Collioure

Un tres ancien ville--I was really interested in visiting Collioure once I learned that this was the home of the Fauve painters. That's the name that Matisse, Derain, Dufy and others were called because they used such wild colors. We took the train down there from Beziers for a day trip. It's really near the border with Spain, a little further and we could have been in Barcelona! We loved it, even though it was Monday, little was open, and not many visitors. Hmm, maybe the not many visitors is what made it so nice. I got to speak with a couple of old women sitting by the water and a clerk at la Poste where I got some stamps, in French. We chatted with the waitress at a "tea" cafe. It was nice to have local interaction. The first interaction was with a couple of artists, who had their little gallery open that day. Their work was really good and we enjoyed talking with them. They "dragged" us down to the water to a restaurant, Les Templiers, where the "pipi" and I couldn't believe I was hearing correctly when he said that, had been good friends with Matisse, Picasso, Derain, etc. and traded paintings for food. The restaurant is still run by the family, tho the grandfather is long deceased. The paintings are all over the restaurant and up the stairs into the hotel part. I ate a big plate of fried sardines for lunch, a specialty of the house. We saw "frog men" practicing their drills, and wandered up into the old city, which was very colorful. It was mostly gray that day, but the sun came out sporadically so we were able to get a hint of why those painters love being there. Replicas of paintings are posted throughout the village, so you can compare the view with the painting. Many were still the same, no changes. So here are a lot of images from a village we liked very much. If you want some history, check out www.collioure.com