Life...The Vivere

BELLE FRANCE

October 5, 2014 

Our areas of exploration in the Languedoc Region, southern France...

Hello Dear Ones,

This has been such a full, eventful summer for me...one trip after another, and none of them small ones!! By the time France came around (after a total of almost 5 weeks in Africa,) I found my energy waning. This is not a complaint...just an observation!! Hope you've passed the last several weeks doing things you love to do as well!!

This year, Michelle's and my Mother-Daughter trip took us to the Languedoc region in Southern France for another photography workshop with Catherine Anderson. We flew direct to Paris from Toronto (where I briefly spent time with my grandkids.) From Paris, we got a flight to Toulouse where we stayed for a little more than a day... enough time to do some looking around this beautiful city, the 4th largest in France. It lies on the banks of the Rive Garonne and is the centre of the European aerospace industry. It's a very friendly, walkable city with a vibrant population, cobbled streets and narrow alleyways...and the busy Canal du Midi running through it. Our hotel was right across from the opera house where there's always lots of activity. Here are some photos from Toulouse...

Finding our way to the train station the following morning, we met our shuttle van that drove us through the lush green French countryside to our home away from home... just a one hour drive from Toulouse. Domaine St. Raymond, our residence, was a wonderful house, architecturally very interesting...a remodeled 200 year old farmhouse situated amidst several sunflower fields...both alive and dead- ready to be harvested. 

Our Domicile was located in a village called Pexiora, but the actual village (with only a few hundred residents) was about a mile away. In the opposite direction (from the village) was the Canal Du Midi...a French Canal that connects the Garonne River (in Toulouse) to the Mediterranean Sea. Built in the 1600's, Canal du Midi is the oldest European Canal still in operation.

Early Canal Days (1)

Early Canal Days (2)

Below are a few photos of a very old graveyard in Pexiora. It was in sad shape because the village is made up of mostly elderly people...all the young ones, who take care of their parents' grave sites, are scattered throughout the world.

We ventured away from Pexiora the following morning for our first journey of exploration to twin towns about 90 minutes away... first, Rennes-les-Bains. We saw few people in the town that  boasts a population of about 300. The town hugs the deep sides of a gorge that's thickly wooded with oak. No more than two streets on either side of the river, it's famous for its hot springs. The ancient stone baths are public and free... 

The river must reach great heights from time to time as the houses that stand shoulder to shoulder along the river bank are tall with the first couple of floors bricked up. 

There was a small, hippy market with clothing, household goods and beautiful handmade jewelry. We also noticed many Buddhist prayer flags outside several of the village homes...interesting!

Rennes-les-Chateaux, with its view of the Pyrenees mountain range was wonderful, but our time here was limited. This area is steeped in Cathar history and legends about Mary Magdalene, Jesus, and the source of the wealth of the minister who built the village church (St. Mary Magdalene).  It's a sweet, mostly deserted village except for tourists. The handful of shops are dedicated to the stories and legends spun out of the village that have been told for centuries. With a mention in Dan Brown's DAVINCI CODE and Kate Moss's SEPULCHRE, it's modern day popularity has been assured.

Beautiful view of the Pyrenees in the background...

 The controversial Church of St. Mary Magdalene...

Imagine entering this church as a child with the above Demon Font as a welcome...it's really hair raising up close!!

A fairly early morning trip to the ancient town of Revel, hosting one of the oldest markets (since the 1600's) in the area...that's how our next day started. Great breads, stinky cheeses, all kinds of fruits and veggies, flowers, some great clothing and handmade jewelry...the most stylish pieces direct from Italy!

Revel's Notre Dame

On the way home from the market, we stopped for lunch...

and finally, stopped at  an ancient abbey...Abbaye de St. Papoul where monks are still in residence. It's the centerpiece of a lovely, very small. picturesque community.

After spending the following morning "at home," working on our individual journals, we left for the walled city of Carcassonne...the castle and the cite with only 60 actual residents (within the walls of the castle,) and thousands of tourists!! We walked the narrow, cobbled streets, shopped in the shops,

entered the Cathedrale de Saint Maurice...

and visited the cemetery of La Cite de Carcassonne. This medieval site was the focus of Kate Moss's book, LABYRINTH. It was a magical visit! 

 One of my favorite actors, Johnny Depp, has a home here and is reputedly a common sighting locally.

Last day exploring France, we visited an 11th century market, Bastide de Mirepoix. A bastide is a large square created for social and economic reasons, to offer the people of the area easier access to life's necessities...both perceived and actual. Mirepoix Market offered an enormous variety of produce, prepared foods, handmade items, clothing, household goods and live music. It was colorful, fragrant and absolutely delightful. Not surprising, once again, most of the more stylish clothing was from Italy!!

Whew! Soooo many photos...and this is just a sampling of my photo workshop stash. There are many more from which I must select to go into my photo journal...

 like this one of all the ladies in the workshop!

 It was so much fun to explore yet another new place with the eye of the camera. Thanks to the staff at the French Party House in Pexiora... our home away from home... to Catherine Anderson for her patient and soulful teaching ways and knowledge-sharing... to my wonderful, caring daughter and extraordinary travel companion... I look forward to our next, Sweetheart! Thanks to my dear husband as well... for living without me for more than a week! :)

I apologize for the length of this post...I should have broken it up into two parts. Next time... I hope you got through it and enjoyed the photos. Most of them, if processed at all, were processed with apps on my ipad...as good as Photoshop and more convenient!

Thanks for stopping by...see you next posting???

Hugs,

abbyj 

P.S. I just realized and tried to change but couldn't... the last five photos attributed to Carcassonne were actually from The Cathedrale de Saint Maurice in the Bastide of Mirepoix. Oops...