Vacation from my
Vacation #2
A sunny, relaxing day spent in
Collioure, France
For my last day in France, I stopped in Collioure, a beach
resort town on the Mediterranean. The train station isn't far
from town, but it doesn't have any toilets and isn't open long
hours. The kind lady at the Collioure train station counter fixed
the mess of train tickets I had been sold in Toulouse; she saved me
more than $60!
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| I
chose to stay at Hotel les
Templiers and ended up in the
non-air-conditioned annex, several floors up. The room was large
but soulless. It did have a wonderful, wall-mounted fan.
Price was 63.80 euros ($89). |
The
room had a large window with a mini-balcony. There was also a
desk and a wall-mounted flat-screen TV which got a lot of channels,
perfect for relaxing! |
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| The big excitement
of this room was the bathtub, the only one I had on my whole trip! |
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| After
checking in and putting on suntan lotion, I walked around the east side
of town to the Chapelle St. Vincent and out on the breakwater.
Such views! |
It
was sunny but sooo windy! |
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| The view from the
end of the breakwater was very reminiscent of Dubrovnik, Croatia. |
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| I
waited too long for lunch, so the grocery store was closed. I
ended up getting a panini at this salon de thé just a few steps
away from my hotel. |
Here
is my delicious beef panini. I had it with the
strawberry-flavored water I'd purchased at the store before it
closed. So good! |
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| Luckily
I had been warned in my guidebooks, or I might have been surprised to
see military men training right in the tourist part of town! |
After
a rest, I walked back to this beach to swim. |
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| The
water was refreshing! |
There
were quite a few people swimming, although I didn't get them in this
photo. |
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| After
swimming, I changed and walked up to the stone windmill above
town. The walk was not very long. |
It
was a very picturesque windmill with a millstone. |
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| Here
I am with the windmill. |
From
the windmill, there was a long, hot walk to a castle, but this was my
vacation from my vacation, so I just enjoyed the view and took a
picture. |
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| From the windmill,
there was a beautiful panorama of Collioure and the Mediterranean. |
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| For
my last dinner in France, I decided to splurge at a seaside seafood
restaurant, L'Amphitryon. I didn't make a reservation, so I just
showed up early (at about 7:20 pm) and got a table with a view.
By the end of my meal, people were either having to choose a seat
inside or go to another restaurant. Perfect timing! |
I
chose the 15 euro menu.
My first course was a salad with goat cheese and honey on toast.
It was very good. |
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| It
had been since Mont Saint Michel that I'd had salmon, so I chose it
again. It was delicious! Of the three sides, only the
ratatouille in the center was good. (The other two were
flavorless but pretty.) |
The
final course was dessert. I chose two scoops of ice cream, one of
strawberry and one of raspberry, It came with a long spoon and a
little cookie. |
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| After dinner, I
walked back to the hotel along the beach. Here is a view of the
restaurant from across the water. |
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| The
water level was much higher while I walked back. The water was
lapping over the concrete walkway. |
In
this picture, the stone windmill (on the left) and the castle can be
seen. |
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| Here
is a view of the chapel along the breakwater. |
One
last view before turning in for the night! |
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| I
really enjoyed my relaxing day in Collioure. |
The
next morning, I checked out and walked to the train station. I
caught the 8:25 am train to Port Bou, Spain, where I would transfer to
a Spanish train headed for Barcelona. The Collioure train station
wasn't open, so I didn't compost my ticket! |
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