Narbonne
Narbonne has been on my bucket list ever since the epic train journey across Europe when a certain pesky volcanic ash cloud put paid to our original travel plans. One of the legs of that trip was an overnight trip from Paris to Portbou in Spain where we then had to change to the local trains down to Barcelona. Nowadays the train network on the Paris to Barcelona route is fully integrated with some of the trains being operated by the French railway and others by the Spanish railway. Both operate high-speed trains on that route with no issues. This was not the case back in 2010. There were two through trains per day from Paris to Spain. One went all the way to Barcelona and the one we ended up on only went as far as Portbou. Due to some differences between the French and Spanish railway at the time, we had to stop at Narbonne to change engines. We were parked there for quite some time while they uncoupled one engine and moved it to the siding and then got the new engine from another siding and attached this to our train. By the time we were on the move again, dawn was breaking and I got a look at Narbonne and what I saw was truly breathtaking. I vowed that at some stage I would come back and visit. As soon as the decision was made that we would do a train trip across Europe to get to our cruise, there was no doubt in my mind that this trip had to include Narbonne.
Initially we had thought that we would make Toulouse our base. I am a big aviation buff and they have an Airbus factory there. Amongst other things, they do the final assembly on the A380. They do offer public tours. A few years back, I was able to tour an Airbus factory near here that builds the wings for a number of different aircraft types and this was truly fascinating. So I would have loved to visit the factory in Toulouse. Unfortunately by the time we started to plan this trip, there was no more availability for any of the days we were going to be in that region. There was nothing else in Toulouse that really grabbed me. I still thought that this would make a decent base for what we were planning to visit and also to get to Barcelona. However, when I started to look at trains, it turned out that Narbonne was a much better base in terms of prices for the trains and also based how long it takes to get to the different places. So we decided to forget about Toulouse, make Narbonne our base and use the extra day that this has freed up for Barcelona. As our planning is progressing, this increasingly looks like a very smart idea.
Narbonne lies in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in South-Eastern France. At one stage Narbonne was the capital of this region. There has been a settlement there since 118BC when the Romans established a trading post there as it is an important crossroad on the old Roman road linking France with Italy. Part of this Roman road is still intact in the city centre and there are other Roman artefacts there, too. Most of the city centre as it stands today goes back to medieval times. Narbonne has a number of interesting features. It is home to number of places of interest. A big point of interest for us is The Regional Natural Park of Narbonne in the Mediterranean. This covers a total of 80,000 hectares. Graham had heard that there are flamingos there, which is a big draw for me. As we won’t have a car and the area is so huge, he sent a message to a local birding organization to check what our best options are. This is the reply he got back: " you will have very little difficulty seeing Flamingos at Narbonne. Just find the nearest shallow water, most likely it will be the first bird you see. Many of them are migratory so the numbers in May could be less than at some other times of the year.” This definitely sounds promising. Our hotel is right by the Canal de la Robine and Graham thinks that we can walk along the canal to the closest lagoons. This should be a pleasant walk. I think we will probably do this in the morning and then use the afternoon to explore some of the town. When it comes to opening times, the Spanish/Mediterranean influence becomes very apparent. The kind people of Narbonne definitely believe in having a siesta with all the points of interest being open between 10:00 and 12:00 and then again between 14:00 and 17:00. Still everything is quite close together so we should not have an issue to see everything we want to in the afternoon.
The town is very pretty and an quite compact. Essentially everything of interest is within about a quarter of a mile from our hotel. I am sure some time will be spent just having a wander and taking in the atmosphere. There are however three things that are on my to do list. The first one is the Horreum, which is a Roman underground warehouse complex going back to the 1st century BC. This is the only building in Narbonne that goes back to this era. It is believed that this was part of a market and they have installed a light and sound show that is meant to re-create the atmosphere of an ancient market. I am just in awe of the idea of visiting something so old and relatively well preserved.
Another building I want to visit is something really quite quirky. Narbonne has a quarter of a cathedral. The cathedral consists of a choir and cloisters. There are a number of reasons for this. The main reason is that in order to build the rest of the cathedral they would have needed to knock down some of the city wall. As the political situation at that time was highly volatile, this did not appear to be a smart move. There was the further complication that the economic situation in Narbonne took a nose dive in the 14th century due to a combination of wars, epidemics and the harbour silting up. So there was no money to complete the cathedral. The cathedral is actually the 4th highest cathedral in France and I think it is even more striking because it is unfinished.
Another stunning building is the Archbishop’s Palace. This is now the town hall and also houses 3 different museums. The museums don’t sound like our kind of thing. There is also a tower where you can climb up and the views are meant to be spectacular. However, neither of us is very good with heights so we will make the decision on that once we seen the tower. The Archbishop’s Palace is also supposed to have really pretty gardens and courtyards and those are definitely of interest to us.
One aspect that I am quite excited about is the food and I never thought I would ever type this. I may well be the only person in the world that feels like this, but I do not like French food. The only exception to this are sweet things like crepes, cakes, pastries and macaroons. So that aspect of an extended stay in France did worry me somewhat. However, when I started the look into this, I found out that the cuisine in the Languedoc is quite different. Rather than French, it is more Mediterranean using tomatoes, garlic, onions, beans, red wine, olives and olive oil. Some of the meat choices appear to be a bit adventurous for me, but pork is pretty commonly used and that I have no issue with. There are also strong Catalan influences and I loved the food we had on previous visits to Barcelona. So I think I will be in my element there.
The Harry Putter Studios Tour is very very high on my list of things I need to do when I am in the UK the next time (kind of immediately behind seeing my friends). It really has been far too long since I was last in your lovely country! If just the exchange rate were a little more favorable for me... I know, you prefer it the other way around. And recently things improved for my side, but for your big vacation in Euro-country, I hope it stays reasonable for you!
