Mareis Walkabout

Finally vaccinated, we were able to travel without further restrictions to Leucate, France (near Perpignan in the Occitane area/ Langedoc-Roussilon). With a stopover in Dijon we drove the 1126 km comfortably in 2 days to France and left the cloudy weather in Germany to exchange it with nice 20-24 degrees Celsius and sunshine. Though there was a lot of wind and the beach where our apartment was located turned out to be a secret hotspot for kite surfing… the smaller beach ‚Leucate Plage‘ was mostly protected from the wind and provided perfect conditions to spend the whole day lying in the sunshine.

Chambres d‘hôtes à la mer

Kitesurfer at La Franqui

La Franqui

Walk from La Franqui to Leucate Plage

Our lovely host Delphine however had many recommendations what to see and visit and we had already made some plans ahead of the trip.

In order to get to Leucate Plage Delphine suggested to walk over the cliffs with an excellent view. The walk took about 1 1/2 hours and was enjoyable but difficult with so much luggage we are used to bring to the beach: air loungers, blanket, drinks, food, towels, air mattress, books and so on.. but the photos we made were really nice. Even next to the cliff was a little vineyard - like almost everywhere in the region.

The other times we went to the beach we took the car though…

Leucate Plage

The first city we wanted to visit was Narbonne with its Roman history and a beautiful cathedral. Delphine told us to drive via Peryiac-de-mer and Bages and look out for flamingos. It was really windy at Peryiac-de-mer but already from the car we saw flamingos in the old salt production area where they used to retrieve the famous fleur-de-sel in the past. The lagoon has lots of shallow water where flamingos have optimal conditions.

Flamingos between Peyriac-de-Mer and Bages

Bages is a really nice village where we also saw flamingos along with windsurfers… the only disadvantage of visiting France after the main season is that most restaurants and cafes are closed in villages, only in cities everything is still open.

Bages

So in order to eat something we had to continue to drive to Narbonne. The cathedral can be seen from far away and was built 1272-1332 so very young compared to the general foundation of the first settlement around 700 before christ. The name Narbonne came then 27 b.c. for one of the most beautiful cities with many inhabitants along with Lyon in Gaul.

Narbonne

One of the proofs for Narbonnes ancient Roman history is the Horreum, basically the Roman refrigerator for everything that was sold on the local market. Impressive to visit, knowing how long this basement already exists.

Also visible is the Via Domitia in the center of the area in front of the cathedral, built between 122 and 118 b.c. which went through the whole city.

Here is Leucate with its Spanish influenced restaurants: Tapas including the usual Gambas al ajillo or patatas bravas and also the Camembert au Four with walnuts and honey and mussels.

Dinner options at Leucate - influenced by Spain

The other trip - a few beach days later - we went to a medieval city called Carcassonne, or to be exact, we only visited the La Cité, the largest fortress in Europe.

Carcassonne

Since we met a Swiss woman who recommended to visit Gruissan as they built many houses on stilts at the beach and she said it was worth visiting we went there after Carcassonne hoping to spend two hours at the beach. However the wind was too strong there, so we just took a short walk and breathed in the - which I thought - American atmosphere.

Gruissan

Another beach day in between and we booked the Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain for Sunday, where we wanted to travel via Girona almost to Barcelona to visit a colleague and friend: Chiara.

Dalí Museum, Girona and visiting a friend

Beach day at Collioure

Collioure, a little south of Leucate

Shopping day with first day of rain, but also a longer beach walk…

Leucate - La Franqui

—-The End—

Corona hat wohl vielen Menschen die Reisepläne verhagelt. So sind auch wir nicht weiter weg gefahren, sondern wieder mal nach Kroatien: Trotzdem schön!

Hinreise Übernachtung in Salzburg

6 Nächte Krk

Campingplatz Valamar in Baska

Die Insel Krk ist durch eine Brücke mit dem Festland verbunden, die auch seit einiger Zeit keine Mautstation mehr hat, also kostenlos ist.

Baska liegt im Süden der Insel, Achtung Blitzer hinter Klima-Schild mit gelbem Rahmen und blauer Schrift in Draga baskanska

Baška ist inzwischen leider überlaufen, Strand sehr voll. Zwar schön mit den Bergen rechts und links aber dadurch hallen Motorengeräusche von den Booten, jetskis etc noch besser in die Bucht rein. Viele Hotels, Apartments und Campingplatz direkt am Strand

Abends ist es dann richtig schön am Strand, aber durch die Ausrichtung und die Berge ohne den so oft gewünschten Sonnenuntergang, bei dem die Sonne im Meer versinkt.

Paddeltour mit dem aufblasbaren Kajak von Decathlon. Den Rückweg bin ich neben dem Boot zurück“geschnorchelt“

Vrbnik

Kleines Städtchen mit eigenem Wein Zlatinha. Kleinste Gasse der Welt. Auf Hügel erbaut, liegt schön aber heiß, enge Gassen kaum Wind.

Operna Bay bei Stara Baška

Voll, kein einfacher Weg dorthin, an der Straße parken

Silo

Weniger los (gleicher Weg wie nach Vbrnik, aber etwas weiter), Campingplatz, Parkplätze kostenlos

Wildstrände etwas weiter zu Fuß...

Schnorcheln gut aber Sicht war eingeschränkt (Plankton)

Links

https://www.urlaubsguru.de/reisemagazin/krk-insel-kroatien/

https://www.turm-krk.de/de/insel_krk#7AU1I6UwXHA08K0LhDSumQ

9 Nächte Cres

Camping Kovacine (kannten wir schon, aber Zelten war neu)

Warum noch mal Cres? Uns war die erste Woche auf Krk doch ein wenig zu aufregend mit zu vielen Menschen und statt vieler Ausflüge und Aktivitäten wollten wir lieber ein wenig Ruhe. Cres ist nur mit der Autofähre zu erreichen und allein deswegen schon weniger frequentiert als Krk. Man kann entweder von Krk übersetzen oder über Istrien.