May 20
Martine and Rémy, from Alzon, were at their beach apartment at Argelès while we were at Alain’s and picked us up for an outing about 11am. We saw three very special places, all more-or-less in an afternoon.
Villefranche-de-Conflent
Somewhere up a valley towards the Pyrénées, in a crucial narrowing of the river, lies a fort which allows control of the plain of Roussillon and/or the mountainous area beyond, la Cerdagne, which has a pass into modern Spain. (But note that back in the 11th century when the fort was constructed, such notions such as France and Spain were not relevant, this still being a land of ‘counts’ and comptés.) Since pink marble was readily available in the area, such was the stone of which the fortifications and church were largely built. As the centuries passed, possess
ion moved from count (eg of Cerdagne) to count (eg of Barcelona or king (eg our man of Majorca for a while, the kingdom of France for a short while in the 15th century, Aragon, Castille too), and finally became French in the 17th century, just in time for our hero Vauban (Louis XIV’s chief defence man) to redo all the fortifications, or at least do them up.
So what do we now have to interest the visitor of the 21st century? Well, first of all, the fortifications are mighty complete, so that you have an entirely enclosed town, including some of the 11th century ramparts, which is impressive in itself. Do the 17th century ramparts count too? They seem so modern! The machinery that was used to open the gates stills survives, though no longer attached to anything. There are two main streets, with a few houses dating from the 12th, 13th and 14th century. The church was part of the original plan for the town and even has units of measurement engraved on the (pink marble) on the doorway (portail) for the drapers selling their cloth at the market in the adjacent square. Subsequent centuries, up to the 15th, saw additions to the church. In the square by the church, under a sun umbrella, we had a snack (panini, pizza, salad, coffee, nothing fancy) and just enjoyed being there.
I’m not really mentioning the defensive fort that was constructed (initiated by….Va
uban) on the hill immediately down valley, as we didn’t go there – but I would like to go there, especially as it was later (19th C) linked to the town by an underground tunnel, the so-called thousand steps. The defences we had the most fun with were on the outside of the wall, at the down-valley end. Rémy’s wheelchair was parked inside the walls, while we went outside, through the business-like portcullis, onto a flat patch of ground. Chris climbed up the wall to a sort of ledge, now level with Rémy, and had a good view of the surrounding area but unwilling to scratch his newly-acquired Celtic-knot T-shirt had to come down frontwards, a feat of some daring and a certain amount of skill. Rémy was able to watch from his position in behind the walls and was highly amused.
Witches are part of the folklore here – they apparently bring good luck, chasing away the winter and bad spells. Many of the shops sells souvenir witch dolls to hang at home. We resisted.
L’abbaye de Saint-Michel de Cuxa
In the same general area, the same pink marble has been used in the construction of the abbey of Saint-Michel de Cuxa (pronounced Coo-sha). Although the location goes back further, the current abbey dates from the 10
th century, with, of course, additions, especially in the 11
th and 12
th centuries. The Revolution saw the sacking of the abbey in 1793 (after kindly first kicking out the last of the monks) and it was sold by the state for funds. It became more ruined as time went on, especially when they lost a couple of sides of the cloisters to the
USA…(there is a Cloister museum in
New York!) but it has been restored as a
Monument historique and has also had monks living there for a number of years during the 20
th century.
And for us? Well, a rather nice wine for 3€ on sale at the door, made in the Abbey. Also the general layout and size, the wonderful pink marble used as a building material, some beautifully carved capitals. And
other odds and ends which you can check out in picasaweb (photos). But mostly the feel of the place – a certain tranquillity? But more than that. It was an exciting place to be in, despite the dismal history in the last 200 years, so maybe the previous millennium had left its mark.
Thuir
Bringing together elements of our previous two visits, Thuir was given as a gift to the abbey of Saint-Martin in 953 and was a fortified town in the 12th century. Neither of these facts, however, are relevant to our visit. But perhaps it was a religious experience of some sort - we went to see la Grande Cuve, an enormous oak wine vat, the biggest in the world. Rémy, who hadn’t come into the Abbey because of wheelchair-access problems, discovered that we were not too far from Thuir, a place he had wanted to go for some time. Having missed the previous tour, we stayed around for the 5.45pm one, which found us the sole visitors in the charge of the most charming and informed guide we could have wished for. Although set up by two drapers (the Violet brothers) in 1866, the family firm originally sold Byrrh apéritifs. It was sold in the 1960s and is now part of the Cinzano, Dubonnet (Pernod Ricard) group of companies, still specialising in apéritifs.
Totally unexpected by all four of us was the interest inherent in everything and almost an hour whizzed by before we left, together with purchases. The Violet brothers certainly had vision. First, the railway station, designed by Gustave Eiffel, with his almost trademark ironwork, huge in both height and length, functioned for almost 100 years before road took over in 1989. The line linked with the main line to land the materials needed and take away the finished product.
Secondly, the enormous area covered – 7 hectares. Thirdly, the enormous number of tanks and vats, especially oak - and huge. I have read both 600 and 800. Lots.
There is a fabulous machine which was set up in 1926 to pipe the alcoholic liquids from the vats to wherever they go next, bottling, I guess. It reminds you a little of a steamship in the set-up. Look at the photo - that’s brass set in white marble! It’s been going without a fault since 1926 and they’re currently computerizing it. People are a little worried that the new technology may not perform as well as the old – the vat next to it had an already non-functional computer component installed.
Fascinating for us was that each vat has a ‘cleaning hole’ through which a man can apparently manoeuvre to get inside when the time comes. The photos show both the size of the hole compared with Chris, and the hole when it has been shut tightly.
The biggest vat in the world is certainly impressive in all ways. It took from 1935 to 1950 to complete, though construction stopped for a long time during the war; it fills a huge extension, which was especially constructed to contain the vat (for those who like numbers, the vat is 10m high, with 12m diameter base and 10m at the top); the oak beams from which it is made are just enormous (see photo in picasaweb); it weighs 100 metric tonnes empty; it holds 1,000,200 litres. (Google for Thuir grande cuve)
Then there’s the bottling side of it – all totally automated, 10,000 bottles per hour on line 1, the fastest, and there are 6 lines as far as I can make out. We were offered a free tasting and as a result all three parties bought a bottle of Délices d’abricots du Roussillon, only available in the factory, and really delicious. Also recommended as a base for a kir.
Sigh.
Photos at
When Alain took us to Argelès to have lunch with Martine from Alzon, we had no ideas of staying there longer than an afternoon. However, the weather was fine, the beach attractive and the apartment available. Martine and Rémy let out the apartment over the summer season, which is not quite yet. Fortunately. Much more our kind of place out of season. 
We lived at our own rhythm, ate what we felt like buying (do I mention Boursin from time to time?), read, watched some TV, including a fabulous Thalassa doco on global warming, wrote our updates, and explored the area, first on foot and then with the help of the free ‘trainbus’ which ran only a few times morning and afternoon at this time of year but which was fun to be on. We are in the land where everything closes for lunch, and then some, so had to be a bit organised around opening times. Our cheapest internet access was 3km away and open 3.30-6pm, Tuesday to Friday except Wednesday, so we never really got onto that. There was another internet place half an hour away on foot, but that was $20 an hour, also closed 12.00 to 2.00 and by 6pm, so we were always well-prepared and spent a minimum of time plugged in. We even went swimming in the sea but I have to say the water was pretty cold.
One thing that completely fascinated us was the rain full of sand from the 
The kings of 
Vauban, had a hand in restructuring the defences after 
He loved the quality of the light. Bet he would have loved NZ for the same reason! Lastly we just loved wandering around all the walls, looking down at the various defence systems laid out before us. They really were very good at it!
