Collioure

As we soon as we started walking around Collioure, M asked, “Why aren’t we staying here?” I couldn’t have agreed more. If I’d known how gorgeous it was, we would be. Ah, well, there’s always next time…

We’ve visited twice, once on a blue-sky day and once, with our guest MM, with a few sprinkles of rain. A rainy day turned out to have several advantages. Easy parking was one, but the biggest was far fewer people, giving more opportunities for photos of the countless winding alleys with no people in them.

The church by the harbor, Notre Dame des Anges (Our Lady of the Angels), has the most gilding we’ve ever seen in France. Every alcove was filled with gilded statuary.

The one on the right above was, refreshingly, all women

On our second visit we realized we’d been very lucky the first time. None of this was visible – they had turned off almost all the lights, presumably as an energy-saving measure.

Of course, no town can be measured by its scenery alone…

Even relatively inexpensive meals have great presentation. On our first visit we randomly chose a little restaurant, Le Vauban, that turned out to have a Michelin mention. On our second, we tried some tapas and MM had her first Aperol Spritz.

Then it was back to more sightseeing.

At least one resident was unimpressed by it all…