Canet Lagoon is a salt water lake separated from the sea by a long long sandy beach . Chateau l’Esparrou, overlooks the lagoon.
The land around the lagoon is a nature reserve, with traditional fishermen’s reed huts lining the shore. Paths provide easy walking or cycling.

From the 17th century, its history had always been closely linked to political, and military events that occured in the Roussillon. Argelès was situated at the crossroads of important commercial routes, that led to Spain. First dominated by the Counts of Roussillon, the Kings of Aragon took control of the town in the 12th century, and remained so until 1276.

From 1276 to 1344, Argelès belonged to the Kingdom of Majorca, and to protect his land from attacks, he built towers on the mountains. One being La Massane signal station, overlooking Argelès.
The town was contained within imposing ramparts. A fortified church with an impressive tower was erected, and is still standing in the centre of the old village. In 1344, the kingdom of Majorca disappeared. Both the town and Roussillon returned to the Kingdom of Aragon, who maintained a garrison in the town. Until the 17th century, French and Spanish troops regularly fought over Argelès. In 1659, with the Treaty of the Pyrenees, Roussillon was brought under the jurisdiction of France, but once again became of strategic importance during the Franco-Spanish war in 1794.
In the early 20th century, Argelès was a large, rural village. Life was based on agriculture, and craft industries. The development of tourism in the early 1950s has changed all that, and Argeles has now become a major tourist resort with many internationally run camp sites. 

Collioure

Languedoc-Roussillon is very strongly influenced by the Spanish, after all, it was largely owned by the Spanish for centuries. At Collioure, you enter a Catalan land, with a specific language, and culture. The Catalan tradition is omnipresent in gastronomy, and religious festivals. The Catalans are characterised by their joviality. “The Sardanya” a Catalan dance, is often performed during fetes. You will more often see the Catalan flag, than the French tricolor. 

Where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean, lies the attractive fishing village of Port Vendres. On the N114 only 30 kms from Perpignan, with its own railway station, and bus service, it is easy to get to.

No one knows the exact position of the temple, dedicated to Venus, that used to dominate the port 2000 years ago, but wrecks, roman amphorae and coins found in the deep waters of the harbour bear witness to an illustrious past, and it has been an important harbour for  fishing boats, ferries, yachts, cargo ships, and cruise liners.

Vauban fortified Port Vendres in 1679, making it an important military base as well as fishing port.

Port Vendres today it is a delightful, sparkling seaside town, full of restaurants, cafes and shops. It is also the most active fishing port of the Roussillion coast. Large fishing boats arrive every afternoon, and smaller ones come in early in the morning, and moor opposite the tourist office to sell their wares. In the same corner of the quay, you may see a few lamparos. Small boats, with big lamps overhanging the water. They set out at night, from March to October. Attracted by the light, the fish, mostly anchovies and sardines, gather round the boat, and are caught in nets.

Tourist boats leave from Quai Jean Moulin. Some make a trip down the coast towards Spain, others head straight to Collioure. This is by far the best way to visit the famous artist village without getting into Collioure’s nightmare parking scenario. Collioure’s markets are on  Wednesdays and Sundays, and that of Port Vendres, a particularly good one, fills the Place de l’Obelisque every Saturday morning.

Several dive schools operate out of Port Vendres, and more than 2000 boats, and yachts use the “Port de Plaisance”.

The vineyards of Collioure and Banyuls AOC wines cover the slopes to the edge of the town, and tastings  are encouraged in the wine shops, and cellars of local vignerons.

From 1838 onwards, Port Vendres’s trade with North Africa was on the increase, particularly with Algeria. A connection brutally broken in 1962. The Sidi Ferruch Monument, originally one of Vauban’s defences, houses a small museum dedicated to French  Algeria. Today the cargo trade is on the increase again, and huge ships manoeuvre in the tight space between the quays.

There are two sandy beaches, and numerous little coves line the coast in either direction. The walk to Cap Bear is easy, and has spectacular views. Not surprisingly there is a semaphore station, and the Phare Béar (lighthouse) when you reach the point.

A popular visit in Port Vendres is the Fish Market, (La Criée aux poissons)

It has no restaurant or tables, so you cannot book one. It serves no proper meals, just dégustation, or samples of its retail selection of seafood. It doesn’t advertise, and has no website. It closes at 7 pm, just as traditional dinnertime starts.

The Port Vendres wholesale fish market (Criée aux poissons), is a popular seafood eatery, and shopping point. For good reason, with the best of raw materials, the market is among the largest in the Mediterranean.

The focal point for gourmets, is a pub-height counter at the back of the retail shop. Here, the waiters are seafood workers, wearing rubber boots, and waterproof aprons, opening oysters, cleaning mussels, and serving customers at the counter. The menu of reasonably-priced small dishes contained on a single A4 sheet, with shellfish and crustaceans on one side, tapas and wines on the other. Everything on the menu is available on the shelves, and counters in the shop.

To navigate to the market, first find the memorial Obelisk at the head of the old part of the port (Vieux Port). With your back to it, you are looking East. At your left is the church, and quays for fishing, customs, rescue, and pilot boats. Follow the quays to the northeast: first Quai  de l’Artillerie, then Quai  du Fanal and finally, Quai de la Quarantine to Criée aux poissons, a large rectangular building, adjoining a fishing, and leisure boat works and yard. Go to the left around the building, and follow the large signs to the entrance of the retail part of the market. It’s about a five-minute walk, but you may drive if you wish.

(La Criée aux poissons) Anse Gerbal,
66660 Port Vendres,
open  08:30-12:30 & 15:30-19:00 Tuesdays to Saturdays;
09:00-12:30 Sundays and holidays;
closed Mondays.

On the Coastal path, along cliffs covered in wild lavender and rosemary, halfway between Port Vendres and Banyuls sur Mer, is Paulilles. There has always been a small beach backed by a delightful summer restaurant at Paulilles, but, in 2008, the old Nobel Explosive factory, derelict, dangerous, and stripped of all useful accoutrements, was opened to the public. There had been a threat of redevelopment as a pleasure port, but the conservationists won through, huge amounts of money have been invested, and the result is spectacularly good.

There is parking, and safe access, and a reception centre with small museum and café.

Some of the old buildings have been preserved, and contains a museum to Catalan Barques. Plaques describe the history of the factory begun in 1870 by the Swedish engineer and inventor of dynamite, Alfred Nobel. The explosives made there, were first used in the mines of La Batere near Arles sur Tech as well as in the making of the Panama Canal.

His factory became a village, employing more than 400 inhabitants of Port Vendres and Banyuls. The work, and conditions were hard. The murals on the restored buildings are a fitting memorial to the Paulilles workers.

The beach, backed by the old German defensive walls, and parasol pines, is sunny and sheltered. The waters clear, and sparkling, and is a beautiful spot. The opening hours of the Site vary from season to season, but run in winter 9h – 17h and, in mid Summer  from 9h – 21h.

Until the mid XIX century Cerbere consisted of a few fishermen’s huts and a bit of smuggling. Wedged in  at the end of France between mountains and a small bay. In 1820 only ten families lived in Cerbere. So successful was their smuggling, that a Customs Post was installed in 1841, bringing with it, a whole raft of officials whose numbers increased considerably with the arrival of the railway. The huge wall, numerous arches, and the iron and glass canopy of the station, all conceived in the Eiffel Engineering Offices, still dominate the town. The building of the large platform required the diversion of the river, and the construction of a canal. By 1876 the first train passed through, and Cerbere as we know it today had sprung to life.

The Spanish railway track was wider than the French, a deliberate defensive decision on the part of the Spanish, to prevent French armies taking the train to Spain. It also meant that all goods had to be unloaded, and reloaded onto the relevant wagons as they crossed the border. Oranges were one of the most important imports, and women, “transbordeuses d’oranges”, four to a wagon, carrying baskets weighing 15 – 20 kilos, performed this task, under the watchful eye of a male supervisor. They were paid very, very little, and decided to strike for more.
On 26th February 1906 they lay down in front of the trains, and brought the whole line to a halt. By the end of the day, their salary had doubled. The first industrial strike by women, in France, had been a great success.

The different railway gauges still cause a whole industry in Cerbere. Some of the newer trains can change automatically but most goods trains have to be adjusted, each time they pass from country to country. Looking down the line that leads out of the sheds, it is fascinating to see the 20 centimetres wider track turning right into Spain, and the narrower one veering off left into France.

Walking through the vineyards behind the town, and up into the steep mountains is sheer pleasure, even if one is ever aware of the numbers of refugees who have passed along those same small tracks. During  WW II over 2000 people escaped to Algeria, England and the US thanks to the customs officers and railway workers of Cerbere, who acted as guides.

An essential visit is the extraordinary 1930s concrete hotel, built like a passenger liner, moored to the railway. One of the first reinforced concrete buildings ever to be built, it was designed by the Catalan architect, Leon Baille, to house European Royalty and international stars of stage and screen as their train’s wheels were adjusted between the different guages. “The Belvedere” opened in the early 30s only to close at the start of the Spanish Civil War (1936). It used to have a cinema, gambling rooms, a tennis court on the roof, and a staff/customer ratio of one to one. It never re-opened. The building was in a sorry state, but help was at hand in the form of Euro-money. Now it has a few B&B rooms, a bit of self-catering, and is available for tango dancing.

The Lighthouse located on Cap Cerbere is entirely automatic, and solar powered. The cliffs on which it stands are the highest in Europe.

Rosas,(Spain)

Although Rosas is not in the Languedoc-Roussillon. It would be remiss not to mention it, as it is one of the first coastal towns across the border, and a firm favourite of those Frenchmen living within a short driving distance of the frontier. French Catalonia and Spanish Catalunya, very much merge at the National Border, which is seen, only as a bureaucratic inconvenience. Rosas is a fishing village given over to tourism. It has a large semi circular bay. Just outside Rosas on the road to La Jonquera, at La Pau, is one of the few Olive oil cooperatives in the area, where it is possible to have a ‘degustation’, and buy olive oil en vrac (bulk). 

Le Perthus

Not far from Rosas is the border town of Le Perthus. It lies on a Col on the Pyrenees where, it is said, Hannibal practiced mountain crossings with his elephants in 218bc, before going on to Italy.
This town is where the French come to buy their alcohol at ‘duty free’ prices, and little else is on sale, except fresh meat, casual clothes, leather goods, and Spanish specialties for aperitifs. During the season, garden plants and oranges are a good buy.
Le Perthus consists of a main road, sloping down to the border crossing. The shops are arranged all along the Spanish side of the road, and little on the French side. The border strictly speaking, running down the centre of the road.

Perpignan

Perpignan is the capital of the Pyrénées-Orientales, the southern most department of the Languedoc Roussillon. It is located on the River Têt, 12kms west of the Mediterranean Sea and is only about 30kms from the Spanish border. Catalan culture is dominant in both the language, and cuisine. Half Catalan, half French, Perpignan is Languedoc at its most exotic.

The last major town in Languedoc, before the Spanish border. It is a melting pot of nationalities. A large part of Perpignan's population, is of Spanish origin – refugees from the Civil War, and their descendants. It is easy to see why the flavour of Perpignan is essentially Catalan.  There is a real mix of cultures in this corner of the region: Catalan, Romany, North African and white French settlers repatriated after Algerian independence in 1962 co-exist in this southern French town. However it’s also worth noting that over recent years, Perpignan has become a stronghold for Jean-Marie Le Pen’s rightwing Front National Party who claim the city’s original white inhabitants have been overrun by foreigners.

There are few memorable monuments to visit. Its heyday was in the thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, when the kings of Majorca held their court here, and it is from this period that most of its historical interest lies. Always too far from the coast to become a port, the town developed into a cloth-making centre by the early middle ages.

Roussillon, once belonged to the Kings of Majorca and their Palace remains in the middle of the town. Perpignan was formerly a fortified town during the middle ages.  

Toward the end of the 19th century the town walls were dismantled.  However, the Castillet, a picturesque 14th  and 15th century crenellated fort that defended the principal gate, still stands.  Today, it is a museum.  The ancient Loge de Mer, which housed the maritime tribunal, is located nearby.  The 14th  and 15th century Gothic Cathedral of Saint-Jean and the castle of the kings of Mallorca are not far away.

In the southern part of the town is the partially restored medieval palace of the kings of Majorca.  The palace is surrounded by the bastions of the great 17th  and 18th century citadel. 

Perpignan had been the capital of the counts of Roussillon.  In 1172 it became the possession of James I of Aragon.  When he died, his realm was divided between his sons.  His younger son James, got Roussillon and Majorca.  He was the first of three hereditary kings of Majorca, who made the city their capital from 1276 to 1344.

During the struggle between France and Spain, for the province of Roussillon,  Perpignan was heavily fortified.  In 1659 Perpignan became French as the result of the Treaty of the Pyrénées.  During and after the Spanish Civil War of 1936 it received Spanish Republican refugees.  Subsequent to Algerian independence, in 1960, it became a refuge for French settlers from North Africa.  In 1971, the University of Perpignan was established. 

Today, it is a flourishing albeit unremarkable market town. A centre for the wines, fruit, and vegetables from the rich plain in which it is located.  There are many palm-lined squares. Wander through the town and you can find yourself quite easily off the tourist track and in rather seedy, slightly tacky areas, the stage of tragic events in May 2005, when 2 people were killed in street incidents leading to rioting, and unrest. Perpignan is certainly no worse than any other large town, and probably better than most, but watch out for pick pocketing or aggressive begging.

Money, money, money

If you just love money, head for the Joseph Puig Museum of Coins, and Medals, in Perpignan. Apparently the only museum of its kind in France, and the largest in Europe, it displays coins and medals from all time periods, and locations, with some very rare coins from Catalonia.
42 av. de la Grande-Bretagne
Perpignan
Tel: 04 68 66 24 86

There is a small airport that has become more important with the arrival of one of the larger 'cheap flight'  airlines, Ryanair.

Not far from Perpignan is the Asia Center

AsiaCentre, Cabestany
9 Avenue André Ampère
66330 Cabestany
Tel; 04 68 67 59 07

TelBringing you the taste of home & abroad 21

If you’re fed up with French food, and fancy a good curry, then you could try the Asian shop at Mas Guerido, the out of town shopping centre at Cabestany. Whilst expensive, they offer a good range of Chinese, Indian, and English products.

Sisters, Claude and Florence, have recently taken over the Asia Centre in Cabestany, and have plans to sell food from all over the world.

All things Oriental, Asian and Exotic will adorn their shelves, to ensure that your curries, stir fries and sushi achieve perfection, but alongside, home made ‘boeuf piquant’ from Vietnam and ‘crevettes sautées basilique’ from Thailand. There is a whole range of British products, which they will be happy to add to regularly, according to your requests.
There will also be themed tastings from time to time.

The Catalan flag

Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² of Spain, and has an official population of 7,210,508. It borders France, and Andorra, and once extended over what is now, the French department of the Pyrenees Orientales. The Catalan culture has probably strengthened in the Pyrenees Orientales over recent years, and it is almost more normal to see the Catalan flag flying from buildings in Perpignan  than the French tricolour. The Catalan flag is one of the oldest of Europe. Legend says that it was, Louis the Piles, Emperor of the Franks in the 9^th century who used the flag for the first time, but it is thought he would have drawn on the flag of the Count de Barcelone, Guifred the Hairy one, a gold background with the red bars representing four fingers soaked in the blood of the Count, wounded during a battle against the Normans.

The First testimony of the existence of the Catalan symbol is a seal of the Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona on a document of Provence going back to 1150. The personal armorial bearings of the Count, became the armorial bearings of the Catalan dynasty, then the Catalan flag. Mancomunitat de Catalogne (Union of the Catalan People) made the four red bars its official emblem.

During the dictatorship of 1923-1930, the Catalan flag was prohibited, and its exhibition discontinued by the authorities.

Generalitat de Catalogne again made it official during the republican period. Estatut Interior de Catalunya (the Interior Statute of Catalonia) of 1933 established in its article 4, that “The flag of Catalonia is the traditional flag, with four red bars on yellow background”.

During the Franco period (1939-1975), the exhibition of the flag was again prohibited in Catalonia, but its clandestine use never disappeared.

Today, Catalonia is one of the most economically dynamic regions of Spain, and the Catalan culture throughout the region at its strongest.

The Fort de Salses is a fortress built by the Spanish at the end of the 15th century, the fortress guarded the former frontier between Spain and France.  It is clearly visible from the A9 autoroute and it is possible to visit from the motorway rest area.

Its layout and architecture, was innovative at the time, and presents a rare example of the transition between medieval castle and a modern fortresses of that period.

During the Spanish Civil War the fort was used to house refugees.

The fort of a rectangular shape (115 meters long and 90 wide) with a cylindrical tower placed at each corner. It was built deep in the ground in order to present a lower profile and avoid shots of the enemy. The corner towers, are ventilated by vertical shafts around which revolve spiral staircases that lead on the top. These shafts, were also used for acoustic communication between floors.

The fortress is divided into two parts. The first part, to the east, consists of a large parade ground, around which is arranged the accommodation of the garrison (with a capacity of 1000 to 1200 soldiers), shops and stables (300 horses ). The second part consists of its central dungeon. It’s only access is by way of the drawbridge.

The fort had 24 large artillery guns that were positioned on the top of the towers.

The history of the fort starts in 1497, four years after King Charles VIII of France returned the Roussillon to the Spanish King Ferdinand V the Catholic. It was needed, to protect the narrow passage between the foothills of the Corbières and coastal etangs that were impassable at the time). King Ferdinand entrusted the construction of a citadel to Francisco Ramiro Lopez, of Aragon, who was also responsible for the partial construction of the citadel at Collioure.

Six years after starting work, and when the fort was far from complete, the citadel had to resist the assaults of the French army. During this siege the first mine warfare was used and resulted in hundreds of casualties.

 During the following century it had to endure numerous attacks, which it successfully resisted, but on July 20, 1639, after 40 days of resistance, it fell into the hands of the so-called " best regiments of the Kingdom of France" under the command of Henry II of Bourbon and Marshal Schomberg. The French troops were in turn besieged from1st September 1639 to January 6, 1640, during which time the French regiments put up a stubborn resistance to the Spanish troops seeking to recover their property. It is was only hunger that defeated them.

From that time the fort fell into disrepair. In 1718, its demolition was planned, but finally abandoned, and then again in 1726, but the idea was once more abandoned. In 1793, the fort once again became a military garrison until 1804 when once again, its destruction was planned, but 29 years later, in 1833, all plans to demolish the fort were abandoned, and it is now an historic monument.

The Etang de Salses straddles the departments of Pyrénées-Orientales and Aude. It borders the communes of St Hippolyte , St Laurent de la Salanque , and Barcarès.