In part 2 I get Sunburned, collect daughter #1 and do lots of sightseeing.

Elne
We had never been to Elne so we decided to drive through but to our surprise there was a market on so we had a walk around.

Afternoon In Perpignan
Of course we had to call at Perpignan.
We had a nice meal at a Restaurant called Roman in the town centre and a wander around. We went into the Cathedral which was very interesting.

 

We decided a day at the beach was in order so I sat under my brolly and kept out of the sun. Had a dip in the sea and returned to my brolly.

La Jonquera
Is the first town after the Spanish boarder. There is duty free shopping well less tax anyway and it is very popular. The French version is Le Perthus but this is more a long narrow street with large shops. It’s also on a hill so we usually go to Jonquera.

 

A Trip to Villefranche-de-Conflent.
Villefranche is a small walled town in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains. We had passed it many times before but was always on our way to or from somewhere else, so never had the opportunity to pay a visit, this time it was our destination.

The town grew up to support the Fort Liberia that overlooks the town from the hill high above. Today the town is a pure tourist attraction. There are shops everywhere & restaurants, however not enough to get something to eat. The place was packed and every seat was taken in every eatery.
The town is also a stop for Le Petit Train Juan. The Little Yellow Train, now a tourist train to takes visitors high into the mountains. The train runs all year and in winter is used by skiers.
There is definitely some “Witchery” in the area as we saw plenty of witch images and effigies as well as plenty of crystals on sale. Some of the shops were craft/artisan shops one selling pottery made on the premises. You could watch the potter at work.

  

 

 

 

 

Harriet arrived on Wednesday 15th August, an early flight from Manchester to Girona in Spain, an hour away. We got up early and made our way to collect her, It’s Assumption day in France and a public holiday so we expected the traffic to be bad. It wasn’t.

We collected her and she wanted to have a look at Girona on our way back.
Girona is beautiful, at least the old Girona. Modern Girona is pretty much the same as everywhere else of a similar size in Spain. What we hadn’t realised is that Girona Cathedral was used as a location for Game Of Thrones. It’s not surprising. It is an imposing building!

 

I couldn’t take any photos inside the Cathedral as there was a service in progress.
The photo below is inside Basilica de saint Feliu which is very close. In fact we thought it was the Cathedral at first and were quite disappointed.

  

 

In part 3 we go to Barcelona and Andorra.