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Max was a trooper and drove for 12 hours to get us to a service station just North of Madrid for our sleep in a car park before heading North of Barcelona to a place called Calella de Palafrugall where we had a little break for 3 days, a lovely chic resort, full of nice shops and well dressed people.
After our 'break' we went North to visit some of the Pyrenees again, east side this time and found some little gems and beautiful drives through the mountains - Eus, Villefranche, Prades, Mosset, Bourg Madame to name a few. We also found the changeable mountain weather and after over 3 weeks with not a drop of rain, we hit a storm and had to stop the van during the hailstones as we have a crack in the windscreen and thought it might break!
After spending the night in Limoux, we were up early and off to Carcassone, which is a lovely medieval walled city. Pretty but soooo busy and jam packed full of tourists. So after taking some photos and having a walk around, we headed off towards Nimes. We got up very early the next day and missed all the morning traffic, parked up and headed to see the Tour Magne, a Roman monument high above the city. I was a little scared (as usual) as we had to climb quite high but I managed and we had a nice panoramic view of the city - the old roman buildings and the new ones. Then we headed to the Arenes Amphitheatre, which was great - a mini coliseum from the outside but a bit disappointing on the inside. It was the shell of the amphitheatre as nowadays it is used for bullfighting and pop concerts. Then our final Roman 'to do' was a temple called the Maison Carreee.
Then, Nimes was in the bag and we headed north to the Pont du Gard, a Unesco world heritage site and a three-tiered Roman aqueduct built around 19BC. We then headed further north to spend a few days in the countryside of the Ardeche, swimming in the river, taking photos of all things beautiful.... before heading to the area of France I know best - The French Alps, where I lived in 1995-1996. I haven't been back since then so I was interested to see what had changed in the last 12 days and to stay with the family of a friend I haven't seen since I was 21 either!
First stop was Chambery, and it hadn't changed at all - my flat and Place St Leger had the same shops and cafes and my old landlord was sat in his usual chair in the corner of the cafe he ran. It was a little bizarre to be there and lots of memories came flooding back..but I don't remember it being so expensive! 7,80 euros for a coke and a cappuccino! The only place to change which was very disappointing was the 'Chapon Fin' pub, our favourite dive and karaoke bar..full of locals with tattoos but now it has become a brasserie and pizzeria! Not cool! Anyway...we then headed to Le Pont de Beauvoisin where I used to work and spent a lovely evening with the Anselmetto family who I hadn't see for sooo long. It was an evening of catching up, meeting 3.5 year old Elian who became a huge fan of Max and nice food! We even had a bed and ensuite bathroom!!
We had to leave early the next morning to start the long journey back to Holland...11 hours later we were at home, with a Chinese and a strange feeling....3 more days and we head off again..Asia and Australia here we come!
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