Pétanque & Pastis

Pont du Gard

Although we thoroughly enjoyed spending our days cruising along the picturesque Canal du Midi, past the colorful countryside of the Languedoc, bicycling, sightseeing, shopping, cooking, and relaxing, the idea of heading to a hotel and taking a REAL shower also appealed to us, so we were not too disappointed to be disembarking today and moving on to our next destination.  After lunch in an unremarkable small town overlooking the Etang de Thau in the falling rain, we drove out of the rain and on to one of France’s top 5 tourist attractions, the Pont du Gard.  Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this bridge was part of a 50-kilometer Roman aqueduct which may have been constructed in the 1^st century, A.D., in order to carry water from springs in the city of Uzès to the city of Nîmes.  Built without the use of mortar, the stones of the bridge are held together with iron clamps, which makes it quite a remarkable feat of engineering, and a site to be studied by future French journeymen masons.

Terrace Café in Avignon

We made it to our hotel in Avignon in the late afternoon.  Our first choice of hotels was Hôtel Cloître Saint Louis within the walls of the city, where we had stayed on our last visit to Avignon, but it had no available rooms for the night, and so, at their suggestion, we stayed at their sister hotel, the Avignon Grand Hôtel, which we were happy with, since it was basically just across the street from the walls of the city, and both rooms were almost as big as apartments, each with a large bedroom and a separate living room.  With hot showers and kilos of barge grime behind us, we all felt re-born and ready to hit the town, starting with a leisurely walk around town, followed by an apéritif at one of the sidewalk cafés in the lively town center, and finishing with dinner at a lovely Belle Époque restaurant called Hiély-Lucullus (5, rue de la République - tél: 04.90.86.17.07).

Return Trip – The Descent

We turned around yesterday, after our wine tasting trip, and began our descent down the Canal du Midi on our way back to Argens-Minervois.  The descent is much more civilized than the ascent, with the water calmly draining out of the lock chamber, rather than the water crashing in to fill up the chamber like it did on the ascent.  We cruised under many of the simple, picturesque humpback bridges that Pierre-Paul Riquet had to resign himself to constructing when his funds were running low during the construction of the Canal du Midi.

Two Wild Men Cruising down the Canal du Midi

Yesterday we had cloud cover, but the temperature was warm and we were still wearing shorts and piloting the barge from the flying bridge.

Changing Weather on the Canal du Midi

Today the weather has changed, with cooler temperatures and intermittent light rain showers, causing us to seek cover by piloting the barge from inside.  Maybe this is why we pretty much had the locks to ourselves each time today, rather than having to squeeze in with three other barges each time like we did on the ascent.

Alouette Squeezing through the Locks

The only time we had to wait for the locks today was when the passenger barge, Alouette, arrived.  Even though we had arrived first, and we were poised to enter the first chamber of the double locks, we were stifled when the gate suddenly shut, and the locks were immediately readied to handle the very long barge heading in our direction, with its sole passenger deeply engrossed in her reading material from atop the deck.  It turns out that the larger barges have priority in the locks over the smaller barges like ours.  It was fun to watch the two-man crew squeeze the barge into every inch of the barely-big-enough locks, with such nonchalance and ease, while Dave & Mike (in dark fleeces & jeans) watched on from the bridge behind it, and I snapped pictures of it from near the front.

Laurens Waiting Her Turn in the Locks 

While Alouette was exiting the locks, we headed back to Laurens and took our turn in the locks, and then headed back toward Homps, in search of more bottles of the delicious apéritif we picked up earlier, called Prélude.  We couldn’t remember exactly where we had found it before, and we continued to be disappointed when we would pull up to a new set of locks, and they didn’t have it.  Finally, we recognized the lock-keeper when we pulled into the right place, and he seemed to remember us when we asked for a case of the sweet white wine.  Unfortunately, all he had was six bottles, so we promptly took all six, and then headed toward the winery that he pointed us to that produces it.  Unfortunately, they were closed by the time we got there, and we could not find the wine in any of the shops nearby, so we had to be satisfied with splitting the six bottles between Mike to take back to California, and us to take back to Antibes – a fitting souvenir for all.

The Crush is On in the Languedoc

This morning we rode our bicycles into Carcassonne to pick up some warm croissants and sweet white peaches for breakfast, and to shop for lunch and dinner items.  After devouring our breakfast, we started up the barge and decided to continue on our way up the Canal beyond Carcassonne.  Our first locks were in the center of town, where we ran through our flawless technique with an audience of plenty of curious onlookers.  We cruised for a little while, until we found a good spot to moor the barge and to partake in a luncheon of charcuterie, cheese, a rustic baguette, plump purple grapes, and a delicious Minervois wine.  From the beginning of our barge trip, all along the Canal we had been watching grapes being harvested, and saw large piles of grape debris created after the must was expressed from them, and we could detect the yeasty smell of the grapes being processed into wine.  We spent the afternoon riding our bicycles past fields of grape vines in search of a winery that was listed in the Guide Map that we ordered when we reserved our barge.  The weather was starting to change, with clouds blocking out the bright sunshine that we had been enjoying each day, but it was good bicycling weather for climbing the small hills where we found Château Auzias in Pennautier, not too far from Carcassonne.

Château Auzias in Cabardès

The ruby-red wines we tasted were Syndicat d’ A.O.C. Cabardès, which requires a minimum of 40% Atlantic grape varieties (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, etc.) blended with a minimum of 40% Mediterranean grape varieties (Syrah and Grenache, etc.).  Since Mike favors the Atlantic varietals, while Dave and I lean more toward the Mediterranean, all three of us enjoyed these wine, so we ended up buying a combination of 2000 Cuvée Gloria Mundi (25% Grenache Noir, 15% Syrah, 30% Merlot, 28% Cabernet, 2% Alicante), 2003 Cuvée Monsieur (25% Grenache Noir, 35% Merlot, 25% Cabernet, 5% Cinsault, 5% Alicante), and Cuvée Petits Messieurs (25% Grenache Noir, 15% Syrah, 35% Merlot, 20% Cabernet).  Unfortunately, we really couldn’t handle any more than just a few bottles, since only two of us had baskets on our bicycles, and I had, embarrassingly enough, already fallen off my bicycle once on the rutty lane along the Canal, on our way to the winery.  Although these wines are supposed to go best with charcuterie and grilled meats, the Cuvée Petits Messieurs went perfectly with tonight’s dinner of Farfalle All’Arrabiata.

Carcassonne – We Made It !

We made it to our destination of Carcassonne in the early afternoon today, and moored our barge just before the locks located in the center of town.  We had plenty of time to stroll along the River Aude and into town to check out the newer part of the city, and to meander through the winding, cobbled streets of the imposing medieval fortified Cité de Carcassonne, which we had actually been able to glimpse from our barge on the Canal today.  After walking, snapping photos, and peeking into the touristy little shops of the oldest walled city in Europe, lingering over drinks at one of the terrace cafés seemed to be the thing to do before our 8:00pm dinner reservation.

The Medieval Cité of Carcassonne

Dinner tonight was under the grape arbor on the terrace of Restaurant Comte Roger (14, rue Saint-Louis – La Cité – 04.68.11.93.40), where, after our first course of rich foie gras, we all partook in the not-to-be-missed local specialty, Cassoulet Languedocien, the basic recipe of which must always include duck or goose confit, pork rind & pure pork sausage, and white beans.  The remaining ingredients depend on whether the Cassoulet is from Castelnaudary, Carcassonne, or from Toulouse.  Another essential element of Cassoulet is that it must be baked in a clay pot or baking dish in the oven at a low temperature, and the crusty film that forms on top should be broken several times before the baking is complete.  Some say that it should be broken precisely seven times to guarantee a delicious Cassoulet.  According to Chef Prosper Montagné, the author of “Larousse Gastronomique” in 1938 and “La Festin Occitan” in 1929, Cassoulet is the God of Occitane Cuisine.  He is also quoted as saying (in French) that Cassoulet de Castelnaudary is the Father, Cassoulet de Carcassonne is the Son, and Cassoulet de Toulouse is the Holy Spirit.  And, of course, to make sure that our arteries stayed good and healthy, we washed everything down with a healthy dose of red wine, a local Syrah, which was the perfect accompaniment.  Each of us had chosen the Grand Marnier Soufflé for dessert, with a touch of oozing chocolate in the warm center.  The ambience continued to be amazing during our after-dinner stroll in the beautifully-illuminated Cité.

Cruising from Homps to Trèbes

We bicycled into Homps for breakfast items this morning, and then spent the day cruising on the beautiful, tree-lined canal and navigating through the locks, which we always looked forward to.  Mike seemed to be a natural as our barge pilot, while Dave and I fell into the role of crew members at each set of locks, handling the ropes and stabilizing the barge while the roaring water filled up each lock chamber on our ascent up the canal.  We entered into each set of locks with pretty much the same group of three other barges each time, which was kind of fun, since we ended up chatting and getting to know a little bit about each other.  Many of the lock keepers displayed some local foods and/or wines and/or art which was always fun to check out while we were waiting our turn in the locks.  Today we bought a bottle of a sweet white wine called Prélude, which we immediately put into the refrigerator so it would be nice and chilled for tonight’s apéritif.  When the locks closed up at 7:00pm, we found a nice spot to moor the barge for the night just outside the village of Trèbes.  We hopped onto our bicycles and rode into the village of Trèbes, and we immediately ran into our friends, AC/DC (Allan and Diana Colby), while they were strolling along the canal.  The five of us headed back to Laurens (our barge), and I gave AC/DC a tour of our floating home, while Dave and Mike put together tonight’s dinner of lamb daube, which required a couple of hours of cooking.  We then opened up the perfectly chilled bottle of sweet and spicy Prélude that went very well with some smoked almonds served up on the flying bridge (top deck).  Our lamb daube dinner turned out amazingly delicious.  Mike and Dave added some carrots, spicy luque olives, red wine, and water, to the sautéed gigot of lamb that the butcher had cut up into chunks this morning.  They simmered it on top of the stove for a couple of hours, and then served it over Camargue rice.  It was simple and absolutely delicious, served with a local Corbières wine.

Pierre-Paul Riquet & the Canal du Midi

We have been looking forward to this day for a long time, because this is the day when we are to begin our barge trip on the Canal du Midi.  We were not able to take possession of our barge until the late afternoon, so after spending the morning strolling around the picturesque city of Sète, we decided to continue our sightseeing with a visit to the city of Béziers, the birth place of the engineer responsible for the construction of the Canal du Midi, Pierre-Paul Riquet.  Although the idea of connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean was not a new concept at the time, nobody was able to accomplish this astonishing feat until Riquet, who was commissioned by Louis XIV in the year 1666, dedicated his life and his personal fortune to the endeavor.  Riquet was not able to survive the strain that the colossal project put on his health, and died just months before the 14-year project was completed, with his son replacing him at the helm.

Les Neuf Écluses de Fonserane

The 9 Locks of Fonserane, which lie just on the outskirts of Béziers, are one of the most remarkable accomplishments of the construction of the Canal du Midi.  The series of oval-shaped locks allows a descent of over 21 meters in a distance of just over 300 meters.  Pierre-Paul Riquet’s unique oval design, used throughout the canal, and overall attention to detail has ensured the longevity of the locks and the Canal du Midi, which has outlasted more modern designs.

  At this point of our trip, we have not yet decided if we will head the barge in this direction, through these 9 Locks of Fonserane toward Béziers, from our starting point in Argens-Minervois, or if we will head in the opposite direction toward Carcassonne.  In either case, I think this barge trip could be quite interesting.

The Village of Homps on the Canal du Midi

Our next stop of the day was to do our shopping for the barge trip, and the small supermarket in Homps was the closest to our starting point in Argens-Minervois, so we drove over to pick up some staples and some items for our first meal on the barge tonight !!  Luckily, the colorful village of Homps is also where our friends, Diana and Allan Colby (also known as AC/DC) will be spending a couple of nights starting tomorrow, so we can check things out for our highly anticipated rendezvous.

Test Drive at Argens-Minervois

We finally made it !!  We got to Argens-Minervois to pick up our very French pénichette (named Laurens) from Locaboat, where we reserved it on January 6, 2006.  What we had actually wanted was the 1020 FB, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a flying bridge.  However, we were too late in reserving it, and the only thing that would work for us that was available was the 1106 FB Classic, with two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a flying bridge.  The moral of the story is to reserve at least a year ahead, rather than just nine months ahead.

  After about five minutes of instructions, we were sent out onto the canal for a test drive with a French Locaboat instructor.  He showed us a few maneuvers, such as sticking the bow of the barge into the bank of the canal in order to make a 180-degree turn, which worked really well.  We later read in our barge book that this maneuver is not really politically correct because it can cause damage to the banks of the canal.  Dave passed the barge piloting test with only one bit of advice from the instructor:  SLOW DOWN !!!

  We still had a couple of hours of barging before the locks closed down at 7:00pm, so we headed out as far as we could go.  We decided to aim for Carcassonne as our main destination, so we pointed Laurens (the pénichette) west and made it through a couple of double sets of locks before having to tie up along the banks of the canal, just short of Homps.

  After a bicycle trip into Homps to check things out and to pick up some more items for dinner, we started the evening festivities with a Happy Hour of saucisson de taureau (bull sausage) and very spicy luque olives,  washed down with a local Corbières wine.  That was followed by a dinner of pasta with broccoli, onions, red pepper flakes, and merguez sausage simmered in cream and accompanied by another local Minervois wine.