We woke up to a very chilly François this morning. The thermometer by the bed said 51 degrees and I was tempted to run the heater for a few minutes, but Ton is made of sterner stuff and told me it was ok. Then just as we began to stir it started raining hard, and did so until about 10 am. So the morning turned into a late breakfast, while Ton stayed tucked up warm in the bed, and I puttered around François.
We finally decided to head into town because Denise and Fred really liked Aigues-Mortes. Before we left we set up a rendezvous with Denise and Fred for lunch. They were going to go into town by bike while we walked the 4 kilometers.
Yesterday I mentioned that Camargue was known for three things, salt, flamingos, and horses. On our walk thru the country we saw all three so we got the full Camargue experience.
The Camargue is heavily influenced by the Rhone river delta, which makes up a good deal of the area. On our walk we saw a lot of canals and dikes to control the water flow from the delta. In addition to horses, flamingos, and salt they also raise cattle and grow rice.
We tried to get a good picture of the flamingos, but they would not cooperate and come close enough. You will have to trust me that we saw them on our walk.
About half way on our walk Denise and Fred passed us by on their bikes which are a much more efficient mode of movement than walking. We agreed to meet at the town gate, and they agreed to scout for a restaurant.
Aigue-Mortes is an old fortress town, and its entire wall is still intact which is unusual. In most cities sections or nearly all of the wall have been removed for modern buildings or to widen roads. In Aigue-Mortes you can walk the entire perimeter of the old town on the walls if you desire.
Fred and Denise met us at the gate, and we headed into a Spanish Steak house. But as the waitress that took our order said, the Spanish has been heavily influenced by French taste. We were very impressed as both Fred and Denise were able to speak French with the staff which certainly sped up the ordering process and generated some good will from the staff. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch, and before we knew it, it was 3 pm.
We took a quick turn thru town and would have liked to have spent more time there, but with day light savings time the sun is now setting around 5:30. So much earlier than we would have liked we found ourselves hiking back to the aire for the evening.
