Local Herault - in praise of Agde!

The last phase of the migration was spent in a location new to us, but recommended by trusted sources.

Agde is allegedly the oldest town in France, and together with its outpost at the mouth of the river Herault (Grau d'Agde), and its seaside area (Cap d'Agde) it makes a delightful place to stay. It has good (flat) cycle tracks, beautiful beaches and a vast array of restaurants. It is also on the Canal du Midi, which is a further plus!

We stayed nine nights, and the weather was glorious for October (except for the two days mentioned previously). It is very popular with the pan-European "grey" motor-home set, and the town lifts the restriction on their parking at the end of the summer making the beach car parks look like a rally of same!

Restaurants line the river at its mouth, and in the town, and around the huge marina. On the very soggy Sunday we drove to Grau and ran into a fairly randomly chosen one. What a delight - there can be no better way to deal with a wet Sunday than to lurk for hours over a French prix fixe meal!

.. but for several other days - as pensioners - we sought out the delights of hypermarket cafeterias for meals. They may not be traditional but we had some fine and very good value meals in Crescendo at the Casino site. and found a new chain - Poivre Vert - which has a seafood buffet on Fridays.  On the Saturday (16th) we cleaned up, took sheets to the laundrette and headed for Spain. Easy! We had booked into the Novotel near Girona airport - and after a picnic lunch we headed back towards Girona to find the Fiat dealer we had discovered online. Oh dear! No printer, so no map! No numbers on roadsigns - a lot of stress - a lot of wrestling with Catalan when enquiring about it - but eventually a result!  We had a good look over the new Doblo, and got all the information we needed about purchasing one in Spain, Something to think about!

We got a value meal in the old Vilobi hotel (Novotel menu was a joke!), lost 7kg of luggage after a trial weigh-in and  dropped off the car the next day with the usual ease, leaving us with hours to spend at Girona airport. Fortunately the sun shone and we had the remains of a wine-box needing disposal! Unfortunately our flight to Lanzarote was delayed by almost an hour. Still, we had vastly over-estimated the journey time from airport to ferry terminal, and the booked transfer was so fast that rather than missing the (last) 7pm ferry, we made it in time for the 6pm fast Olsen. This was our first time on this one and it really is fast:- under 20 minutes - so we were back home with the sun still shining. As we walked under our block neighbours in three different homes shouted greetings.

Raining Cane e Gatte - Chiens et Chats!

So this was the autumn migration for 2010:

1. Venice port to the Ligurian coast - 265 miles of autostrada on a Saturday - starting early. All quite civilised really, but it started to rain whilst we were on the due south run towards Genoa. Then a night in the small resort of Varazze - selected because of a cheap hotel with parking (such things don't exist in either Genoa or Ventimiglia!) This worked well :- a very run-down but comfortable place close to a pleasant promenade. Unfortunately we could not linger in exploring as it rained torrents, and we had to run into a randomly chosen ristorante just as lunch service was ending, and stay there with cheap pizza and frizzante for most of the afternoon!

2. By the morning it was dry again, and rejoined the coastal autostrada, which again - being a Sunday morning - was not too hairy traffic-wise, but is of course a long succession of tunnels and viaducts - total distance for the day @ 265 miles! The weather got better as we approached the French border, and by the time we arrived in Avignon it was gloriously sunny, making sightseeing etc a real pleasure (see last post!) A temporary feature outside the Palais des Papes is a statue of an elephant balancing on its trunk. Next day - as forecast - it poured with rain all day!

3.After bidding farewell to A and J in Carpentras stay we set off for the Mediterranean coast - objective Agde (a new venture but based on some attractive descriptions). The campsite we had our eye on was closing in a couple of days, but we found another with a real bargain of a new mobile home, plenty of space and some feline visitors. More on Agde (including the Cap and the Grau) follows, but after a couple of very pleasant days, we had two days of - yes - torrential rain! A soggy trip overall - but some sunshine too, and some delightful places!

Orange - not Red!

Before we reached Venice we heard from Alastair and Josiane that they would be in Provence on a much needed holiday at about the same time as us, so after our night in Italy (see next blog) we drove to Avignon where we were booked into the same hotel as them. We met up with them and (as you have to) we all went sur le pont, and had dinner together. They went off for a week in Carpentras the next day, but we decided to stay another night and see more, even though the weather forecast was awful!
We caught up with them in Carpentras and on a beautiful Wednesday we all went to Orange. After parking we saw an interesting apartment block beside a concert hall adorned with this sign. We take it the current council is not a socialist one!

The Roman theatre is one of very few with an intact stage, and although some repairs have been necessary it is still impressive. They have also found remains of an adjacent temple. In the museum we saw a fascinating exhibition of photographs by a bloke who had the project of documenting all Greek and Roman amphitheatres in Europe, Turkey and North Africa. Some are in a bit of a state, and some we have seen. Good stuff! Later in a bar we asked for a glass of tap water to accompany J's strong coffee. La patronne said it would be 50cents - or everyone would want one - not so good! We also wanted to see the Triumphal Arch, but it turned out to be a long and boring walk to the outskirts.

In the afternoon we had a treat! We visited a vineyard in the Chateauneuf du Pape area and "did" a degustation:- a first for us as we have been too worried about shelling out, and a first for regulars A & J because this time they were stiil (just) harvesting the grapes! We came away with a couple of bottles and a feeling that we might do it again! (St Siffrein) We then stopped on a hill immediately above C du P itself and got some great views - including of the meandering Rhone.

Later in Carpentras we discovered that it is rather a small and dull town with few restaurants (well on an October Wednesday, anyway!) but it does have good sunset views and a beautiful mimosa smell.We paid too much for dinner that was sound but somewhat overblown!

A & J were spending a week in a very unusual self-catering studio in what appeared to be old almshouses or similar institution. We were more conventionally in a hotel for two nights where the receptionist wanted to practise her English. She had been the nanny in Londonto Marco-Pierre White!

Cuts and Protests

 Our last few days in Paleo were dominated by last-minute tasks - made worse by managing at a distance a new set of London tenants moving in. The weather was patchy and we only got a last paddle in rough waves. We set off on Wednesday 29th and stopped for lunch on the Nea Hora as usual - though not unfortunately at the favoured place which remains mysteriously shut. We also stopped at a Fiat dealer to look for a windscreen wiper blade. Closed Wednesday - but a chance to look at the new Doblo!

We have been monitoring the various industrial actions related to the government austerity measures. On departure day it was the doctors on national strike, so not much to worry about there; but at Souda port there was a stationary trailer with workers protesting, and a larger than normal police presence. The ferry was fairly quiet. Next morning we were off in record time. We killed time until the sun was up (Starbucks opens at 6!) and then set off on the well-trodden route to Patras. No traffic jams! We were intrigued by this, but then at a series of toll stations and at the petrol refinery we saw very long queues of parked tankers, lorries and trailers - sometimes with drivers camped out by them. We got the feeling that the strike was about to really hit home. Leaving the country felt slightly like the action of rats, but there was also a sense of relief!

Our previous three Patras departures were to Bari and at 5pm. This time it was to be to Venice and at midnight. A very long day to kill whilst not leaving a fully-laden car unattended! The firts thing we did was to visit the Corinth canal, which we normally pass without notice. The tourist aspects of it are pretty naff - awful shops and cafeterias - but still worth a visit! It is strikingly narrow, short and deep (bungy jumping available!) and the history is now well described on new marble plaques. We then made a stop beside the sea at a random resort and saw the aged bathers. The road is still undergoing major improvement work, so there were some hairy moments. In Patras we went back to a hotel we know where we thought we might have lunch and use the WiFi, but it was barely functioning, and the WiFi down, so we drove to the other side of the city and eventually a taverna with adquatelt secure parking, and had a pleasant lunch. There were still hours to kill, but we did find a little taverna just accross from the port which would have been a much better choice, and was - in any case - a good spot for reading and people-watching until we reached the point when we thought we might be boarded. In fact we still had an age to wait, and ANEK were (surprise, surprise!) oblivious to motorists's needs and completely inefficient, so that we were not aboard until 10pm, and were stuck in the bowels of the ship. Anyway - a great upgraded cabin and a smooth voyage, with stops in the early hours of the first morning at Igonoumitsia and Corfu. It was fairly sunny during daylight hours, but - needless to say - they did not fill the pool! We got some good views of Albania!

We sailed into Venice as the sun went up. This year's disembarkation saga related to us being in the bowels at Deck 2, so many of us (well Ruth with bad knees!) wanted to use the lift. There is one, and it takes 4 people at a time! Bob went down the stairs and kept having to move the car whilst he waited. ANEK has corporate colours of yellow and blue! Like Ryanair and IKEA - you hate them, their customer service stinks, but you just keep going back!

Twin Peaks (sort of!)

 Chloe spent 16 days with us. She arrived on the bus feeling filthy and with a ton of washing after the Outlook Festival (drum and bass we are told!) in Croatia and three nights on ferry decks coming down from Venice. She was not at all unhappy to be fed and given a comfortable bed! The weather sarted well and we were all in the sea that day, but Setember is an unpredictable month and we did suffer some wind, cloud and even a little rain, 

Chloe also arrived with plans for activities - so one one day she and Bob rode to Akti Krios (the furthest beach in the Elefonisis direction) and on another they walked the "Anidri Triangle" - up the road to the schoolhouse kafenion, down the gorge with its difficult boulders and drops, bathing at the beach and back along the coastal path. Up at the kafenion they met Stephanie (married last year - see blog) who invited us all to her daughter's birthday party later in the week:- a lovely occasion in the evening of a very windy day, and the precursor of a very late night for Chloe, who went out clubbing with Anastasia!

On our final Friday we took a taxi up to th eother (higher) mountain village of note. Earlier trips to Azogires have been described here before. This time we had with us Chloe - an Azogires virgin, and Sean - the complete opposte:- here on holiday, but an Azogires resident in 1976! With his assistence we explored a bit further - including a visit to St Theodor's chapel, where - in an area now designated for non-Orthodox burials - we saw the tomb of Andy - a "character" much loved over the years, whom we had met for the first time the month before his death. This led to Sean asking Lucky at the Alpha if he still had a copy of the "Paleochora Chronic". (One edition, hand-written 1976), and we spent a long time laughing at that. A great way to spend a wet (yes, wet!) day.

Chloe left on Sunday evening, having grabbed some beach time in windy conditions. We put her on the 6.15 bus with a rather tight schedule for getting to the airport before Easyjet check-in closed. She managed that alright, but there was a near 5 hour delay in departure and she arrived at Gatwick at 4.23 am. We were in the doghouse again for putting her on a cheapskate airline, but she enjoyed her stay and was refreshed ready for final year at Brighton. We hunkered down to do pre-autumn migration cleaning!