/ our car.
June is early season for Brittany resp. the whole of France because in July & August all France goes on holiday. A trip to Brittany was on our holiday schedule for some years, however … Last year we finally set the scope on Brittany – only to learn that during July & August a trip becomes difficult: only very few apartments to rent at sky-high prices even if you look about 3-4 months earlier. Also…
During May in 2016 we cruised Tuscany for almost 3 weeks indulging in the green rolling hills & their vineyards & olive groves, in the cities from the 1400s & 1500s – and of course in Florence! (…not to mention lots of Italian food & wine…) For many years I wanted to visit Tuscany, but it never happened – always another destination seemed more important or the season seemed wrong. To be honest: except for…