My goodness! Quite a busy week which has definitely shaken us out of the rut we had fallen into! We started by going to visit the town of Montreal-du-Gers, which is supposed to have the only ‘square’ town square, but which I think is a debatable claim. While there, we went into the tourist office, which incorporates the Museum and found a lot of artifacts which had been dug up while excavating at Seviac nearby. According to the museum, the mosaic tiled floors were very well preserved, and the buiding that had been discovered dated from the 4th to the 7th century AD. One of the display items which amazed me was a beautiful glass urn about 45 cms high which had been made of thin glass. (Now pieced together of course) After spending some time there, we went out to view the actual site and wandered around there for quite some time. The archaeologists had certainly uncovered some huge areas of wonderfully colourful mosaics, and it was easy to see that they had taken the place of carpets or other floor coverings , and that it must have been a very grand house indeed. Also to see were the remains of the under-floor heating system and the water-borne sewage system. They had areas for cold, warm and hot baths, and at a later stage, even a chapel was added. Another interesting fact is that in Winter, the mosaics are kept covered with a layer of fine beach sand which is apparently why the colours are still so good.
The following day we set very early as we had a two hour drive to our destination south of Laruns in The Pyrenees. A little further into the mountains we came to Lac de Fabreges and the base station for the Little Train of Artouste. From here one is whisked 800 metres up the mountain in ten-minute cable car ride, and then waiting at the upper staion is a dear little diesel engine that looks like a child’s toy, which pulls open-sided coaches. Making sure that I was on the ‘mountain’ side of the seat, rather than the side that would have a vertical drop next to it, we fastened our seat belt and next minute the train was off. It starts by going through a tunnel, the Tunnel of the Bears, which is just over 300 metres long and into which the train just fits. Not a good start for the claustrophobics! When it emerged on the other side of the mountain, we found ourselves on contour track far above the valley floor. The journey to the far end of the track takes about an hour, during which time one has spectacular views of the mountains. We also came across short sections of double track where we occasionally had to wait to allow the trains coming in the other direction to pass. Finally we reached our destination, but there was still a 15-minute walk up to the Lac d’Artouste. This dam is the catchment dam for a hydro-electric scheme, and the whole purpose of the train was to provide transport for the men and materials to build the dam originally, but now it has been turned into a delightful tourist attraction.
On Wednesday the cousins went off together to another spot in the Pyrenees known as Pont d’Espagne which looks very beautiful with masses of waterfalls and cascades, and rivers which just appear to flow across open park-like slopes. The weather was still excellent and the water, which was probably freezing, sparkled in the sunlight.
The next day I spent most of the time preparing for a dinner party, which I always find very stressful, but which, in fact went of very well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. After that though, the cook needed a break, and the very best place to enjoy someone else’s cooking is at a traditional restaurant in a small village called Bassoues. It was again a lovely day and we were able to sit out on the verandah and enjoy watching the passing parade.
On Saturday we had planned to join up with some friends who have a car large enough to seat all five of us, and ‘do’ a few places together, and as the weather was still fine we met at their house about mid-morning and set off. First on the list was th Abbeye de Flaran, where Neels and I had been before, but the others not, and since the art exhibition inside was well worth seeing a second time, we didn’t mind going again. It is not often one gets a chance to see original Monets, Picassos and Gainsboroughs and they were just as good second time around. After a picnic lunch in the grounds, we went a bit further to the Chateau de Lavardens, a medieval castle that was never completed, but which stands imposingly on a rock and dominates the small town behind it. Luckily there are sufficient complete chambers in it to accommodate exhibitions of various sorts and it is currently hosting an art glass exhibition which we all wanted to see. Although I personally didn’t care for all the exhibits, there were enough to cater for all tastes and there were certainly plenty that were so beautiful that they took your breath away. After all this culture, we really needed something a little more lighthearted, so made our way the short distance to La Romieu. This small village with it’s triangular village square has an interesting legend attached to it. The story goes that the villagers were starving because of a series of bad harvests, stock losses and sickness etc and started eating the local cats. A young girl known as Angeline hid a couple of her pet animals in the loft of the barn and managed to keep them hidden for a number of years, during which time they produced a fair number of kittens. When the town subsequently became overrun with rats and mice, she released her cats on condition that no-one killed and ate them. The cats cleaned up the vermin problem and Angeline was declared a heroine. In honour of this act, and of her, an artist at a later date decided to decorate the village with cats, so today there are life sized sculptures of cats peeping out of windows, lying on gateposts, playing next to doorways, in fact the more one looks for them the more one sees. Delightful!
We then went on in to the Cathedral and Abbey in the town where we found a heavenly(!) aromatic herb garden with all the herbs labelled with the name and uses. Very interesting indeed.
On Sunday morning Aignan was again having a Vide Grenier, so we took Glynn to show him just how much junk people have lying around in their houses! I think he was amazed to see the whole square filled with tables, covered with every imaginable item for sale. Sadly for all the stall holders, it started drizzling in the middle of the morning and then deteriorated into fairly soaking rain. By then we had seen enough so came home and christened my new Travel Scrabble set which Glynn brought over from England as a gift for me.
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