EXPLORING THE FITOU AREA

May 3, 2007

Our first night in Fitou Don and I both enjoyed our big bed and slept like logs.  We woke up refreshed and ready to go, but the weather was not cooperating—black clouds, wind and rain.

We decided, since we couldn’t get out on a training ride on our bikes that we would take a drive around the lagoon, exploring some of the coast towns, and stop at the big Hypermarche in Claira so I could pick up some shirts to replace the ones I left at Eoures.

The lagoon on the map is named Etang (lake) de Leucate ou de Salses.  I guess the two towns can’t agree so the official name depends on which shore you are on, the Leucate side or the Salses side.  This area is clearly a tourist area and must be very busy in the summer.  Along the shore of the lake there are many campgrounds.  We can also see oyster farms in the lake.

We drove around the north end of the lake and down the east side to Leucate.  Don had his computer out checking for wifi, but everything was secured.  Leucate is a nice little town with lots of construction and refurbishing going on to get ready for the tourist season.  We continued south along the narrow spit of land, through Leucate Plage, Grau de Leucate, Port-Leucate and Port Bacares.  All along this 10-mile stretch are thousands of condos, built out solid from the beach to the highway.  Intermixed among the condo complexes are the standard tourist attractions—boutiques, water slides, cotton candy, game arcades, merry-go-rounds.  Most of the condos are vacant right now, but I imagine that they are fully booked in July and August and what a zoo it must be.

We made a stop at the Carre-Four Hypermarche and it took me two hours to do my shopping.  Don was very patient and satisfied himself with the famous Spiderman Burger made with string cheese from the local burger joint while I read and studied and hunted for the groceries I wanted.

After the shopping stop we traveled west along the scenic route country roads to the town of Vingrau.  Once we climbed the cliffs we got to a very lovely, green valley, planted in grapevines.  We were looking for the turnoff to the little back road into Fitou, but missed it the first pass and so drove down into the valley and the town of Vingrau.  Turning back, we found the correct turnoff and headed out into the rocky terrain towards the village of Opoul-Perillos.  On the map we saw that there is a viewpoint and “village ruine”, so we took the side road to check things out.

We progressed along the twisty and windy road, switchbacking up the cliff and as we turned the corner we could see the old fortress sitting high on a rocky escarpment jutting over the valleys.  Surprisingly we were not the only visitors out in this remote area on a dark, windy, gloomy Thursday afternoon.  There were hikers, rock climbers, flower pickers collecting heather and other wildflowers.  We decided not to do the hike up to the fortress and continued along the road to the old village.  Along the way the few local residents looked warily at us as we drove past on the ever-narrowing road.

The old village of Perillos sits up on another hilltop, surrounded by miles and miles of grapevines planted in very rocky soil.  There are several abandoned buildings still standing, including a cute church with green doors and a plaque that tells of the pilgrimage made by Don Perillos from the town to Lough Grau, Ireland.  I liked the dedication painted on one wall, saying that this ancient village is very precious to the people who live nearby and they ask that visitors show respect to their ancestors by enjoying their visit with their senses—looking, listening, touching and smelling—but not by painting graffiti on the walls. 

After hiking around, enjoying the views, looking at the old buildings, smelling the beautiful linden blossoms, checking out the fig trees full of fruit (not ripe yet), we drove back down the hill, passed through the village of Opoul-Perillos, past the enormous windmills in back of our villa, and snuck into Fitou through the back door.