We saw our hosts in Congenies, Judy and Dave, the Resident Friends, this morning and they were rendered speechless and aghast by the news that Donald Trump had been declared the winner of the presidential race in the US. Whilst taking this news on board, they were also making plans to apply for French residency so that ‘our children will have somewhere to go’. Of course, with the Brexit vote, Europe isn’t looking such a safe bet either. It seems the world has gone mad.
We spent some time working on the blog this morning (sorry folks, we’re always running behind with this) and then we drove out to Aigues-mortes. Since we first arrived in Congenies, people have been asking us if we’ve been to Aigues-Mortes. It seems that it’s one of the many ‘must sees’ of this region, so it’s about time we paid it a visit.
Aigues-Mortes is an inland port that was founded in 1240 by Louis IX (later Saint Louis). The walls of the town were the last thing he saw as he set forth on the seventh crusade to the Holy Land in 1248, along with his flotilla of 1500 ships. It is also famous for the lifting and threshing of salt in the area.
Today was cold but very sunny; a grand day for walking the 1.6km of the circumference of the ramparts. The views were wonderful. As well as the rooftops of the town, we had a great view of the canal and the very pink waters of the Salt Lagoon. Quite a number of the the shops in the small town were closed as it’s very late in the season, but it is obviously a place that buzzes in the height of the season with tourists taking boat trips out on the lagoon or down the canal.
The attractive town of Aigues-Mortes The Market Square
The Canal du Rhone a Sete as viewed from the ramparts The rooftops of Aigues-Mortes and the salt lagoon beyond
We walked around the ramparts
A bracing but very pleasant walk The pink waters of the Salt Lagoon
We paid a visit to the Church of Notre Dame des Sablons which translates to Our Lady of Wind-blown Sand (don’t think we’ve ever visited one of those before). It’s a very understated building ,inside and out, with one exception. It has the most amazing modern stained glass windows by Claude Viallat. According to the Lonely Planet guide to the Languedoc region, the ‘bright colours and repetitive patterning of the intrusive modern stained glass clash with the sobriety of the stonework.’ However, Angela thought they were brilliant and that the simplicity of design complimented the stonework whilst the the colour and the light were magnificent. She was just disappointed that the explanatory narratives for each window were only in French.
Church of Notre Dame des Sablons
Note: Double-Click on photos for an enlarged view. Feel free to post a comment on the blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment