We had a busy day...

The ancient walls of Aigues-Mortes

In our last blog we spoke of the opera we attended (the simulcast of AKHNATEN from the Met we saw in a theater in Montpellier). That was in the evening. We’re gonna back up in time a bit here and take a look at what we’d done earlier…

The opera came at the end of a long and eventful day. In addition to the evening performance at the Met, we’d been invited to a birthday party at noon. We’ve been attending language exchange events, intercambio, that are intended to bring people with differing language backgrounds together. Never mind that the French generally wind up talking to other French, and the Anglophones to other English speakers, these events are a great way to pick up some practical language skills, and to make new friends. And one of our new friends, John from Cornwall (and he is very clear he is from Cornwall specifically, not from the larger landmass known as Great Britain), put together a surprise party for Franҫoise, his new French girlfriend, and invited us.

We were happy to attend! Except, they live in Aigues-Mortes, a small ancient town about a twenty-minute drive away. And, we don’t have a car, and public transport is problematical (i.e., there’s very few buses and they don’t leave until after noon, for some reason). But Debra, our American ex-pat friend, had a solution: a rental car. She’s been here in Montpellier for the better part of a year and had discovered that the municipality of Montpellier, in addition to operating the tram system we love so much, also offers rental vehicles (cars, trucks, and bicycles). For this event she had reserved a car for the three of us.

The forecast was for rain, rain, and more rain. But on this day, while the streets were saturated from the storm that had passed during the night, the clouds were thinning. We had blue sky showing as we made our way out of the city and towards the swampy land around the mouth of the Rhone River, a famous region in France known as the Camargue.

It’s an area worthy of significant exploration, and Paula and I have spent many days there on past trips. But today we were just driving through, as a quick overview before heading to the party in nearby Aigues-Mortes. We caught a few glimpses of the famous black bulls, and saw the other iconic image of the Camargue, the white horses. The pink flamingos were harder to see, and, sadly, Debra missed them all together, as she was driving. But we’ll come back again, in the spring, when the weather is nicer and the days longer.

A tower in the walls seen from the marina

Aigues-Mortes is a sweet little town today, but was apparently a pretty miserable place to live when it was built in the 13^th Century. King Louis IX wanted a port on the Mediterranean, and in spite of the swamps (the name of the town derives from the old French for dead water), this was the spot. Louis used it as a jumping-off point for the Crusades he led (the Seventh and Eighth). What makes the town really worth seeing (apart from our friends having a party) are the walls, still well-preserved after all these centuries. (As we were walking around after the party, John was pointing out to Franҫoise and me the marks left by the masons on each stone, probably a signature showing who had cut which.)

Arriving at John's boat

Done with our quickie tour of the Camargue, the three of us arrived at the boat to mild sunshine and a dock full of people. And a very surprised Franҫoise! John had done an excellent job of keeping the surprise, no mean feat on a 30-foot catamaran.  He’d had some help from his boating neighbors, most of who were there. We sat around tiny tables set up on the dock of the marina, looking across the canal to the ancient walls, sipping sparkling wine and chatting in various languages (some of John’s neighbors are Dutch, and fluent in both French and English).

Another view of the walls from the marina, with the 13th century Tour (tower)
de Constance on the left

We had a fine time, and much of it, at least for Paula and me, was the familiar joy of gathering with fellow boaters on the dock. (Or the beach, or in someone’s cockpit!) It’s been 15 years since our boating days in Mexico, but it felt good to celebrate with boaters again!

Inside Notre-Dame des Sablons Church

A fountain in the main square

Inside the town the walls are never far...

Oh my, two blogs in one week! Time is getting compressed, as our date for departure draws near: we will be spending Christmas and New Year’s (and Kings Day, Jan 7!) in Seville, as we have done for the past two years. But we’ll be back in Montpellier in February, moving to a new part of town where we’ll stay through the Fall (and who knows, maybe longer). Meanwhile, we’re hosting a Thanksgiving Day event for our foreign friends. Stay tuned…

Old walls of Aigues-Mortes, with another view of Tour de Constance