Saturday in Ceret

Last Saturday, I spent a wonderful day touring around Ceret and the Pyrenees mountains.

The director of the Maison de l'Europe in Perpignan, where I volunteer, decided to take an Italian girl doing an internship at the Maison and myself on an excursion to see his town and then to explore the Pyrenees and the French - Spanish border.

The Canigou mountain from Ceret

Beautiful blooms

 

We arrived late morning (after some local bus troubles) by means of the regional 1 euro bus (perfect!) and immediately set off on our adventure.  Ceret is known for a few things: its big and diverse Saturday market, its modern art museum, rugby, and cherries.  The director, our guide for the day, loved sharing everything with us as we walked through town.  He showed us where the old city lines were.  We went to the mediatheque which was basically a combination of a fancy library and an art gallery, where they were unveiling the opening to some very cool exhibitions, one in photography and the other in 3D art that was a mix of glass mosaics and metal.  We saw a separate exhibition on 100 years of rugby photography at another stop.  At each place, our guide seemed to know someone, so we met the mayor and the finance guy for the town among many others.

Giovanna and I in Ceret

Giant loofas at the market!

Ceret Saturday market

Showing off Picasso's signature on this fountain in Ceret

Pi (pronounced pee) - k (pronounced ka) - sceau (bucket - pronounced so) = Picasso!! Isn't that clever!!

After two hours of walking, admiring, and meeting people, we were welcomed into our guide's house for a quick refreshment before going to meet his family at a restaurant for a late lunch.  I had a Catalan dish, that was basically an assortment of cured meats, cheeses, and pan à la tomate.  It was customary to take a piece of bread, rub it with a raw garlic clove, then rub it with a tomato, and top it with meat.  It was really quite delicious.  I finished the meal with a delicious fondant au caramel and a taster of sweet Banyuls wine. 

After a wonderful meal, we hopped in the car for the second half of our adventure.  We followed a route into the mountains along the Via Domitia.  The Via Domitia was the first Roman road, and it stretched all the way from Italy to Spain.  You can still find traces of it in the Pyrenees between France and Spain.  That's pretty incredible!  Fun fact: the University of Perpignan is named after this route.  Also in this area, we followed a small winding road, which happened to by Napoleon's road where he cross the Pyrenees on his way to Portugal.  Apparently, he never made it though as there was an unfortunate incident in Madrid where many people attempted an uprising and it turned into complete bloodshed.  But for us, it was beautiful views and strong winds that tried to knock us off our feet at each stop.

Following the Via Domitia

As we followed these routes, we came upon a great fortress designed by Vauban, like many of the fortifications in this area.  The fortress is in the shape of a star, and it seems like it's out of a fairy tale with his gate and moat.  We walked around it and admired the views, being able to see both France and Spain in one view.  Just below this fortress, we explored the border town of Perthus, which is divided right down the middle (longways) between France and Spain.  The town itself wasn't particularly beautiful and we were told that it doesn't have such a nice reputation now (i.e. trafficking and other bad stuff), but it was fun hearing about our guide's experiences there as a teenager and how he'd always go to a certain cafe with his friends on payday and such. 

View from the fortress

Finally, our last stop was to check out the end of the Via Domitia where it changed name to the Via Augusta for those continuing into Spain.  At this point, we also learned about the system of "bornes" which mark the border.  They are large columns each with a number ranging from 1 to 602 to physically show where the border lies.  They were designated in the Treaty of the Pyrenees marking the end of the war between the two countries, and to this day, they cannot be removed or altered in any way by either country.

"In memory of all the men and women who in time of fascism took these paths towards liberty" (Or something like that - it's in Catalan!)

Borne #567

Our incredible guide and friend, Jean-Marie

At that point, we were exhausted and it was time to head home.  So we followed the route back down from the mountains, and saw a beautiful sunset on our way back to Perpignan.  It was a very full day, and it was clear how passionate and excited the director was to show us everything.  I'm very thankful to be able to have experiences like this.

Eat: San Sebastian and Barcelona

I've been on vacation the last couple of weeks traveling through Europe with my mom.  We decided to theme our trip "Eat," meaning that we were taking a culinary adventure! Our main destinations were Perpignan, San Sebastian and Barcelona.

Both San Sebastian and Barcelona are among the top food capitals in Europe and Spain.

San Sebastian

San Sebastian - Donostia, Spain

This lively city caught between the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean in northern Spain is known as Donostia in the local Basque language.  Their role in food culture is influenced by their pintxos (peen-chos), the local version of tapas.  Yet pintxos are a whole new thing.  Traditionally, you would spend your night out pintxo bar hopping, such that you get a drink and one or two pintxos before moving on to the next stop.  Either you help yourself to the pintxos displayed on the counter, or you point at what you'd like while the bartender serves you depending on the establishment.

Pintxo Bar

A pintxo very often involves a slice of delicious baguette-style bread with a topping.  My favorite toppings were the local cured ham, a salmon and cream cheese combination, and goat cheese with a balsamic glaze and caramelized onions.  Beyond the pintxos on bread, there are also various seafood on skewers such as octopus or shrimp, and warm dishes served on request such as peppers or fried foods.

Pintxos on top, tapas below, and a mug of sangria on the side

Cured Iberic ham

Of course with the pintxo, you order a drink.  I was enjoying the red wine.  At the first place we went, the house wine was 1.80 euros per glass! Isn't that shocking!

Barcelona
From San Sebastian, we road-tripped to Barcelona via the city of Huesca for one night.   Once in Barcelona, we feasted on tapas and paella.  Tapas are small dishes.  You order multiple small dishes to make one very delicious meal.  Some traditional tapas are patatas bravas (potatoes with a garlic sauce), small sausages, fried fishes, mussels, and many, many more.  I found there to be more variety in tapas.

Tapas and Sangria

Then there was the paella... a delicious rice dish with seafood or chicken and veggies.  The key with paella is the large pan in which it's cooked evenly, the small-grain toasted rice, and a pinch of saffron threads.  It's a mouth-watering plate of yumminess, that when made with love, is quickly becoming one of my favorite foods.

Seafood Paella

In discussing Barcelona, we can't leave out the drinks to go with our tapas and paella!  There are varied options.  The local rioja wine can be the perfect touch, or a large mug of sangria, or a more dainty cava (Spanish sparkling wine).  Yum yum.

Cava

Rioja

Needless to say, it was a filling week.  I ate very well, and was able to try new dishes, most of which I liked very much!  I had some much needed mommy-time, as we traveled across France and Spain, in search of delicious dishes, castles, and sunshine.  I can't wait for the next installment in our series of "Eat, Stretch, Dance"!

Barcelona

I've been having a great Christmas vacation (vacances de Noël) these past couple of weeks.  All French schools have two weeks off for Christmas, which isn't as long as in the U.S., but they certainly make up for it with more breaks.  My next two-week break will be at the beginning of March.

Anyways, this break I've kept myself busy and traveling.  I spent time in Barcelona, Bergen, and Perpignan. 

Barcelona

The first day of vacation, I left promptly for Barcelona.  We took a covoiturage (carpool) to get there, which was a cool experience.  Covoiturage is much more common in France, and there's a whole website where people list their trips and can be reviewed by others who have traveled with them.  After our two-hour trip, we arrived in Barcelona and made our way to our hostel, the Barcelona Central Garden Hostel, which I would highly recommend.  We dropped off our bags and left to explore.  And explore we did... with hours and hours of walking!  We walked all through the oldest part of the city, a Christmas market, the fruit and meat market, etc.  After running on empty for a while, we finally found the perfect tapas place for the night.  I tried all sorts of delicious tapas, my favorites were the tuna, small fried fishes, and patates braves (potatoes).  I also tasted cava, the delicious Spanish champagne.

Returning to the hostel, we took a little bit to recharge, before heading out to explore the party scene.  We started in the old part of town at an Irish bar where I had the best sangria and ended up at a five-room (and DJ) club called Razzmatazz.

The next morning we finally got back to our hostel at 6 AM, so after some much needed rest, we made our way to Park Guell, the park designed by the famous architect Gaudi.  His architecture is very unique, with odd angles and designs, and he seems to be the best artist to represent the unique and thriving city.  The longest bench in the world (completely covered in mosaics) is in this park.

Later on, we went to another tapas restaurant that was recommended by the hostel... it was so popular that we weren't seated until around 11 PM!  Super delicious!

The next morning, we walked around a little bit more and found a tasty bakery before I headed to the airport to catch my plane to Norway...