A  Road Trip in Southwestern France (Part 2)

In my last post I shared events of week one of my road trip through southwestern France. Several of the towns on the itinerary were new to me and every day felt like an adventure!

I followed the road trip in my book, Hit the Road in France. The next phase of ourSouthwestern France Road Trip took us down the western coast of the Mediterranean and along the Spanish border to the Atlantic.

Narbonne

In week one, we visited Toulouse and Carcassonne. After that, we drove to Narbonne, a centerpiece of Roman history, where we spent a couple of hours and had lunch. It wasn’t a market day, but it was still fun to wander down pedestrian streets and enjoy the Canal de la Robine, which flows through the center of town. There’s a covered market and the tallest cathedral in southwestern France (picture two cathedrals stacked to imagine the height!) If you have the chance to visit, you might enjoy the nearby beach as well.

Narbonne was the first Roman colony in France, so there are Roman artifacts to see, including the Via Domitia, an original road that used to lead all the way to Spain.

 We concluded week one in the town of Perpignan, to the southwest, and stayed two nights. Perpignan is a lively, mid-sized town with a lovely canal running through its center. Currently, it’s quite popular with American expats who want to move permanently to France. My favorite activity is strolling through the town, and we did plenty of that, along with sampling cuisine of southern France. Unfortunately, the Castle of the Kings of Majorca was closed that day.

Perpignan

Next stop, Collioure. But since it was so close, we first swung by Banyuls-sur-Mer, a smaller beach town just south of Collioure, and known for sweet wines. Then a short drive back to Collioure, which was my favorite, but it’s hard to decide! Collioure has two beachfronts and sections of town, with a fortress in the center. It’s easy to get to both. You can swim or enjoy a meal along the waterfront. They had a fun market with crafts, clothing, and local food. It’s the anchovy headquarters and also known for Fauvism (a style of painting).

Our next town (Pau) required a four-hour drive, so we broke it up by stopping halfway at the small town of Mirepoix, conveniently located. This wasn’t on the road trip, but I’d heard about it and was intrigued. It was voted one of the most beautiful villages in France. (There are over 100 of them.)

Surrounding the Monday market is Place des Couvent, a medieval structure with carved eaves sharing history. Underneath, you’ll find shops and restaurants. A pleasant discovery that I’ll add to the road trip! (That makes three interesting potential stops between Collioure and Pau to break up the long drive, Foix, Tarbes, and Mirepoix. They’re not too far from Toulouse, either. I will add these to the book!)

Collioure

The town of Pau surprised me, in a good way. I expected a town neatly divided into two parts: the upper town and the lower town. As it turns out, we drove straight into the upper town, clearly the town of Pau itself.

A century ago, it was the happening place to spend the winter if you were a wealthy English person. The manor houses and horse culture bear signs of that. The train station is the key feature of the lower part of town. For those arriving by train (currently and a century ago), a funicular carries visitors up to the main town.

We visited the castle of Henri IV, France’s favorite historic king. There were statues and paintings of a smiling king. First time I’ve seen that, but

Pau

he was known as a Bon Vivant…a guy who knew how to have a good time.

Following Pau, we headed to St. Jean de Luz, another busy beach town on the Atlantic. We enjoyed the waterfront and ocean breeze, as well as pedestrian streets, unique architecture, and lovely views of the beach.

Our last stop was Bordeaux, but on the way there, we stopped at Biarritz, known as a luxury resort destination, but also with many down-to-earth features. It was getting hot about then, and this trend continued through the rest of the visit. We enjoyed Biarritz, which was larger than I expected. Both a resort town and a busy regular town at the same time. I wouldn’t mind returning for a longer visit one day.

Lastly, Bordeaux. I only allowed one day and night there, because I’d already been, and the reason we went was to avoid driving back to Toulouse to return the car. It’s a great alternative, if you don’t plan to return to Toulouse.

Bordeaux

We returned the rental car and enjoyed Bordeaux for one evening, then took a TGV train the next day. We had to check out at 11 but our train wasn’t until 4 pm, so we stashed our luggage at the train station in lockers called “consignes”. There, you pay a reasonable fee for up to 24 hours and it takes the load off, literally!

Next time, I’ll share my visit to Paris. I go to Paris during every France visit, but this one was different, because the temperatures were between 95 and 104 degrees each day. I’ll share how I coped with that and still had a great visit, along with lessons learned on my trip, my 7^th since moving back to the US.

That was a quick overview of my southwest France travels, but in future posts, I’ll cover each town in more detail (and I’ll have more of my photos sorted by then!)

Stay tuned!