37. Collioure - June 2011. Part 1

We spent 19, 20 and 21 June in Collioure, the anchovy capital of France.  Collioure is a small, beautiful and vibrant town on the Mediterranean coast, about 30km from the Spanish border.  It is an extremely popular holiday spot and a little bit trendy in an arts and music sort of way.  We arrived on a Sunday at about 1.00 pm and found the regular Sunday market happening, with about an hour to go.  

We could have bought freshly made pizza from a wood fired oven in a van.  

Can you see the fire?

Or cheese from the van selling Cheeses of the Pyrenees.

Or fabulous olives from the woman with a van full of olives.  What temptation!

There was every type of food stall, as well as wine tasting (BYO glass and sip as you walk around) and of course, plenty of glace (ice cream). 

There was also lots of music in the squares.

Paul and I quickly adopted this as our beachfront cafe - we could sit in either sun or shade as long as we liked for the price of a couple of coffees, waters or beers.  There's Paul in the front row of chairs with his cap on, relaxing with his book and a glass of something after his first swim in the Med (previous email).

One of the reasons Collioure is so accessible and enjoyable and popular is because traffic is strictly controlled.  Almost all streets are pedestrian; service vehicles can only access shops and businesses in the very early morning; the streets and beaches are cleaned multiple times each day.  Visitors must park in a central, public, open air car park for 10 euros per day or on the outskirts of the town in small streets or small car parks.  And this is the result: a quiet, clean and beautiful town.

And if you are planning on having a cardiac arrest, Collioure is a good place to do it. 

There is a defribulator in most key public areas, with instructions on how to use it and how to contact "les sapeurs pompiers" and medicos.  Remember the sapeurs pompiers in Paris scaling their ladder to a fifth floor apartment. 

Collioure is in a natural bay.  The town walls facing the sea are fortifications; some of these photos are views through the firing slots in the walls.  It has a huge fort as well as a fortified church.  

The sea is so clean and clear that the fish swim around your legs.  Of course, I only have that on heresay as fresh and bracing are not adjectives I associate with pleasure.  My pleasure adjectives are sunny, blue, hot, blue, cold drinks, blue, shady trees, blue and umbrellas, blue and white.

After the brilliant sunshine and blue sea and sky of Sunday - I was a bit disappointed when Monday turned out to be ...

To be continued.