CHATEAUX AND FORTRESSES

On Friday we still had wind, clouds and rain.  Our villa is high up on a bluff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.  As we first approached the area we could look up from the highway at sea level and see the villas on the bluff, and just in back of the villas were a row of windmills happily whirling.  I commented then that those windmills might not be in our favor for cycling.  I was right.  It is really windy up here—100km per hour according to the weather reports on TV.

When the rain stopped we decided to take a walk over to the Chateau feudal de Fitou, Xeme siecle.  The chateau dates from before 990 and this is known because Adelaide of Narbonne mentions it in her will of that year.  Over the centuries the buildings were subjected to many raids and attacks and it has been rebuilt several times.  The locals have done a creditable job of assembling collections of armor, weapons, tools and instruments of torture. The displays of these items along with mannequins in period dress set in typical medieval activities made for an interesting visit.

After the Chateau we strolled through the typical medieval town, stopping at the Mairie to inquire about internet.  Why, yes, it is available, right at the Mairie, from 10-12 every Wednesday.  This didn’t help us much, since it was now Friday.

The following day, again very windy, we drove up the coast to Port-la-Nouvelle where we heard there might be a cybercafe.  The tourist information office told us about one, and also told us that the local floating casino just in back of the office had wifi and they opened at 10am.  So we hung out waiting for them to open, but when we talked to the greeter we learned that there was no wifi on offer.  Along we went to the cybercafe.  We found it and of course it was not open.  The posted hours said they would open at 11am, so we decided to just hang out and people watch.  It was fun to watch shoppers coming down the street with their baskets full of vegetables from the farmer’s market, and customers who parked their cars in the middle of the street as they ran into the boulangerie for their daily bread, and the neighbors out walking their dogs and stopping on the corner to chat in the wind.  One such neighbor put on quite a show for us when the wind whipped her dress right up to her chest and we discovered that some French women don’t wear undies!

When 11am finally rolled around there was no sign of activity at the pub/cybercafe.  The drapes remained closed, the door was locked, and after we checked more closely we could see several day’s worth of mail on the floor where it had fallen through the slot. We disgustedly gave up on internet and decided to do more exploring.

We drove west, up into the mountains, through many small villages, checking out roads and possible cycling routes.  Up and down we drove through miles of green hills, grape vines and olive trees.  This is wild backcountry, “where forested uplands are capped by the tumbled remains of nameless castles.” (quote from Rough Guide)  We stopped in Villerouge-Termenes at their very enticing chateau, but now, of course, it was 12:30 and everything was shut down for lunch. 

The next town, Arques, also had a good-looking chateau.  We stopped in the parking lot for our picnic lunch and admired the Donjon while we munched.  Then we continued along the road through Vignevielle, Montjoi, the steep gorges of Lanet, Col du Paradis, Serres (thinking of you, Lois), and then we reached the Aude River.  It is our plan to ride along the Aude River to Carcassone and the Canal du Midi when we depart Fitou, so it was good to be able to check the route.  Even though it is a “red road”, meaning a major highway, the traffic was light and the road is wide, and there is even a decent shoulder on much of it.  We followed this road almost to Perpignan and the turned north, heading back to Fitou.

In the evening we watched the last-minute campaigning of the two candidates for President of France—Segolene Royal and Nikolai Sarkosky.  Segolene is a socialist, of course, but she presents herself very well.  She has spirit, presence and wit.  Wouldn’t it be something if chauvinistic France elected a woman!