I woke up early to watch the Timbers game on the computer. The game was supposed to start at 4:30, but when I turned it on it was half time. It was just as well as they had played terribly and were down 2-0. I almost went back to bed, in addition to them being behind it was pretty chilly in François. I gave them a few minutes and they played themselves back into the game and eventually tied it up. But being the Timbers they gave up a bad goal at the end of the game to lose. I crawled back into bed to get another hours sleep. But, when I woke up it was 9:30. I thought I must have been more tired than I thought as that is really a late wake up for me.
There are a lot of bicycles on the canal bridges. Most of them are just parked there, but a few are decorations.
After Ton and I got going we decided to head into Amsterdam to take in the sites. Ton had picked out a small pub in one of the neighborhoods near the train station that specialized in Dutch beers so we headed there first.
One of the “Red Light” streets Amsterdam is famous for.
When we got to the pub, we noticed one of the bartenders was changing the time on all of the clocks in the pub. That’s when it hit us, today was the day to spring forward in Europe, which explained why we “slept in”, and I had missed the first half of the game.
The first pub on our very short two pub crawl.
We noticed that the Danish Brewery Mikkeller had an outpost in Amsterdam. We had visited their San Diego location, and for a short time they had one in Portland, and since we did not have a very solid plan for the day we decided to head over to Mikkellers for a beer.
The bartender at Mikkellers was kind enough to let me behind the bar for a picture.
After Mikkellers we were a little hungry so we headed over to a food hall nearby that is on the tourist trail. We took a slow pass thru it to see if anything tempted us, but in the end none of the cool places in the hall struck our fancy and we ended up in a little Donner Kebab shop on the main street. Sometimes the best food is cheap and simple. Well fed, we headed back to François and arrived home just as a big thunderstorm rolled thru Amsterdam.
The weather which has been pretty mediocre since we arrived took a turn for the worst last night. The temperature fell a bit more into the low 40’s and it began to rain. We had seen the forecast so had set today aside to visit a couple of the prominent museums in Amsterdam.
The Van Gogh Museum our first planned stop for the day.
Our first planned stop for the day was the Van Gogh Museum. At about 11am the rain had let up, so we headed over to the metro stop. Once again, the extremely efficient Amsterdam transit system had us at the museum in under an hour. When we got to the museum we noticed a long line waiting to get into the museum. I looked for the ticket office, but could not find it, but I noticed most people were using their phones to get in the museum. I went on line to check on tickets and saw that the museum was sold out everyday for the next two weeks!
If only Vincent had known how popular he would become 130 years later, he may have saved his ear.
Because we do all of our travel in the shoulder seasons, we rarely think to make reservations, and this is one of the few times it bit us. A little disappointed, I was also worried that the other museum we had planned on visiting might be booked so I quickly looked at the web site for the Rijksmuseum to see if they were sold out also. The website showed that there were no tickets available to purchase today and tomorrow on line. Now we were really stymied as our whole plan for the day was to visit these two museums.
As you can see the Rijksmuseum was really busy.
Since the two museums are adjacent to each other we decided to walk over and get a couple of pictures of the outside. As we got closer we saw the entrance to the museum store. Ton suggested we go take a look at the store and as I walked up I saw what looked like a ticket office dispensing tickets. I told Ton to go in the store while I checked the ticket office to see if we could get in the Rijksmuseum. When I got to the front of the line and asked for two tickets, the lady said of course and gave me two tickets allowing entrance in 20 minutes.
One of the thousands of pieces of art we looked at in the Rijksmuseum.
It turns out that it was a good thing we did not get into the Van Gogh Museum, as we ended up spending over 4 hours in the Rijksmuseum. And after 4 hours we did not see everything in the museum.
A Vermeer from the Rijksmuseum that I remember from my art history class in college.
The Netherlands was one of the major centers of the art world for over 300 years, and this museum is full of examples of the development of Dutch art over that period. It is one of the most extensive art museums we have ever seen.
The screaming baby stung by a bee by Henrik de Keyser. One of Tons favorites.
Because the weather was poor, and it was easter weekend, a normally busy museum was exceptionally busy. But unlike the Louvre it was not overwhelming. The only place that reminded us of the Louvre was in front of Rembrandts The Night Watch. There was a pretty good crowd like the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. The difference is the Night Watch is 20×20 feet, and the Mona Lisa is 20X20 inches, so it was still possible to take in the Night Watch over the crowd.
Rembrandts the Night Watch from afar.
Surprisingly we later found a small room off a main corridor that was full of Rembrandts that was relatively quiet. We were able to spend quite a bit of time taking in some of Rembrandts other art without being pushed around by a crowd.
Rembrandts self portrait.
There were several portraits in the Rembrandt room that both Ton and I recognized, as well as art by artists that influenced Rembrandt, or he was influenced by. It was the highlight of a very nice visit for me.
Another Rembrandt, apparently being painted in a Turkish Turban was a thing in that time.
They also had a fantastic library you could go in and view. There was one person inside reading, while 3 floors up about 50 people looked down on her and took pictures. I’m not sure I could learn in that environment.
They don’t make libraries like this any more.
Several people had told us we had to visit the two museums. While we missed the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum was fantastic, and they even had a few Van Gogh’s including the self portrait I used above and the wheat field below.
Another Van Gogh from the Rijksmuseum.
After about 4 hours we were getting hungry as we had missed lunch. We sat down and looked at a couple of food options, but when we went out it was raining again so our motivation dropped off and we decided to head back to François for a home cooked dinner.
Bacchus gave us a call, but we are too old to answer it.
Once again the Amsterdam transit system deposited us quickly and comfortably back to our campground at the end of the line. When we got to François he was quite cold, so after we ate our meal, I cranked the heater up and warmed us up to a comfortable 70 degrees for an hour or so until the heat starts to escape from our poorly insulated RV. By then we will under cover and will stay warm for the night.
Today we decided to head north of Amsterdam to a village that is reported to be the most beautiful in the Netherlands. The village in addition to being beautiful also has the very nice name of Broek in Waterland. Our metro pass got us to the end of the subway line in North Amsterdam where we planned to transfer to the bus. When we got to the bus it turns out it is a different company than the one in Amsterdam, so we were back inside to get tickets. We ended up with all day passes that would allow us to explore the province of North Holland.
A canal in Broek in Waterland. The village is famous for its wooden houses that go back to the 18th century.
The bus ride to the village was short and we found ourselves in a very picturesque village. The town was originally a port, but due to a change in the course of a river it became landlocked. But it was close enough to Amsterdam that the merchants of the city kept their summer homes there.
One of the many pretty houses in Broek in Waterland.
The village was exceptionally clean and all of the homes were well maintained. There were many gardens facing the roads, and while they were nice now, we thought they would be exceptional in a couple of weeks adding to the beauty of the village.
The village is famous for its wooden houses, but there were several substantial brick homes from the same era.
While Broek in Waterland is beautiful, it is also quite small. We took a couple of passes thru the village. But after an hour we had seen all of the village. We decided since we had all day passes for North Holland we would visit one more town.
The church and the lake in Broek in Waterland.
Monnickendam was one stop up the road. It is a larger town and is still connected to the waterway system so it has a small port. We walked from the main highway down to the port. The town was bustling compared to Broek in Waterland.
Looking down a canal towards the harbor in Monnickendam.
Monnickendam also felt very prosperous. Several of the businesses were closed today because of Good Friday, but there were a couple of restaurants open that seemed to be doing good business.
This is a statue dedicated to eel fishing, which is apparently a delicacy in these parts.
After a turn around the town we decided to head back to Amsterdam. The public transportation in this part of the Netherlands is the best we have ever come across. We have never waited more than 15 minutes for our train, bus or tram to arrive, even out in the countryside. It has allowed us to get around very conveniently.
Talk about riverfront property.
We decided to head back into Amsterdam and check out a plaza we had seen yesterday with a couple of interesting statues. The plaza is dedicated to Rembrandt, and has a statue of him, but we were more interested in a new statue showing a gold Astronaut posed like Rodins The Thinker.
A modern thinker.
The city center was even busier than yesterday, but Ton had one more place to check out so we headed to Wijnand Fockink Proeflokaal a name that doesn’t get any more Dutch. They have been producing liquor there since 1679. It is located down a small road off one of the canals.
The interior of Wijnand Fockink with a large selection of spirits to choose from.
After a short quiz by the bartender on what we liked she recommended a ginger liquor which we both enjoyed. We ordered two glasses, mine was cut with some lemon juice, but Ton ordered hers straight. The tradition here is that they fill the drink to the rim, so that you have to bow to take your first drink.
Reenacting my initial bow to my drink. I got ahead of the photographer.
We headed back to the campground and when we arrived we were startled to see a line of about 15 campers in the parking lot next door waiting their chance to register. The place is really hoping tonight. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain all day so we are planning on indoor activities. Hopefully, every other visitor to Amsterdam isn’t having the same thought!
We finally made it to the center of Netherlands. It was raining pretty steadily when we first got up, but a quick check of the weather showed the rain was supposed to let up around 11 and the afternoon was supposed to be pretty good.
Some of the canal boats Amsterdam is famous for.
The campground is located about 5 minutes walk from a metro stop. We acquired a 4 day metro pass that allows us to use the metro, city busses and trams, so armed with our new passes we headed off to the metro. The stop is the last stop on the line so we saw the train waiting at the station as we walked up, but just as we got to the platform the train pulled away so we were a little disappointed. Fortunately the next train was in 10 minutes and once it arrived we were at the main station for Amsterdam in 20 minutes. The main station is a beautiful structure, and when you exit you are right in the center of the tourist area.
The Central Station in Amsterdam.
Usually we have a plan for the day, but today we exited the train station without a plan. At first we just wandered thru the old town taking in the sites and watching the people. Even on a cold damp March day there were a lot of people in the old town. We can’t imagine what it would be like in the height of summer.
Even on a cold and wet March day the old town was busy with pedestrians.
After a few blocks we decided to give our day a purpose by visiting a brewery we had both read about. Since we have a metro pass I offered to go by tram, but Ton decided she wanted to walk to check out the town. The route took us out of the old town and down to the river following a nice canal system. After a few minutes we had gotten away from the tourist area and the crowds thinned out considerably.
The beautiful canal we followed for part of our walk.
After about 20 minutes we hit the Amstel River and followed it for another 20 minutes. The river was bustling with traffic, and the road next to the river was also pretty busy.
A couple of tour boats along the main canal near the city center.
The brewery was easy to find as it had a large windmill attached to it. Just as Ton was questioning my navigation, the windmill came into sight.
The brewery is located inside the building attached to the massive windmill.
We tried a taster tray of beers, and a grilled sausage. The sausage was good and the beer was fair. Ton had one more destination in mind for the day, so after we finished our beers we headed over to the Dappermarkt which is a street market.
The entrance to the Dappermarkt has a nice vegetable stand and a McDonalds at the entrance.
The market itself was not that interesting, but we had come for a Dutch specialty called Kibbeling. It is fried cod and is very similar to the fish in fish and chips. We ordered a small portion with tartar sauce and it was more than enough to feed the both of us.
Kibbeling and other fried fish at the Dappermarkt.
After finishing our meal we decided it was time to head back to the campground as the weather was supposed to go back to rain. This time we took the tram back to the Central Station, and returned to a chilly François just as the rain hit, so we timed it right.
This crane like bird was hanging out at the fish place in the market. We are used to pigeons and sea gulls hanging out in urban environments, this is the first time we have ever seen cranes.
Today was another recovery day. Last night at 2am Ton and I were having a nice conversation about something as we were both wide awake. We both finally nodded off about 4 am. Needless to say we ended up sleeping late.
After we got ourselves going we decided to use today to get François fully stocked for the trip When I googled groceries near me, in addition to all of the normal grocery stores an Asian Grocery popped up that looked interesting. We decided to start our day there and it was a good find. In our travels in Europe we never have come across an Asian grocery, but this one was giant. It filled a good sized warehouse, the front was individual servings, but in back there was a large section with large bulk items to purchase. Ton really enjoyed shopping and we walked out with a good amount of “luxury” items to consume on this trip.
We needed some meat and other basics, across the street was a giant grocery called Makro, we went in behind another customer, but I thought it was weird that he needed to scan a card to get in. When we got inside the interior was very similar to a Costco, and then it hit me, we had gone to one of these in Thailand before and the one in Thailand required a membership. We saw someone who worked there and I asked him if this was a membership store, and he said yes. I apologized for breaking in, and he laughed, but said to come with him and he would ask if we could get a one time membership. In the end we could not, so we ended up in a Lidl.
We also saw a small deli next to the Makro that sold Surinamese food. Ton was curious so we poked our head in. We both realized that we were hungry as we had not had lunch and only a very small breakfast. We got a couple of interesting dishes, and fried bananas which I loved. The food was tasty.
Tomorrow we are planning our first excursion into Amsterdam.
Today is going to be a short one due to jet lag. Over time we have learned to plan on a couple of easy days at the beginning of our trips to get over the jet lag. While everything went as planned yesterday and we were well settled in at our campground by 1pm, we had been more or less been going steady for over 24 hours. We both slept in this morning, and were not fully functional until noon today.
One of the reasons I picked this campground is that it is close to a metro stop and it was supposed to have good free wifi. We are struggling to connect to the campground internet. We have a very weak signal, we can connect outside of François, but as soon as we step in and close the door the signal drops. While the campground is pretty busy, it is only about 70% full so I went to the office to see what the options were. When I explained the problem I was told very bluntly that the internet was fine and the problem was with my phone. When I pointed out that we tried to connect unsuccessfully with 4 different devices, she responded that the problem was with our devices as they had checked the internet and it worked everywhere and no one else had complained. I then showed her that my phone connected to the internet fine in the office so my device was more than capable of connecting and that the issue was that in my space the signal was too weak to connect to. She took this information in stride and told me she would send some one to check. As I am writing this no one has come. The Dutch have a reputation of being blunt and stubborn, this woman is doing her best to live up to that stereotype!
After that I relaxed for the rest of the day while Ton prepared a nice meal. While preparing the meal Ton discovered the small meat balls we had bought yesterday were actually small round sausages, part of the perils of shopping in a new country!
We arrived early at the airport in Portland expecting it to be busy due to spring break. We ended up breezing thru all of the lines because the airport was well prepared for the rush.
Our flight over left on time and arrived about 10 minutes early. Schiphol airport in Amsterdam is interesting because unlike most airports in the world where you are herded directly into the immigration hall for processing, Schiphol releases you into the departure terminal and you have to find your way thru all of the gates and shops to the immigration hall. It throws me off as it does not feel right. The immigration check was pretty busy so we spent some time there, but it worked out as our bags were waiting for us when we got thru.
After a quick Uber to the storage we found François waiting for us. We turned on the gas, filled him up with water and headed out to a local grocery store to get our initial stock of food. We are planning to spend some time exploring Amsterdam so we picked a camp ground about 20 minutes by train from the city center. It is quite pricey but it has everything we want. Today was the first day all of the facilities were available and it is very busy for March.
Ton worked hard putting everything in order in François. And since everything I am responsible for was working, I mostly stayed out of her way. We were well settled in by 2pm and took a short nap to celebrate.
Woke up to heavy rain, so it made it easy to finish up the process of preparing François for the winter. We finished up the last of our food, and offered some fruit to the owner of the campground. After a short uneventful drive to the storage area we dropped François off for the winter and took an Uber to the hotel which is in the center of a giant construction site. It was still poring rain so we spent the day in our room relaxing.
Today was spent preparing François for storage. We slept in a bit, and woke up to promising blue skies after another rainy night. Unfortunately, the blue skies didn’t last and a thick damp fog set in. So after cleaning up we pretty much settled in to a movie marathon for our last day in François. Exploring the canals around us will have to wait for our return in the spring.
Another day focused on covering distance. We traveled about 380 kilometers all but about 30 of which was in medium to heavy rain, so it was not a very fun day.
A shot out the window of the port in Lyon. I was worried about passing thru Lyon as it is the second biggest city in France, but today despite the rain traffic was good and we were thru without delay.
There is not much else to talk about. I picked Beaune as the stopover today as it was a good distance north and a town we had fond memories of. It was the place we spent our second night in a RV in France. It is a beautiful town with a lot of interesting historic sites, and great wine.
The town hall in Beaune.
With the rain the photographer in the family was not motivated to walk into town, so we hunkered down and had a big meal. We have a lot of food to eat in the next few days so we had a big meal and a bottle of wine. I took a quick walk into town but was quickly driven back to François and Ton when another shower came down. The rest of the evening was spent vegging in front of screens watching movies.
We are at a point in the trip where distance traveled in the right direction is more important than where we end up staying. Today we got lucky as we were able to get a good jump in our 4 day journey to Amsterdam, and stop at a place that has been on our list of places we wanted to visit. Avignon is famous for two things in the English speaking world, for about 100 years 7 popes of the Catholic church ruled the church from Avignon instead of Rome. The other is that every French language student learns to sing a childrens song about the Bridge in Avignon. Ton had told me about the song, and the other night Denise Cook also launched into it when we told her our plans.
Pont Saint-Benezat, the unfinished bridge at Avignon celebrated in a childrens song.
We had a quick and easy 4 hour drive to get here, arriving at the municipal campground on an island in the Rhone River right across from the medieval city, and the Pont Saint-Benezat or the Bridge at Avignon just before the staff headed out for lunch.
The view of the city from the gate of our campground.
When we arrived at the campground Ton almost aborted our walk into town. The campground here had a large commercial washer and dryer setup, and one of Tons top to do list items was washing our linen before we left. She wouldn’t agree to go to town until I went and confirmed that the laundry would be open late enough to get our washing done. Once she learned that it was open until 10 pm we were off and heading into town.
Part of the battlements of the old fort.
Avignon is a fortified city with most of the walls facing the river still intact. It also has a large cathedral and palace befitting its nearly 100 years as the center of the Catholic church. Even after the popes returned to Rome it stayed under Papal control until it was incorporated into France during the French Revolution.
The palace and library from the Papal period.
We did a quick walk through town, and then to the Cathedral and the Palace of the Popes. The palace and the Cathedral were impressive, but we found ourselves drawn more to the gardens above the Palace.
The views of the Rhone River, and the incomplete Pont Saint-Benezat, from the gardens of the palace.
By the way, the bridge used to cross the river, but was abandoned in the 1700’s because it kept collapsing when the Rhone flooded. The four arches and the gate house have survived and become the most famous tourist attraction in Avignon because of a children song.
Part of the gardens was a small vineyard, that has examples of the 14 types of wine grapes grown in the Cote du Rhone wine region.
With laundry looming over us we wrapped our quick tour of Avignon and took a small pedestrian ferry across the Rhone to return to the campground. So we are now 320 kilometers closer to Amsterdam, we have seen a town on our list of places to visit in France, and we have nice freshly laundered linen. Today was a pretty fun and productive day.
The tourist authority just put this in this year to please the selfy crowd.
We were up bright and early as we had a 9:30 appointment at the repair place. It was an easy drive and we arrived to find a real polyglot operation. Initially they greeted us in French based on our plates, when I asked for English the person immediately switched to flawless English. She then got on the radio to have the technician come to the office and spoke what I thought was German to him, but I thought I had misheard and it was probably Catalan, later I learned it was German. The tech and I went out to the car to look at the problem and he was speaking in French until I asked for English, and he said oh good and also switched to flawless English. After a few minutes discussion in English Ton said to me in Thai that she thought he was German based on his accent. It turns out she has a good ear as he was indeed a German who had settled in the area. All of this talk of languages is because the repair itself was quick and easy and took all of 10 minutes. We now have a new latch and light for the refrigerator that seem to be working, as well as an admonishment to put less stuff on the refrigerator door shelves.
The welcome sign to Roses.
On the way to the repair shop, we saw a grocery store advertising the cheapest fuel we have seen in about 3 years. So we stopped and filled François up and probably saved about €20 over what our average fill has been lately. The gas station was attached to a large supermarket, so Ton ran in there for a few minutes while I was filling François. Well a few minutes turned into 45 minutes as we had discovered the largest Catalan owned grocery chain, and it was full of cool and cheap Catalan and Spanish food.
Downtown Roses on our way to lunch.
Ton had spotted a seafood restaurant yesterday that she wanted to try if it was open. Yesterday it was closed, but we hoped that was because it was Monday. Unlike the restaurants that are closed for the season, this one still had tables outside, and the inside tables were set with plates so we were optimistic. She even knew what she was going to order. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open. So we tried a Moroccan restaurant just up the street. We enjoyed the food, and the tea, so while disappointed that we didn’t get the seafood we wanted we still had a nice meal.
The Roses Express, using a Case or John Deere tractor for the engine.
Every town in Europe now seems to have a little train that you can take to see the sites. We have taken a couple of them over the years. The one in Roses was exceptional as the “Engine” was a big Case or John Deere tractor instead of a little modified truck like most. We had stopped and looked at it yesterday, but there was no one there. Today when we walked by there was someone manning the booth. We were intrigued so we signed up for the one hour Cap De Creus tour.
The harbor in Roses with the Cap de Creus in the background.
The tour was mostly thru narrow streets full of vacation homes, and once again I was impressed as the driver navigated this farm tractor pulling two trailers down streets I would have cringed to take François down. The tour was narrated in French, German, and English, but not Spanish or Catalan. When we signed up for the tour they asked where we were from, so I suspect there were no Spanish on the ride today.
Looking back towards Roses from the Cap de Course.
We climbed up quite a hill, and then dropped back down towards a less built up area which was part of a Spanish national park. For a short part of the trip we were on dirt roads, which is why they are using the tractor to pull the “train”.
Looking inland from the Cap.
On the tour they mentioned that the full time population of Roses is 20,000, but that during the peak of the summer when all of the hotels and vacation homes are full an additional 120,000 people are in the town! We both agreed that we were glad we were here when the population was closer to 20,000.
A loan sailboat anchored off of the promenade. All but one of the hotels in the background are closed for the season.
Tomorrow we are heading north as we only have 6 days until our flight home. We are planning to cover about 300 kilometers a day, which should put us into Amsterdam with a couple of days to spare. So today was our last day of traveling without a plan, unfortunately.
As much as we liked Perpignan we had to leave today as the campground we were staying at is closing for the season. We looked at our options and everywhere North and East of us had rain. I pointed out to Ton that we were only about 30 minutes from the Spanish border. One of our favorite memories in Spain was a meal we had in Roses, so that’s how we ended up here in the town aire. I told Ton that we should leave early as the recent reviews kept referring to it being sold out. We arrived about 9:30 in the morning after a quick drive down the freeway and claimed a good spot. I went to get rid of some trash around 5pm and they had just sold the 70th and last spot for the night to a RV from Iceland.
This Gnome thing is in front of a now defunct amusement park called WOK and Park next to where we are staying. It looks like it could be a good setting for a horror movie.
Our memory of Roses was of a very lively resort town where we had our first and most memorable Spanish meal about 6 years ago. It was a three course meal with both an aperitif and a glass of wine for €13. We were hoping we would recognize the restaurant and see if we could replicate the meal.
The not very bustling seaside resort of Roses.
This time instead of a bustling seaside resort with lots of shops and restaurants, we found a bit of a ghost town. Out of season 90% of the hotels and restaurants shut down. We had the beautiful seaside promenade to ourselves most of the way. We found our favorite restaurant but unfortunately it was also closed for the season.
Ton likes the way they trim the trees in France and Spain.
But we did find a restaurant where we could get a three course meal for €17, but this time the wine was extra. But, the meal was wonderful, and Ton was thrilled with her first course which was a giant plate of mussels, and her second course which was a very meaty fish called a monk fish. So Roses continues to meet our expectations for good meals.
Still a beautiful place if a little cold and blustery.
We are going to spend another night here in Roses as we have to get a little problem fixed on François before beginning our trek north. A part of the latch on the door to our refrigerator has cracked. The door closes fine, but the door ajar alarm keeps going off because some circuit is not being closed. It is quite annoying to be woken up every few minutes by an alarm, sometimes it goes off continuously and sometimes it will be quiet for a few hours and then suddenly go off for no apparent reason. So tomorrow we are off to try to get it fixed.
Our original plan was to head to Avignon to look at a bridge. The weather forecast for Avignon was a lot of rain, so Ton went on line and looked at weather and places to see options and landed on Perpignan. Perpignan is only about 30 minutes from the Spanish border and is part of French Catalonia, and most importantly is supposed to have good weather for the next 3 days.
We were standing next to a fishing forbidden sign as Ton took this picture. The mountains in the background are the Pyrenees on the French-Spanish border.
We woke up to the rain that is driving us towards Spain, so we were not in a hurry to get up and get going. Before departing we went over for a final coffee with Fred and Denise. We enjoyed another conversation and after about an hour reluctantly headed down the road. We are going to keep track of their travels and are hoping to find another opportunity to meet them. Our only regret is we did not get a good photo of them and us together.
The village next to the reservoir we are parked on.
As we drove down the autoroute the weather was initially pretty bad, but as the forecasters predicted the rain got lighter and lighter until we finally broke into a bright blue sky. We arrived at the campground I had picked out, hoping they were still open. The internet said they were open until the 15th, but I was a little nervous about the accuracy of the information. When we pulled up I was relieved to see they were open. When I checked in and asked for 2 nights the guy at the desk said only two nights as they were closing for the season on Monday. So while the information was not accurate, it was accurate enough for our needs.
This band was shooting a video next to the reservoir. Only the drummer was actually playing as they had no electricity to power the other instruments.
We settled in and then took a walk around the reservoir the campground is on. After that Ton prepared a pizza on the stove top using a technique our friend Cory taught us on her boat last year. It was delicious.
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.
You can see the effect of the three hours of rain on this dirt road.
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.
It was a longish walk but we had views like this the whole way. Ton enjoyed shooting a lot of pictures as we went.
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.
Some of the famous white horses the Carmaque is known for. It is also a cattle region, so these horses are sharing their field with some beef cows.
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.
You can see the giant mounds of salt in the background, as well as one of the canals used for irrigation and flood control.
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.
A boat canal near the beginning of town. These canals are common all thru France.
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.
The town gate for Aigue-Mortes.
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.
The main tower for the town.
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.
As Carmaque is part of France, it of course also produces wine.
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.
On the way back we saw this group mounting up for a sunset ride.
We have shifted about 200 kilometers west to the Camargue region. The Camargue is famous for three things, salt, horses, and flamingos. But the real reason we are here are to connect with our good friends Fred and Denise Cook who are traveling Europe in their American Expedition Vehicle. It is built on an old Italian Mercedes Firetruck and is an impressive sight. The Virginia plates also catch peoples attention in the Aire. Compared to their truck François looks like a small car.
The Camargue is famous for its white horses.
We arrived at the aire about 1pm after an easy drive from Toulon. After we got settled in we went over and spent the afternoon and evening sharing tales of travel, and places we have enjoyed visiting. Tomorrow we are going to set out to visit the town, which Denise once spent a few weeks living in as a student.
Our ferry left about 45 minutes late last night, but it was a very rough ride. The wind was still blowing strong, and the sea was very rough. The ferry was about 600 feet long, and even at that length was getting tossed around quite a bit most of the night. We both eventually fell asleep and when we woke in the morning it was much calmer as we put into Toulon.
Toulon is a big city and we arrived at 8am. We were one of the very first vehicles off of the ferry and headed right into downtown Toulon. I was expecting rush hour traffic, but traffic was really light. I finally asked Ton is today a holiday in France? A quick google search confirmed that it was All Saints Day which is a national holiday. So thanking our luck we arrived at our campground less than 30 minutes after rolling off the ferry.
The marina at Sanary-Sur-Mer full of wooden sail boats that look like a regional design.
We wanted today to get our laundry done, and give François a good cleaning. While we were waiting for some washers to open up I walked down to the town center. Ton passed on the walk after a long night of being tossed around by the sea.
The streets downtown and along the marina were closed for a market.
I took a quick turn around the waterfront and then headed back to François so we could get our laundry done. After completing our chores we relaxed for the afternoon and began to think about our plans for the next week. Based on weather forecasts we are going to be staying in the south as the weather in Paris and Amsterdam shows 10 straight days of rain.
A short one today. The wind built overnight until we were getting gusts around 40 to 50 miles per hour. From our campground the ocean looked pretty rough. We spent the day hunkered down in François with him shaking pretty vigorously in the wind. We finally followed the example of our Dutch neighbors and moved over by a tall line of shrubbery that blocked some of the wind, though we would still get knocked around pretty good. We spent a good part of the morning watching our email fearing that the ferry would be cancelled. Finally about 3:30 we moved down to the ferry port where we are currently waiting. The departure board says we are leaving at 7pm. I expect it is going to be a rough 13 hours to Toulon.
We had a weather shortened day. We forgot about daylight savings time, and did not realize until this morning that it had happened yesterday here, of course we were not late for anything because most days we don’t have to worry about being anywhere at a certain time.
The sea was pretty active today, and the wind was whipping along at a good clip.
Our first stop for the day was a LeClerc to stock up on some food, and to pick up some Corsican things we have grown to appreciate that we probably will not be able to get once we head back to the mainland on Tuesday. This was a huge LeClerc so Ton enjoyed herself window shopping as well as filling the basket.
An old wall that must have been attached to a bigger building at some time.
We were planning to visit a town called Saint Florent which is on the other side of Cap Corse, but when we came out of LeClerc the wind had really picked up, and the mountains we were going to have to cross to get to Saint Florent looked socked in, so we decided to go up the side of Cap Corse we were on to our campground for the day. On the way we stopped in Erbalunga which is a cute town.
Looking back at Bastia from Erbalunga. It was not a day to be at sea for the faint hearted.
Erbalunga is a quick stop, but we enjoyed watching the ocean putting on a show. Ton remembered she needed to some onions so we popped into a little neighborhood market which was doing a thriving business, and then headed to our campground for the day. We are parked in a big open field with about 5 other RV’s. It is a really nice campground with great facilities. When we arrived there was a sign that said go pick a spot and come back at 6pm to pay. When I went by at 6 pm no one was there, so maybe tomorrow morning.
The beach at Pietracorbara.
The wind really howled most of the afternoon, frequently giving François a good shake. But towards sunset it died down completely, and now all we can hear is the surf about a quarter mile away. Another front is supposed to come thru tomorrow just in time for our departure on the ferry.
Today we visited the second largest city on Corsica. Bastia was founded around 1370 as a Citadel guarding a port that Genoa was trying to use to rule Corsica. Over time it became the primary port for Northern Corsica and today is the primary ferry port to connect to mainland France and northern Italy, we will be departing from here on Tuesday. Italy is closer to Corsica than France is, and there are two prominent islands off shore that are part of Italy, one of which is Elba where Napoleon lived in exile until his death.
The citadel overlooking the main harbor in Bastia.
Corsica has always been a tough place to govern. All of the major cities are fortress towns where the off island rulers (Genoa, and France) have tried with mixed success to control the interior of the island. The extreme ruggedness of the center of the island makes it a rebels paradise. Even today as we were driving into Bastia, most of the highway overpasses and bridges had “Corsica is not French” spray painted on them, so even today there is a Corsican independence movement.
Historically these are a tough people to govern, but look like a fun group to hang out with.
We accomplished another thing today as we decided to park at the ferry terminal for the day, so our trip in to catch the ferry on Tuesday will now be a little easier as we know the route and the layout of the terminal. As we walked into the town center we came across a sprawling Sunday market on the main square of the city.
The Sunday flea market.
The largest part of the market was a huge flea market. While interesting for people watching, other peoples junk is generally not our thing. So we passed thru pretty quickly.
This is a dish we have seen throughout Corsica, it is cheese mixed with a little dough to make a kind of pancake. We tried one and it was interesting, and while very popular with the local crowd we won’t be buying it again.
We kept on thru the center of the city and next found ourselves at the harbor. The harbor was where all of the high end restaurants were located. We did some window shopping, but in the end decided to have a home cooked lunch today.
Looking across at the mountains that are right behind the city. The mountain with the towers on the left side of the picture is 2700 feet to give you a feel for how steep the land rises behind the city.
Our last stop for the day was the citadel built above the harbor to protect it. The citadel was a good climb up, and as we were walking up it I saw a sign saying that one of the problems that Bastia has always had to deal with is connecting the citadel above the town with the harbor. Today the answer appeared to be that the lower town and the harbor are the center of the town, and the citadel is very quiet.
This is the main square of the citadel. For about 15 minutes Ton and I had it to ourselves.
The lower town was very lively, the market was busy, and the restaurants were full. When we got to the citadel it was mostly empty, and except for one restaurant all of the businesses were closed. It was quite a contrast.
Usually Ton has to wait for people to clear out for her picture. In the citadelshe was happy to find someone to put in the picture.
We wandered about for a few more minutes looking at signs describing the buildings, for the first time today we heard languages besides French. Our conclusion was that the citadel was for tourists and since the season is over all of the businesses have packed up. So we headed back to François and out to our campsite for the day.
We ran into this priest on a motorcycle on one of the back alleys of the citadel.
On the way to the campground we wanted to swing into a grocery store to pick up a few supplies. Unfortunately, all of the parking lots at the major grocery chains we saw had height barriers. This is a uniquely annoying French thing where they put gates at about 2.6 meters above ground to keep oversized vehicles out of parking lots. Sometimes you can find a back entrance, or a secondary lot that is not restricted, but today I didn’t want to go on the search, so we decided to keep our money to ourselves.
Ton liked the concave wall on this apartment building.
