This is a steep walk, but the views are stunning, with plenty of wild rosemary, thyme, lavender. In April and May the flowers are fabulous and cover the hills.
The difference between ‘fanfares’ and ‘bandas’.
Only 15 minutes from Perpignan centre (direction Porte d’Espagne/Barcelona) the lake at Villeneuve-de-la-Raho is used all year round for walkers and joggers, and also provides the water necessary for the ’canadairs’ in case of forest fires.
Towards the end of August 1944, resistance fighters from all around the region fought Germans and French militia to take back Perpignan.
In 1860 Abbé Rous, the new Curé at the Chapelle de la Rectorie, first tasted the naturally sweet wine of Banyuls and found it so good that he decided, through his network of Catholic contacts, to make it the communion wine of France.
Today we’re heading up to the cooler air of the Conflent region, land of contrast, rich in culture and history, from its snowy peaks, wild, mountainous terrain and stunning lakes, to its many pretty and peaceful villages.
The commune of Eus also encompasses another village, that of Comes. It’s an hour-long trek up the mountainside to the ruins of this abandoned village, 2 hours for the more physically challenged.
Did you know that most of us probably haven’t been eating ‘real’ pukka paella on our Spanish sorties?
It’s 1946. War is over. On the sandy tracks of the Racou beach village, amidst fishermen’s huts and makeshift shelters thrown together in darker days by Spanish refugees, people, laugh, drink, share a pastis….
The Ukranian artist Mykola Tolmachev has created a remarkable body of work on display at the Musée Maillol, Banyuls.