Last day in Catalonia, and it rained heavily off and on all day. So lucky that it didn’t happen on our walking days, or, indeed, that we weren’t swept away in a raging flood. Did one of those little tourist train things in the morning. Ended up going out into the country amongst the vineyards, I guess because there wasn’t much to see in town.
Collioure still a pretty little place nonetheless. In a completionist mood, we then decided to go and have lunch at the town we were supposed to walk to the previous day, if the mighty sea, and also time, hadn’t been against us. Banyuls-sur-Mer another attractive seaside town. The touristy places by the sea weren’t serving food for some inexplicable reason (we have been turned down at restaurants many times, usually because we get there 5 minutes after the official lunch serving period ends at 2pm, but it was only one o’clock), so we went round the corner to a cute little bistro that was full of locals, where I inadvertently ordered a giant bowl of snails in their shells. Previous escargot experiences I’ve had involve small numbers of petite unidentifiable things that taste of butter and garlic. The was clearly the real deal. Horrifying. But quite tasty.
Snails a la Catalane. And chips.
The fleshy part goes right up into the swirly bit of the shell. Bet you didn’t know that.
Catherine clearly envious of my food choice. Or not.
The homoerotic art above the doorway to the toilettes was actually an homage to the Perpignan rugby team.
Our waiter was also a rugby player! I didn’t recognize him though (and he wasn’t in the painting).
The rear facing camera on Catherine’s (hospital = cheap) phone was broken, which lead to many scenes like this one, where she tries to guess where the selfie camera is facing, and ends up with some quite hilarious and at times arty shots. We keep telling her she should “accidentally “ drop it in a toilet but she’s too honest. Note sangria de la region and also more whole cloves of garlic (out of view).
After lunch it was time to head north again, and give Perpignan one last chance. And this time it didn’t disappoint – thanks, Google maps!
Goodbye, Catherine and Kieran, thanks for your company, I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as I did.
The long walk home, version one: functioning phone.
Version two: selfie cam.