Excursions from La Robine

The days have been slipping by here in the apartment La Robine. Every day we undertake an excursion of one sort or another, some on foot and some by car.  Yesterdays excursion was simply a walk down the canal to visit the cathedral here and a couple of local museums. The walk takes us by some elegant old buildings like these.

The cathedral is quite imposing with lots of gargoyles (including alligators and dogs). It also has an unfinished section where windows have been carved but not filled in. 

In France, all the sights close for two hours over the lunch hour and so we generally find a place to eat. Yesterday we managed to find a place where we were able to share the plat du jour of brochettes de boeuf, and that's a good thing because the servings are enormous. With the lunch we usually order a  a pichet du vin rosé, which I have discovered to be very nice here in Languedoc.  In France you can order wine by the glass, or in 1/4 or 1/2 litre amounts or by the bottle.  If Harry's having a beer, I find that the petit pichet (the quarter litre) is just perfect.  

We visited the underground Roman storage area with its collection of amphorae and some elegant rooms and art from various historical eras in the former archbishop's residence.  As usual I was taken by the Roman mosaics.

Today's trip was north to the town of Agde and we arrived to find the Thursday market happening in a big way. I think every car from miles around was circling the historic centre looking for a parking place. We finally found one along the river a way and then walked back in to take a look.

There's the usual array of eye candy in the way of produce and food but since our fridge at La Robine is full we simply cannot purchase anything more, particularly as we're only here for two more days.

We sat in a little alley with a coffee and a madeleine and then walked around the old town. After a while they all start to blend together in your head though. Agde appears to be somewhat run down in the centre and there are a lot of very small doorways--like this one.  Quite a few of the buildings appear to be boarded over as well.  And once the market was over the centre was really quiet and empty. 


We had considered getting some of this delicious looking paella for a picnic lunch but we ended up heading down to the river to a pizza place where we also had a lovely Salade Nicoise.

Our plan after lunch was to go to this local museum in a Medieval building that originally housed a hospital. It shows how people lived in Medieval times and sounded really interesting--however it wasn't to be. Although it posted opening hours at 1:30 there was nobody there to welcome us. So we found our car and headed down the A9 back to Narbonne for what has become a daily ritual--the afternoon nap.

At home I never sleep in the afternoons but here I can't seem to keep my eyes open after 3:00 pm.

After the nap we get up to a little apero of  olives and cheese and a glass of wine while we think about what we'll cook for dinner. What an idyllic lifestyle, right?

Well yes... but after three and a half weeks in France we are both feeling overfed and underexercised in spite of walking some 6 to 8 kilometers every day. And even though we still have a couple more days here in Narbonne, we are both suddenly feeling that it's time to go home. Things are waiting for us there that need our attention and the time of wandering around beautiful villages is over.

Tomorrow we will head out for one last excursion and then set to packing and cleaning and getting ready for our trip home.