Southern France - Collioure "By the Sea, By the Sea, by the Beautiful Sea"

Southern France - Collioure "By the Sea, By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea"

Ok, so I didn't say this yet but when we were in Laroque D'Alberes, a Canadian neighbor said (when they heard that 2 of us were from America) they had not heard of any Americans coming or staying in this region before!

Collioure is an incredibly beautiful, historic and romantic place that Europeans and Canadians and others have heard of, but not Americans.

The Knights Templar were located here as well as a fortress, and church. There were many immigrants from the Eastern Mediterranean that migrated here. It is believed that the Essenes were schooled not far from here which dates this area back to around the time of Christ. Looking at a map of France, there are pre-historic site and many events going forward from then.

I looked up Rick Steve's description of the area. He also describes it as relatively undiscovered for as beautiful as it is. Like in Laroque D'Alberes, this city used to be part of Spain and has a lot of Spanish influence. The streets are named Spanish names and they fly the Catalan flag as does Laroque. This village mostly sees French tourists - again during the summer months of July and August.

 

So, we saw 3 wedding parties there, one party had everyone wearing a bring pink something from a tie, to a hair ribbon. And the gelato, well, I had to go back for a second scoop! The first flavor was elderberry. The second time I saw "violet" and had to try it. And, yes, it did have that distinct, sweet, flower taste. Where else are you going to be able to taste violet gelato??? I noticed the front of this building as I was walking down one of the main promenades.

 

Being a seaport, every restaurant offered a large variety of seafoods from calamari to mussels to shrimp. I had chicken Catalan. On friend had a pot of mussels which she loved.

And, how about a little shopping? There were lots of fun shops here, and like I said before, unique flavors of gelato. The unusual thing about the shops here, unlike America, not a single t-shirt shop!!!

Jewelry and fun "girl" things!

I saw this enlaid in the sidewalk outside the church. It is very weathered and I would assume, very old. If you cock your head to the right you will see the harbor with a sailboat and 3 castle towers in the background.

I think that about sums up our visit to the beautiful Collioure.