Enlightenment at Lourdes

Trip to Aude/Midi-Pyrénées: Day 7

At last, about 2 PM, we rolled into Lourdes. We went in search of the hotel where Blandine had stayed every summer as a child, with her parents. Surprisingly, several decades later, it was still around. Or rather, its signboard was. But the hotel itself seemed to have gone bust. No matter. Lourdes was chock-full of hotels, most of them running empty. In fact, other than hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops, there isn't much else in Lourdes. Not counting the Basilica, of course.

We found ourselves a lovely old hotel with thick plush carpets, attractive reproductions of modern masters and a lovely old clanking lift enclosed in an open wrought-iron grill covered in filigree. It was beautiful to look at, but the thought of stepping into it turned the bowels into chilled water. Blandine took one look at it and refused to step in. I bravely took our luggage up to our floor in it. Once out, I swore never to step into it again. Next morning, I lugged our heavy suitcases down six flights of stairs.

We stepped out and headed straight for the central attraction of Lourdes: The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, or as it is called in French: Les Sanctuaires Notre-Dame de Lourdes.

Here are the pictures I took of the grounds of the Sanctuary, and the Upper Basilica (The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception).

More places on the way to Lourdes

Trip to Aude/Midi-Pyrénées: Day 6 and 7
The entire route from Perpignan to Lourdes was crawling with mysterious chateaus, somber abbeys, sleepy churches and sun-kissed villages. If we'd stopped at every one of them, we'd never have gotten to Lourdes. So we had to pick and choose. In the last couple of posts, I covered the places where we spent a goodish amount of time. This post is a jumble bag of places where I hopped out, took a few shots, and hopped back in. Not enough material for a full post, but too good to throw away just the same. There were lots of other lovely places besides, where I did not even do that, for some reason. We simply zipped through. Something that I rather regret now. There was one particular town: the spa town of Bagnères-de-Bigorre. It was breathtakingly beautiful. But for some weird reason, I can't find a single photograph of it on the iPad. I can't believe I did not take a single shot there. Oh well. Some other time, perhaps. If I ever visit France again.
Tomorrow's post: we finally get to Lourdes.
Right, on to the pics. Here was our route again, to refresh your memory:

Bye-bye to Quéribus
A little after Perpignan, our path crossed castle Quéribus again -- from a distance. We caught a glimpse of Quéribus from the highway. We waved a teary goodbye to it.

A church by the wayside

Trip to Midi-Pyrénées: Day 7

There we were, zipping down a lonely country road between Capvern and Pouzac, on our scenic route to Lourdes. The Pyrenees rolled in the clouds on one side, cows and sheep in new-mown meadows on the other. When all of a sudden, I grabbed Blandine by the arm and yelled 'Stop!' Or rather, 'Arêtte!'

Blandine thought I had a bathroom emergency. But as a matter of fact, I'd just seen this:

A lonely little church in the middle of nowhere. The Pyrenees brooded on dark secrets behind her. Waves of grass lapped at her feet. In hushed silence I approached.

Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges

Trip to Not Aude: Day 7
After Mirepoix, we skirted the lower slopes of the Pyrenees to land up at the town of St. Gaudens. We hadn't intended to go that far -- we'd been on the lookout for a charming B&B in some little village on the way. Unfortunately, that seemed to have been a big evening for charming B&Bs -- they were all full up. And so it was nearly dark when we landed up at this bland little town of St. Gaudens. And we did something we'd agreed never to do -- we rested the night at a bland Ibis budget hotel. These Ibis hotels pop up like rash or eczema on the French countryside. They are all exactly alike. They look like something produced on a conveyor belt. But on the plus side, they're cheap, and clean and you know exactly what you're getting. Anyhow, early the next day, a short drive took us to the next spot on our itinerary: the beau village of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges.

Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges was founded by the Roman general Pompey in 72 BC as a colony to defend the Aran Valley. It was called Lugdunum Convenarum in those times. Later, in the 11th century, a cathedral was established there: Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, which gave the village its present name. The cathedral is today a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This is what Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges looks like, perched on a hill, as you approach.

Mirepoix

Trip to Not Aude: Day 6 (Afternoon)
We stopped for lunch at Mirepoix. Mirepoix is a fairly ordinary sort of town, but it has something special at its center: a town square dating back to the 13th and 14th century. You can take a walk around the Place de Couverts looking at these carefully restored 13th century town houses.

Good God ! - 171

Buy Good God - The Book !           Why buy the book?           Win a free copy !

Previous Episodes

Mon Dieu ! - 171

Achète Mon Dieu - Le Livre !            Pourquoi acheter le livre?                Gagnez un exemplaire

Épisodes précédents

Camon, the village of roses

Trip to Not Aude:(Day 6)
So there we were, breakfasting at our hotel in Perpignan, all ready to convert our castle trail in Aude into a Spanish treasure hunt. When Blandine had another of her quicksilver mood changes. She did not want to go to Spain any more. But she was darned if she would set foot in another Cathar castle. That hadn't changed.
I gingerly put forward a suggestion, like a cat placing a dead rat at his mistress's feet, not sure what the reception would be.
Lourdes, I said.
Lourdes had been a long-running battle of will between us. It was the first place I had wanted to see in France. Blandine had vetoed it, time and again. Lourdes, as you might know, is the famous pilgrimage spot in France. Not that I'm terribly religious, but I had a specific reason for wanting to go there. I had based one of my novels in that holy town, without ever having seen it (Perl and the Psychotic Mutant Space Cattle - read about it here). Now that I was in France, I wanted to see the place in which I had lived, in my imagination, all that long year while writing the novel. But Blandine had her own reasons for not wanting to go there. She had been dragged there as a child virtually every year by her deeply religious Catholic parents. She was damned if she would go back, now that she was an adult and presumably in control of her own life.
So, as I said, I deposited Lourdes with the air of a tentative tomcat.
Surprisingly, Blandine agreed. Without a murmur. Possibly the fact that we had worked our way so far down south that we were just a hop away from Lourdes had something to do with it. Or possibly it was the fact that, despite everything, she loved me dearly. Anyhow, she agreed.
I worked out the route. As usual, we decided to take the scenic route, avoiding highways and taking in a few beaux villages along the way. Here is the route I made: the stars mark our original Aude route, and the blue strip the new route.

Camon
The first beau village on our route was Camon. You hit it the moment you cross the border of Aude and the region of Languedoc-Roussillon. We were now officially in the region of Midi-Pyrénées, the region of Lourdes. Camon is a 10th century village, centered around an abbey on the banks of the river Hers. It still has stone houses dating back to the 10th century. Today, it is most known for its roses. This is an ancient wine growing region, and like many older wine growing regions, they grew roses along with the grape wines. The theory was that the roses acted as a kind of health-indicator for the grape wines. Since roses are a lot more delicate, they succumb first to diseases thereby giving the winegrower advance warning. From growing roses in the vineyard to turning the village into a rose village was a small, logical step.
Here are some pics I took of Camon:  the arched gate of the village, the rose covered cottages, the 10th century abbey...

The arched gate of the village, as you enter

Perpignan, gateway to Spain

Trip to Not Aude: Day5 (Evening)
Are you done with ruined Cathar castles? Blandine asked me wearily as we climbed down the hill from Château de Peyrepertuse.
Actually, I wasn't. I had another five on my list. But Blandine was showing all the signs of a girlfriend who has about had it up to the gizzard with ruined castles on hills. Another ruined castle, and something would break. It wouldn't be pretty being in the vicinity when that happened.
Why don't we hop over to Spain, I suggested? In the process of working our way from castle to Cathar castle, we were almost at the Spanish border. Blandine, I knew, had a thing for Spain.
I had said the magic words. Blandine brightened. We tacked our sails and nosed the prow of the Mini Cooper towards Perpignan.
Perpignan is, for the French, their Gateway to Spain. It straddles A9, the highway most often used by French vacationers, just on the border to Spain. It was the logical place to stay the night.
It is a city that dates back to the 10th century and has French, Spanish and Catalan influences. It was bounced like a rubber ball between France and Spain over the centuries, first one side and then the other claiming ownership. The architecture in the old city has a distinctly Spanish feel and you get the feeling you are almost in Spain. A feeling that is accentuated by the fact that many street signs are in French and Catalan, and the mishmash of French, Catalan and Spanish that one hears on the streets.
We found an inexpensive hotel and dumped our stuff. And then we trotted out to see as much of the old city as possible before it turned dark. In retrospect, we regretted treating Perpignan merely as a stepping stone into Spain. It is a lovely old city with a wonderful atmosphere that deserved a day to itself, at least. Anyhow, we were at that time of the year when the sun sets late, and we did manage to cover quite a bit in the short hours available to us. Here are some pics I took:-
Perpignan Cathedral

Château de Peyrepertuse

Trip to Aude: Day 5 (Afternoon)
After Quéribus, we hopped over to it's sister castle, Château de Peyrepertuse on a neighboring hill. Quéribus and Peyrepertuse form a chain of five castles that are called the Sons of Carcassonne. All refurbished former Cathar castles, they formed a line of defense against Spain centered on the grand castle of Carcassonne.
Peyrepertuse is just a short drive away from Quéribus. You can actually see Peyrepertuse from the ramparts of Quéribus. If you remember, I had a photo of it in the previous post.
This is what Peyrepertuse  looks like, as you approach.