A “Lest we Forget” drive around the Pyrenees Orientales can be the moment to visit or revisit some of the villages and enjoy the autumn colours whilst taking in some of the fascinating War and anti war Memorials.
Despite lower temperatures, rain, and storms, firemen are still called out several times to deal with winter fires, mainly caused by ‘écobuages’ gone wrong.
This is a circular walk from the hamlet of La Pava, offering wonderful views from the Chateau d’Ultrera. Total distance 6.5 km with approximately 445 m of ascent. The ascent is in woodland, offering welcome shade. However, the descent is more open to the sun. Allow 4hrs for the full route.
The Morhange network was a French resistance network led by Marcel Taillandier, who took extreme risks to inform and protect the Resistance Movement.
The former ‘Maison Mazard’ in Le Soler, now destroyed, was a safe house for Dutch refugees, Jews and resistance members fleeing the nazis in the 1930s.
Art lovers are spoilt for choice in our beautiful region so which exhibions to visit? P-O writer, Ellen Turner Hall’s passion for art leads her all over the P-O, visiting exhibitions featuring some incredible artists, both living and long-departed, some famous, others waiting in the wings.
There were many unsung heros and heroines during WW2, such as Mary Elmes, Irish aid worker believed to have saved the lives of at least 200 Jewish children at various times during the Holocaust, by hiding them in the boot of her car.
Elisabeth Eidenbenz was the remarkable Swiss woman who created La Maternité Suisse in Elne as a refuge for expectant mothers exiled from Spain during La Retirada and World War II.
Henry Shaftoe talks us through another architectural style, evident across the P-O: a sort of rough-hewn look that makes use of local materials: rough hewn rocks, huge pebbles (cailloux) and flattened bricks, (confusingly known as cayroux).
In 1943, when the Gestapo came to Prades , Jean-Michel’s father was fighting with the Resistance and frequently absent.