Bruce's travels

On the way to the planned church my path passed this open gate: a further hint of the way the walls onto the street hide oases of good things

It also happened to lead me past a Protestant church, which described itself as a product of the union of the Lutherans and Calvinists.

I followed the signs to try and gain entrance at the side, but there was no reply. It was sad to see this remnant of the Protestant tradition failing to capitalise upon the 500th anniversary of the Reformation; instead the best it seemed to be offering was a community centre.

Beside the cathedral is the historic palace of the Archbishop, stolen by the state at the time of the Revolution and now the Bordeaux town hall. Or as the sign says

It’s all about spin...

Whilst access to the front is severely limited, its gardens at the back constitute a public park in which there is an art gallery, where I ended the day.

But first, to the obscure churches.

St Bruno's church was part of a large monastic establishment on what was then the Western fringe of Bordeaux. Occupied by the Carthusian Order between 1615 and the revolution, it is now a parish church; no other of the monastic building remain. Some half of the choir stalls are still present, whilst the main feature of the church is the extraordinary 'trompe d'oeil' painting on the ceiling of nave / choir that give the impression of an Italianate plaster ceiling, as recorded in this photo.

The Revolution saw the monks executed or exiled

The local park saw a box from which you could borrow books

and the play ground rides have a age limits imposed!

Walking up to the ancient basilica of St Seurin. with elements dating back to the 6th century. This is the view up the street to it.

A wikimedia photograph

It was interesting to see a banner advertising the Alpha course slung across the entrance.

The building dates from the 11th century and after, and part of it was built by the English, if it is reasonable to describe the plantagenets as such so early; as such it is the only remnant of their rule of the area that I encountered. Despite its historical importance and even its being on the UNESCO world heritage as part of the historic pilgrimage route to Compestello, it was practically deserted, with only one other persons there; a worshipper who’d come in to PRAY!

There is something wrong when the 'Oxford Arms' British pub ends up only advertising Danish and Irish drinks

The other English pub dares to call itself the HMS Victory, the flagship of the British in the Battle of Trafalgar, which ended Napoleon's naval hopes.

10/10 for chutzpah.

I am old enough to remember when British 'Give Way' signs said so on them. Then we chose to conform to European standards, with just the symbol.

I guess the rational explanation is that such signs are so rare in France that they feel the need to explain. One can be more impolite...

I spent most of the rest of the afternoon in the art museum at the Mayor's house. To my surprise I discovered a secret of viewing art of focusing exclusively on a small part of the picture for a significant period before looking at it all again. This led to interesting effects! This is Roger Lambert-Loubere ‘D'une maree l'autre’ (One tide to the other) since you asked...

Bordeaux is pretty; it's got a UNESCO world heritage site designation to prove it. And it is: this view over the city from a bridge across the river gives a hint of the reality; it is largely unchanged for 200 years or so.

A figure I've seen somewhere suggests that there are some 5000 buildings all of essentially the same style, though with enough variation to make it interesting, at least up to a point, although by the end of the day ploughing through vast numbers of super nice building began to make me tired.

My AirBnB flat was on the edge of the nice bit - in effect in a fringe of 19th century cheap housing that has not, unlike our experience in England, been knocked down and replaced. The result is some VERY narrow streets; walking down them on the pavement with anything in your hands is hard work, with the result that walking in the street is all but inevitable. To be fair the traffic does tend to be sparse and understanding, but it's not ideal. Yet it does seem to work.

Having viewed the city from the bridge, I went on to the Place de la Bourse, which is the city hall.

This is what it SHOULD look like in the 'right' light

Somehow on a bright autumn day the colour scheme which was more this

was less inspiring. Or perhaps I'd become seriously jaded. I wasn't wholly sure, so asked a policeman in French whether this was the Place de la Bourse, to be answered in excellent English... well - at least I'd tried.In front of the town hall - between it and the river - is 'Mirror d'eau' - a flat area of black rock with a steady flow of water across it that on a good day can produce a nice reflection. As the second picture shows, this isn't always a success. But it's a nice idea!

A relatively underadvertised tourist information office provided me with an excellent map of the city, complete with a recommended route to see 15 of the high spots. I think I did get to all of them over the next couple of days - and they are are cute - but in the end I saw a lot of other stuff too.

Following the route revealed that the sacred area of super archietecture isn't wholly sacred; there are a few modern buildings tucked away in corners.

The Place de la Parlement is a highlight; feeling more like an Italian square, it's notable that it's never had anything to do with a Parlement, which were a financial institution of the government before the revolution.

The Grand Theatre is grand

a last flowering of the ancien regime, it opened in 1780. The 12 statues on the roof parapet are the nine muses of the classical tradition along with Diana, Venus and JUNO. The presence of Juno is a surprise; the much put upon wife of the king of the Gods doesn't seem to make an obvious candidate for this position.

Up from the theatre is the monument to the Girondins,

which catching the sunlight at a distance gave me this photo

They were a relatively moderate pro-Revolution group which, based in Bordeaux, emerged in 1791 and was 'dissolved' - for which read liquidated by the terror - in 1793.

Wandering on I came to the area of the Chartrons. Actually named after the Carthusians, who left the area when they got better digs in the 17th century; see tomorrow for the details. The first old building I enocuntered was the 'Temple des chartrons',

which ironically is Protestant

and showed no signs of life...

Up the street was the Catholic Church of St Louis; this offers some great pictures. The building had me fooled; it gives every appearance of being an ancient building, but is actually a 19th century neo-Gothic creation. There are worse mistakes. There was however a hint in this sign

which was unique in the older churches I’ve encountered in France in being outside, showing that the church is the owner of the building, not the state, which is the case with all church buildings that existed at the time of the Revolution.

The area was also notable for some fascinating antique shops; a brief look was nice, but there was no way I could actually get anything home...

The next church was St Martial. Set in its own square, the only public access was to a small chapel at the end of the nave. A bust. Oh well

Walking on I got to the WWII submarine base. Sadly closed to the public at the moment, the outside is striking

i couldn't get to view this, but another's photo gives an idea of what a pen looks like.

on the side is a neon sign that my photo does no justice to

The area around the base seems to be undergoing a Salford Quays like revival, with a lot of new housing. I stopped at a cafe for a chocolate mousse, before walking on to la cite de vin

which I lacked the energy to engage with. Although an English tour focused on the architecture was available the following day, I didn't follow up. There is definitely a case for a further visit sometime!

I caught the tram

back to the centre. This was not without incident; the ticket machine works by your rotating the wheel around the select button to move the choice on the screen. I successfully broke the one on my side of the tracks; it went into software diagnostic mode. Someone spotted I was struggling and demonstrated, allowing me to buy a ticket. Rotate a wheel? Why? In this day and age when everywhere else you touch the screen? OTOH I have to admit that stylistically they are superior to the Manchester beasts of today.

According to this blog

"One of the most innovative aspects of the Bordeaux tram system is the complete lack of overhead cables for significant portions of the network. This is thanks to the use of a technique that was conceived and perfected for the Bordeaux project, first by Spie-Innorail then by Alstom: ground-level power supply (or, in French, APS, Alimentation Par Sol).

The 750 volts needed to power the trains is provided via a central rail. The central rail is split into 8-metre sections, each section being separated by neutral segments which are 3 metres long (visible in the foreground above). As the train moves, an antenna sends a signal to underground control units which are 22 metres apart. These, in turn, switch on the power supply in the sections of the rail which are located underneath the moving train, i.e. the third rail is only ever “live” when the train is travelling over it. At all other times, the rails are harmless and of no danger whatsoever to pedestrians.

However, the system is costly, adding an estimated €100,000 to the price of the trains, as well as generating a three-fold increase in infrastructure costs. APS is therefore only used in central Bordeaux and, at specific points on each line (such as the one pictured below on Rue des Frères Bonie), trams raise their overhead masts and switch back to more conventional means of power supply for the remainder of their journey. But the aesthetically-pleasing "look-no-cables" APS has been adopted for tram projects in Angers, Reims (both of which opened in 2011) and Orléans (on a new line being added to the existing network)."

I finished the day's visits by going to the Cathedral.

The visit was notable mainly for the spontaneous song from a visiting choir, reminding us that this isn't just an historic building. An unusual feature is the 'royal door' and the area in the nave separated by a low wall opposite it.

The exterior of its apse is currently being restored at the expense of the state...

Wandering home took me past the Taj Mahal

the menu appeared fairly ordinary by English standards. I wish them well.

Another feature of urban life shared

but more sweetly, the off licence has a resident cat

Monday saw me leaving for Bordeaux. The check out time was a bit earlier than would have been ideal, but I decided I didn't have the enthusiasm to mess around. Instead I went to the bus station that is outside the front of the station and asked about a ticket to the airport. It turns out that you have to buy it at the ticket office and then cancel it on the bus. I didn't take advantage of doing so then, with the result that on Thursday I ended up just missing the next bus and having to wait 20 minutes...

A remarkable map on the wall of the station at Toulouse shows the railway network in south west France.

The train was on time and notable for having a messed up entry system; far too soon before the train was due to leave FIVE ticket collectors started to check our tickets. In practice we did all get through the queue and into our coaches - though a jam of those trying to get into the lower coach did require me to suggest that we who were going into the upper space should get on with it.

A painless run ensued, and we appeared to get to Bordeaux. It was then things went down hill. Having not asked my AirBnB host which buzzer on the door to press, and not having a phone that could receive all the messages he was sending, communication broke down. I walked from the station to the location of the flat - to get no reply. A text suggested he would be late, so I tried again at 1530 to no effect; there was a knocker on the door which I resorted to, to no effect. So I retreated to cafe round the corner, and had just about arranged a logon there when my landlord phoned me. I handed the phone, in desperation, to a waiter, whose English was excellent, and all was sorted. But it was a deeply scary moment, once more revealing my propensity to panic. In the end the interaction cost me the price of an expensive coffee - at €3.50 for what seemed to me to be the usual stuff, I wasn't enthused. But there are worse problems in life.

Rail travel

Overall my experience of rail travel has been excellent. Barcelona's failure to run long distance local trains fast for the first part of their journey is irritating, and I therefore spent more time on such trains than I should have. But there are worse problems. Buying tickets using the Voyages-SNCF app is painless, with the option of either leaving the ticket on the screen or printing it at a machine when you present the credit card. I choose to do that each time...

The trains were comfortable and punctual. The TGV gave you an hour of free Internet usage on the basis of your ticket details, and it seemed to work OK. I merely used it for brief interactions; I don't know if they start charging when the hour is over.

Pricewise the various journeys were good value, though not outstanding. Totally inflexible tickets booked a couple of days early allowed me to do the 75 miles between Toulouse and Bordeaux for €15, so something under 20p a mile, the equivalent of paying £40 for a London ticket from Manchester, which is likely to be far less available. (Writing this on Tuesday evening, London tickets at £38 are available for Thursday morning...) in probably similar levels of comfort. Certainly this has given me confidence in the French rail system for the future...

AirBnB

Caveat Emptor! The theory is great, the reality for me was mildly problematic. In both cases for me the facilities were legalistically accurate, but stretched the definitions somewhat. But they served my needs adequately. I was impressed at a human at AirBnB phoning me when my Toulouse booking was cancelled by my host even if I'd lost the enthusiasm to pursue the option by then. Given the stupid amounts you can pay for accomodation and the profits that hotels are reporting, AirBnB is a good response. Sadly on this occasion it didn't achieve contact with real people; one of the disappointments of the trip was a lack of such contact. Yet the fact that I was largely comfortable with my own company, chatting to a few friends online but nothing else, is a reflection of who I am.

Using French

As it was Sunday I spent the day in churches... No, sadly not, living communities, but ancient buildings which now have a variety of uses. I did check for English speaking congregations, which threw up this web site:

The phrase 'the church in the Midi-Pyrénées and Aude' is interesting; good to know that some Anglicans still believe they are the only true church...

It was the first Sunday of the month, so the museums I wanted to go to were free to enter. My first target was the Convent of the Augustinians (Convent does not mean nuns!) set in a remarkable survival of some of the pre-Revolutionary buildings, including the TWO complete cloisters as well as the church and some other building.

The garden in the larget cloister has been laid out with Medieval type planting;

The presence of an inattentive child appears not to be a purely modern trend:

This fully painted pieta from the 16th century is a further reminder that white statues were not the artist’s attention a lot more of the time than we realise

meanwhile deck chairs reside on one side

The community dates back to the 12th century, moving into the city in the 14th. It was part of the same order as Luther was a member of: Augustinian Hermits, rather than Canons. From a peak of some 200 members, it declined steadily, helped along by the destruction of the steeple of the church by lightning in the 16th century, and by the Revolution ‘only a few’ remained.

Expropriated by the revolutionaries, it was set aside as museum in 1795, just after the establishment of the Louvre. It hosts a lot of statues from Roman and Gothic times, as well as a large gallery of 19th century paintings. An unusual feature was this bust of Mary in two different stones

The persistence of the Alpha and Omega even in the West is interesting

The actual church still has an organ

As well as a painted apse.

The area of the high altar was closed off, so I couldn’t see what was still there.

In the area dedicated to showing carvings, I was very impressed by the detail of this late Romanesque - 12th century? - anonymous sculptor

Whilst this image of the church militant - a cardinal of the 19th century - is one from horror comics these days

I then moved on to the Convent of the Jacobins.Actual website

To my surprise this proved to be the historic mother house of the Dominican Order, who are known in France as Jacobins. Despite being deconsecrated, it hosts the relics of St Thomas Aquinas,

Although the historic conventual buildings were largely destroyed, a new cloister has been built with access to the chapel of St Antoninus of Pamiers, a Roman era martyr, which is decorated with paintings inspired by Revelation,

as well as to the refectory which hosts modern works of art. For my visit there was, in a darkened room, a series of wooden boxes with full sized pictures of people on the bottom stacked in various places around the room, along with some tents from which voices could be heard talking. You were given a head torch to be able to navigate. Not impressed!

The visit was enhanced by a real life Dominican - to judge from his habit - visiting with friends.

A return trip to the museum at the Basilica was remarkable for the probably Frankish metalwork

The airbrushing of the Visigoths from history is an interesting feature of the area, perhaps because they have no obvious successors: after centuries of rule as the successors to the Romans, they were squashed between the Muslims in the South and the Franks of the Holy Roman Empire to the north, they tend to get forgotten, as reflected in their getting no obvious credit for the material in this display. As such they illuminate the fate of the nations mentioned in the bible who have disappeared today: Moab, Edom, Ammon and the Philistines springing to mind.

There are also some pre Roman torcs

A Roman mosaic with Greek lettering was interesting

Returning from here to my hotel left me wandering past a church on the way back to the hotel. This proved to be the historic church of the Toulouse Charterhouse, suppressed by the French Revolution.

Much of the decoration is still in place, including the high altar of the church being between the monastic choir and the nave,

allowing the laity access to the Carthusian liturgy without breaching their enclosure. These days there is open access to all parts of the church. The choir side is decorated with paintings of the life of St Bruno,

As a long time fan of the Carthusians: an order that quotes a prophecy to justify their claim to have the best plainsong rather than the view of a musicologist has my vote, this is the closest I've been to them.

On a lighter note: there is a Lidl around the corner from the hotel. This was notable for the remarkably much cheaper prices for basics: 20c for 2 litres of water is impressive, and it also allowed me to resume my cola addiction at a reasonable price. However it was interesting to note these:

The French are nationalistic about their milk

Lidl actually dared to sell South African wine in its store. Slightly cheaper than the local plonk, and the only presence - at least rapidly visible - in wine shelves otherwise full of French produce.

[The precise chronology of the days - what I did when - isn't necessarily accurate]

The City Hall of Toulouse,was an amazing start. I think I caught it at exactly the right moment - the right lighting from the sun made it even more impressive; this picture, not mine, gives a feel for it

The interior hosts a number of wall painting decorating the stairs up to and halls of the first floor. Wikimedia offers more photos than you really want.

I took advantage of the road train tour of the city to acquaint myself with it. This offered headphones with a pre-recorded guide in many languages, and provided a great overview; many of the most significant building are pre-20th century, but the important difference with Manchester is that the central area has been largely spared modern skyscrappers or most modern style buildings. By contrast we are continuing to destroyour older buildings; the plan to overhang Albert Square with one such - however'interesting' it may turn out to be - is our persistent failure.

A major surprise on the tour was the recognition that Toulouse has a significant floodproblem. Because France is a far bigger country than England, its ordinary rivers getto a substantial size relatively far inland. Thus the Garonne, which rises in the Pyrennes is similar to the Thames in London by Toulouse.

Note that the extra holes are not decorative but are to reduce the chance of floods destroying the bridge!

By contrast with the remarkably coherent basilica, the Cathedral of Toulouse is anarchietectural disaster. Designed originally in the expectation of having a double nave, only one was built, producing a dog leg appearance inside, because the money ranout; a visible reminder of the parable of Jesus about counting the cost. Or at least that was my guess - the wikipedia article suggests otherwise

My visit was blessed by the religious celebration of a marriage occurring at the High Altar, meaning that the organ was in use with some great music. Despite that it was possible to walk around the ambulatory, and there I found this prayer sellotaped to a rail  

Overall it was symptomatic of a building that wanted to talk engaging with God far more than any other I encountered during this trip.

English shops - to judge by the signs.

The road signs allow cyclists to ignore one way streets

- despite there not being space to do so

A motorcyclist wizzed out of this gate,

giving the opportunity to catch a view inside. It could lead anywhere!

"The Rue du Fourbastard

has always borne this name since the first mention of the name in the fourteenth century. The name comes from an oven that belonged to a certain Bastard."

https://wikimonde.com/article/Rue_du_Fourbastard

(Yes, bastard does mean illegitimate...)

My departure from Carcassone was far less painful - I knew where I was going so didn't get lost on the way to the station... This was my train to Toulouse; note the fence so that there is no platform for access to trains immediately beyond the station passenger area, instead you have to go down the stairs to get to it!

The journey to Toulouse was significantly more comfortable than the ride to Carcassone; the design of the seats reminded me of the days of travelling on British Rail's Southern Region from Haslemere to London, with pairs of seats opposite one another but without a table. It was relatively empty, so I could spray my stuff across all the other 3 seats without stopping others from having seats. The view of the countryside was relatively ordinary, though it is clear that SNCF still has excess capacity unlike Network Rail for the most part.

Toulouse Station is quite pretty and busy.

A strange feature is that the underground is not integrated by NAME, although in practice there is access. Having failed to find an AirBnB host I was happy with, I resorted to a hotel very close to the station - in fact just across the canal. This made for an easy transition. I chose to have breakfast there 2 days out of the three I was resident; this proved what good value my hotel at Barcelona was - though given the scale of the operation this is perhaps not a surprise. However it is always painful to get less for greater cost...

The hotel's elevator had mirrors opposite each other; it was nice to see into the alternative universes where I was also present...

As at Carcassone there is a Basilica and the Cathedral. An early trip to the Romanesque Basilica was impressive; this tower is a striking variation on the Gothic style steeples I'm used to. The building is a UNESCO world heritage site as the largest Romanesque building to have survived 'in Europe'; I guess Hagia Sophia and some of the other church buildings of Istanbul are larger.

Despite its historic significance and modern UNESCO status, it didn't reach out to tourists; specifically a large proportion of the building was not available to visit, including the ambulatory (the bit that goes behind the high altar). What was visible is the work of the nuns now based there - though the monastic building of the Augustinians who were there before the Revolution have been demolished.

Overall I was not especially 'wowed' apart from by the tower, which is cute.

The Cathedral of Carcassone is in the old town. It was shut for repairs - or appeared to be. Note who is paying for them!

The advantage of this is that the church doesn't have to spend silly amounts of time and effort raising money to keep its historic building intact. The disadvantage is that it gives the state control over the use of the buildings, at least those that are in its hands after it expropriated the church at the time of the revolution.

Close to the Cathedral is the 'Hotel de Police'. Clearly there is so little crime that they need beds to spend their duty time in...

On the town side of the medieval bridge is a small chapel of 'Our Lady of Good Health', notable for this confusion of iconography;

Much as I am allergic to simplistic anti-Catholicism, surely at some point putting 'Madonna and Child' above the cross is pagan. The bridge also featured a Jehovah's Witnesses leaflet stand with respectable middle aged gent attached. That and another such sighting have been the only instances of anything approaching street evangelism that I've encountered on this trip; the failure of the Catholic orders, especially the Dominicans who are native to this area, to do anything like that is disappointing.

There's a fairly steep path up to the old city’s , pedestrian, gate in the outer wall on the side nearer the old town. There's a vehicle accessible one on the other side.

Carcassone's walls consist of 2 complete concentric circles. The inner walls were first built by the Romans; a further complete wall was added in by 1200.The outer, newer, one is largely accessible to the public, but they are discouraged from climbing on it. No effort has been made to add safety rails on the inside; instead you are merely warned against it.

Ye old ATM

Within the city is the Count's castle, a traditional medieval castle complete with keep. Get there early; the queues for admission built up rapidly. The castle features a watch tower,

and the shop sells the game - or at least a version: Kingmaker is similarly sold at Warwick Castle!

It also carries a serious Christian book, in contrast to any church run shop I've seen in France or Spain

Despite its stupidly high status, the state is still struggling to maintain it...

The main entrance to the Count's castle; of course the stone bridge post dates it having a defensive role - there would have been a draw bridge there instead.

Actually these defences were never tested; the only time the city fell, it fell because of a total lack of water to enable resisting a siege, causing the fall of the city to the Catholics as against.

The view down to the old town

The basilica from the castle.

This was the Cathedral until 1802, though given the issues of the Revolution it's probably an oversimplification to say that - features this plaque mentioning that Dominic preached there over 800 years ago.

For some reason St Ann's in Manchester doesn't do likewise for John Wesley...

A squat toilet in the public toilet gents; obviously not a priority. No I didn't try to use it.

The last time I did make use of such a facility was in Jerusalem in 1973; the building they were in has been replaced - I would guess Western style facilities have also been introduced.

The gap between the inner and outer walls. In some places it is narrower.

Roman Wall, identifiable by the presence of brick in the wall.

Looking up to the castle from below.

Depot de pain as opposed to boulangier. Standards are sadly falling...

The old city is open at all times; it's not sealed for the night - though actually that would be more authentic! There are hotels, a youth hostel and restaurants and even what appear to be private houses.

After the weight of the serious medieval history, I stopped by the town art gallery. To describe it as struggling against the odds is an understatement; rousing the enthusiasm to go there after overdosing on history is probably not going to happen for most. However it was pretty much on my way back to my AirBnB residence, so I gave it a whirl. I suspect there were as many staff as visitors there; one in every room as against a handful of visitors. This is in interesting contrast to the failure of the state to provide staffing for church buildings (at least as far as I've noticed). It also helps explain the size of the French public sector; certainly British museums and art galleries don't have a member of staff in every room!

Having spent the morning working on this diary, I walked back from the hotel to the station; it was a nice day and had a rather uninspiring paella ‘plat’ for lunch at the station cafe. One of the blessings of this trip is that apart from the first day the only rain has been in Toulouse - see later; on the whole the temperatures have ranged from adequate English summer days to excellent English summer days, but never too hot. Spain and late October are a good combination.

ADIF is the Spanish equivalent of Network Rail - the government owned infrastructure company that maintains stations but doesn't operate trains. Girona and Barcelona's local medium distance trains are operated by the Catalan government using stock that they have inherited from RNFE, the national rail operator; the older stock refers to RNFE on the trains, newer ones don't. Girona station is NEW, or at least feels new.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girona_railway_station

Behind the station is a reminder that we are in the land of Gaudi

And at present is blessed with both elevated and tracks and underground tracks. The Wikipedia article claims that the plan was to move all trains underground by 2012... What is true is that the TGV turned up in the depths. Two levels down - by escalator - and you arrive at the waiting hall for the TGV and the Bus Station - which they have also built down here. We then enjoyed some security theatre to get on the TGV - our bags were put through an X ray machine manned by a guy on his own before we showed our tickets to an inspector and descended a further two levels to the platform. Don't be late - and to be fair they warn you to be there 10 minutes early - but the result is that the real travel time on a train is significantly more than the advertised. Still it's less painful than airports.

Despite it being a TGV we still seemed to stop at a lot of stations along the way. We rapidly came out of the tunnel at Girona and the view was very ordinary. We must have passed across the Pyrennes, but they weren't especially visible. After some new railway stations, we started to go into ordinary old ones. The security theatre doesn't seem to apply there; certainly at Narbonne the TGV came into a standard platform...

Narbonne itself was once an important place. I successfully picked up the ticket I'd ordered at the SNCF machine, and stuck a nose out into what is now a small town, but resisted going to have a look at the Cathedral. A bit of a shame; I didn't actually need to catch the earlier train and if I'd realised the ticket could have been redone, I would have done it. Oh well.

The train on to Carcassone was quite full, though not to the point of anyone standing. No ticket inspection. Got to Carcassone and had a bit of difficulty finding the AirBnB place; my memory played tricks with me as to where it was. I did however get to go into St Vincent's church however as a result - a lovely old church in the old town. I did eventually find the place - above a upmarket burger bar in old town, but only after retreating to the station to recheck the route on my tablet; SNCF offers free wifi at its stations and it works!

The geography of Carcassone is complex; the historic old CITY is the walled, medieval centre which is the primary tourist attraction (UNESCO world heritage site etc etc.) Following a rebellion by the suburbs of the city against its rulers, which was put down, the people were expelled from the area for years, before being allowed to return and build a new town across the river. In the long term prosperity shifted to the town, and the city was a less and less significant adjunct which was slowly decaying until in the 19th century a government surveyor got the idea of restoring the old city's walls, castle and churches, which he achieved, slowly, with government money, over many years. But it was a close run thing; there was a proposal to knock them all down.

The other UNESCO heritage site in the city is the 17th century Midi Canal that connected the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, a major achievement for the time. This is also in Toulouse...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_du_Midi

In Carcassone this runs between the railway station and the old town; the river runs between the city and the old town...

Having had a meal at the burger bar (my host runs it, so it seemed churlish not to) I went for a wander round, discovering how far the two are separate and where to go in the morning. Having got myself sorted, I came back and settled down for the night, negotiating the basin on the top of the WC for washing.

A late night wander threw up this interesting memorial to a WWII leader; note the emphasis on something other than the French Tricolour's priorities. The culture wars of the US at present are the same disease as those of France since the revolution. Whilst French nationalism hides much of this to the outsider, it remains a theme in French politics even until today; AN element in the Marine Le Pen's support is a hard line religious strand.

I was required to leave the comfortable hotel in Prieda because it was the holiday season for Halloween / All Saints. The hotel played up to the idea of Halloween, but the tradition is stronger for All Saints, which is a holiday in Spain and France. So I caught the direct train from Prieda to Girona - one goes straight through every two hours - most terminate along the way, and transferred. I'd invested in a bag for my stuff, so that I didn't end up wearing my clothes as I do on a flight. The advantage is I don't look ridiculous; the disadvantage is that I have a bag to carry as well as my backpack.

After a stretch along the coast the line goes in land to Girona. I'd booked a room in very posh hotel in the wrong direction from the station for the old city; I'd actually booked somewhere else but then found I'd booked the wrong date. In a panic I grabbed the nearest hotel. Which proved to be very nice in a more traditional way - imitation old style furniture rather than the Sumus' unrelentingly modern style.

The relatively cheap deal didn't include food, so I took the opportunity to start to eat a lot less; See Food diets are not good for the waistline.

I ummed and erred about a taxi TO the hotel; eventually I asked the next taxi on the stand for a ride, and he turned me down on the grounds that it was such a short ride - about 3/4 mile. There were a lot of taxis on the rank; I guess you want to get a good ride if you've had to wait for a customer like that. Makes the issue of Uber ever more blatant in countries without the UK's 'private hire' alternative. I did however indulge in one from the taxi to the old city.

When I got to the cathedral I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it, and the other two buildings that are part of the same establishment (the basilica and the museum of art, the former bishop's palace), were free that day. I therefore went into the Cathedral and took the photos of the extraordinary silver(?) 'dome' over the high altar,

and generally spent a bit longer in that amazing building, including the cathedral treasury. It's interesting to note passing references to the artwork that was destroyed in the Civil War; the Republicans had no time for the church and aggressively persecuted the clergy and destroyed a fair amount of Christian art. As a result the choir of Girona Cathedral lacks the traditional wooden stalls one expects in medieval churches, making the ancient dome actually appear modern until you look at the images it contains, which have St Peter controlling the gates of heaven.

Behind the altar is the 'throne of Charlemagne', who in legend is credited with the defeat of the Muslim armies here, although the process was rather more drawn out. This sort of stone seat behind the altar is also found in Canterbury cathedral, where it is named after Augustine (of Canterbury), the man who headed the Roman mission to the Germanic invaders who had conquered 'England' and largely destroyed the church.

A particular surprise was a rock crystal cross from the 13th century

Another feature was the altar commemorating the 4 martyrs of the city, including figurative heads

Moving on from the Cathedral, the next site was the Basilica down the hill. This is a surprising mixture. One large side chapel has been reworked in a modernist style,

another is an amazing piece of 18th century decoration,

notable for a petrified boy choirister employed to ask for donations.

whilst the main altar is far older, with the sides of sarcophaguses in the walls around it. These are a strange mixture of a pagan story, several Christian ones and a very simple design.

The Basilica is named after St Felix, the deacon closely associated with St Narcissus who is the main local saint who as bishop was martyred under the Romans. It's interesting to note the visibility given to Felix in the circumstances.

The church was also notable for the coloured roof bosses. These were traditional; research is making it clear that our perception of Roman and Medieval statues as white is wholly unjustified, though sadly it would be a brave cleric who allowed the full restoration of the ancient colours in their church.

This summary of the doctrinal significance of the Baroque in painting is an interesting point

The Basilica is perhaps half way up the hill; the Cathedral is higher.

The third building that is normally on a single ticket and was free that day is the city museum - which is actually mostly church art as well. Sadly the audioguide wasn't available, and some of the captions lacked English (it's amazing how many do have the language of the Empire though), so at times I was struggling to work out what was what, though admittedly most Christian art is obvious.

This painting raises some interesting issues; note the way that the Christian era is presented as being taught by a woman: to some extent this reflects the personification of the church.

A temporary exhibition shows an artist doing what photoshop will now do for you almost automatically:

The survey form at the end of the tour showed a certain prejudice; it appears that classical music is not ‘actual’ music!

However at the bottom of the steps up to the Cathedral there is a former church building that now houses a range of military memorabilia. I assume that it is a FORMER church - in the sense that the building was obvious built as a church, and it is now cluttered with display cases, but the presence of this banner complicates the issue.

In the context of the history of Spain under Franco, this may be an official church confraternity; certainly the Roman soldier uniforms stored in profusion in the display cases may point to this. The emphasis on the church as the soldiers of Christ is, of course, wildly unfashionable today, but that is no excuse for us to reject the call to 'fight valiantly', with the experience of shared combat offering a parallel to our own experience of being tempted.

The collection seems to be an equal opportunities offender; having items from Fascist Italy,

Nazi Germany

and the Soviet Union.

My evening meal emerged from an automat, taking the concept of the fast food joint to its logical conclusion. The most that could be said for it is that it was cheap, quick and harmless.

The food came inside a plastic package in which it had obviously been microwaved.

 Or should that be Estacio, which is Spanish? I have no idea how an outsider should deal with these issues. Estacio is carved into the building...

Many years ago, as a teenager wandering around London on my own whilst staying with my half brother, I did a line in visiting the railway terminals of London equipped with a book with that title. I even got to the now demolished Broad Street - the terminus of the 'Outer Circle' adjacent to Liverpool Street, whose line has been diverted at Dalston Junction to be a component of the Overground, though the trains now go south east to Canary Wharf and elsewhere in South London.

So as a fun(!) prelude to Sagrada Familia I took myself to this station. It's LARGE - some 14 platforms covered by the train shed arches, i.e. more than Manchester Piccadilly, but virtually unused; most of the services that used to go there now go to Sants, the main Barcelona station. A very few long distance services still terminate here - perversely those going to other parts of Spain rather than France, but for the most part it is the home of a few medium distance services. It's not even integrated with the Metro; to get to that you have to walk 3 sides of a square. Yet the history of railways in Barcelona is here; the line out to Pineda - or at least the first part of it - was built to come into here, as the plaque reveals.

To get there the most accessible route was to change at Sants station. This is a boring, largely underground station that is reminiscent of Birmingham New Street; efficient but souless, Estacion de France's fate was determined by the building of underground lines to allow trains to go THROUGH Barcelona has left this terminus station largely redundant. It could surely close many of the platforms and put the land to better use, a solution which has worked well in Hull. On the other hand one should never say never; the history of railways is that closing 'redundant' facilities often comes back to haunt you; being forced to send freight trains along the Piccadilly Oxford Road choke point is as a result of closing the line that has been converted into the cycle route in South Manchester. Similarly Marylebone, London seemed fated for closure until Chiltern Railways showed how it could be the hub of a newly popular system.

The degree to which it is a minor station is demonstrated by its not having the automatic ticket barriers that serious stations have; instead one is free to wander the platforms at will. I said it had 14 platforms - actually there is a 15th beyond the end of the train shed; and significant sidings further over. Obviously once upon it was busy; these days it is QUIET!

Looking back at the train shed

Looking up - I'm not sure if the blue areas are clear glass or voids...

This graffiti on a train's side is sad. To be fair I've not seen a lot of that on Barcelona's trains.

The stone owls on several door lintels show a sense of humour.

The interior space is mildly reminiscent of Grand Central Station, New York, with masses of space and a VAST waiting room. The ceiling of the main area

From the outside; mildly reminiscent of King's Cross. It's no St Pancras, but it made for a pleasant interlude.

The area around the station has a feeling of prosperity. It also appears to have the presence of my church - CCM- to an extent my leaders have not previously revealed...

The reality is more boring

Round the corner is an attractive derelict building

And to be fair this new one does have some flair

Though this feature visible from the station platform puts them both to shame!

I then travelled up to Sagrada Familia, the wildly over the top 'parish church' for which Barcelona is, perhaps, most famous. I'd avoided the Metro so far, and this proved to be my only journey. It has some remarkable features; power is from a RAIL above the tracks, rather than either a 3rd rail or wires, as is conventional.

It also gave the time of the next train in minutes and seconds

The theory was that I would wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed, rush down to the station and enjoy another day of culture vulturing in Barca. Didn't happen. Didn't plan ahead. When I did conclude that what I wanted to do was to go to the 'national palace of Culture - the confection built for the 1928 world's fair - I then realised that it would be shut before I could have a decent time there. My enthusiasm slumped and I decided I'd stay around Pineda.

So I decided to walk up the beach - or at least the paved path beside the beech. Various points of surprise emerged; the railway, which has been single track for a long time by now, with the stations offering passing points, is left wholly unfenced.

The land inland from the railway track becomes farmland and despite its reputation, the entire sandy coastline of Spain hasn't been converted into tourist terrain. However it is notable that the next station after Pineda is at the site of a tourist hotel / complex, notable for being on the sea side of the railway as well as a different hotel within the line of the railway. One of them was called the Mercury Hotel - one is forced to wonder if that is named after the Roman God, the planet or the late popular music artiste...

The real surprise however was a pill box. Where I was born - near the sea near Rye - had a couple of these left overs from the 2nd world war, as well as a Martello Tower, from the Napoleonic era.

(Actually the picture above shows not only the Martello tower but also the house in which I was born - at about 1 o'clock on the photograph, at the top right hand corner of the empty car park.)

Both were designed as defensive points to help enable early resistance to French invasions. However it was a surprise to find a pill box on the sands of Catalonia. It turns out that it, and a larger one that has been washed away by the sea, was built during the Civil War by the local Repubicans in fear of an invasion by the Francoist. This never happened. After the civil war the national army refurbished it with the thought of resisting an Allied invasion - to provide a back door to France - but this never happened either. After the war they were forgotten, but in recent years local historians have accepted the challenge. The result you see before you...

I walked all the way to the next station - which isn't that far after Pineda, and surely only exists because of the hotels. Also at the hotel I saw the mouth of a largely dry river - which in other parts of the Med would probably be known as a wadi. What was notable about this was the amount of effort that has gone into controlling it. Whilst the side that neighbours the hotel probably justifies the effort, the wall and the metal barrier above it seem to serve NO purpose; however I'm sure that someone made a nice profit out of building the combination.

Another uninspiring encounter was with a pigeon. One expects seagulls at the sea - not the mangy flying rats whose presence we enjoy in Manchester in profusion...

Some other observations from the trip: the management of the hotel seems to want to avoid certain patterns of behaviour:

It's interesting that it's the only sign I've seen there where ENGLISH is the first language!

Although Pineda is generally ordinary types, this house is clearly owned by someone with some serious money. My first question is 'Why'... my cynical thought is that it is owned by a stupidly wealthy plutocrat who wants to be able to send his teenage kids away and out from under his feet all summer, given Pineda's reputation as a party town. Note again the unsubtle bars over the ground floor windows...

I failed to rouse the enthusiasm for any more activity on the next couple of days. Fighting tumblr and trying to organise the next bits of the trip ate time quite alarmingly, as did having to move rooms when the Oak Hall mob departed - after I'd convinced the hotel that I HAD booked for the next three days. It appears that my ability to disrupt software persists; I'm only hoping that it doesn't extend to AirBnB's as well. The first problem was that there isn't space for me to stay from Tuesday to Wednesday here; Wednesday is a holiday, All Saints Day, with the result that the hotel is full. It appears to be their half term equivalent. So I arranged a move to Girona - except I got the day wrong. I then proceeded to panic and cancelled that very cheap booking at a great location, and instead have got a single night at a 4* hotel in the wrong direction if I want to go back to the old city of Girona. Once again evidence that I don't do well under pressure... But then that's what it means to be having a learning experience. One only learns if it hurts - at some level.

The move to the new room - I think to ensure that all the members of a coach party were in the same grade of room - has landed me in a superior room. A particular feature is that there is a second, sliding, door that separates the bathroom space (basins - sic - on one side - separate cubicles for WC and shower on the other side of the passage. This adds sound insulation from the noise of the corridor outside. Like the one I was in the first night, it feature a minifridge, which being empty, encouraged me to visit the Aldi that we'd seen from the coach on the way into town. I only purchased a couple of 2L bottles of diet cola @ 49c. The route there led me through what felt like cheaper housing, revealing the presence of a visible Muslim minority. The liberal spin on the story of the Kingdom's 'convert or leave' policy, that this was to achieve a religiously united country, fails to note the rebellion by the allegedly convert Muslims in the aftermath of the final extinction of Andalus. Whilst by no means a justification for the horrors of the Inquisition, it does add to the story...

This was the day of the official trip to Barcelona. To enable us to stay late for the fountain show, we left after lunch, so I spent the morning trying to catch up. One day I will get good at blogging without pain - and it does seem to be getting easier - but...

Our first stop was Sagrada Familia. As I'm booked in to go tomorrow, and there are stupid amounts written about this, I will merely record that I and the speaker for the week walked all the way round the building. Only six more times to go - and a band of trumpets.

The massive numbers visiting means that coaches are forced to park quite some way away, and are heavily restricted in how long they can stay. However the effect is that the streets are not overwhelmed!

Our second stop was the Barcelona Olympic Stadium. In the aftermath of the Olympics it became the home of one of the city's football teams, but that team's decline means that they can no longer afford to rent it. As a result it is barely used. It, or at least one entry point with some shops and toilets, is open to all, allowing visitors to get a feel for it.

Then they dropped at the southern end of Las Ramblas; this is the main shopping street of Barcelona, running from the Place de Catlonia down to the port. I should have taken the option of a trip to the Aquarium, but instead wandered mostly aimless up to the cathedral and Mares (took a few more photographs) as well as encountering a pro-independence rally. This was notable for the intensity of the singing - with a strong emotional overtone.

Wednesday was a 'free day', so I chose to return to Barcelona to fill in some gaps from the earlier trip. Specifically this included a further visit to the Cathedral to look at the crypt and the choir, but more absorbingly, the Mares Museum's 'Collector's Cabinet'.

In the crypt of the cathedral is the sarcophagus of the young saint to whom the Cathedral is dedicated.

This offers a full description of the 14th century Sarcophagus' imagery.

The other item was the choir - the area where the clergy and choir(!) of the Cathedral sit for services.

Interestingly this was described as the 'heart' of the Cathedral. Given the role in Catholic theology given to the celebration of the Eucharist, such a term would usually be reserved for the High Altar; however given the choir's use for most of the regular worship of a cathedral, the term does seem quite appropriate. What is unusual is the gap between the choir and the high altar because the stairs down the the crypt of St Eulalia are between the two.

The main part of the day was in the Mares Museum's Collector's Cabinet. It is an extraordinary collection of oddments; there are many early playing cards, evidencing the development of the modern 4 suits from earlier forms, usually of only 12 cards in a suit, excluding the queen and making the 10 a decorated picture card. This also demonstrates how boring modern cards are; the only defence is that the ones today are far more usable; you can see immediately what it is, rather than having to engage with the precise number of swords or circles. In one set the king, jack and ten of each suit were of different cultures: Chinese, Turkish and two types of European.

Other items included tin soldiers,

various early bikes

theatre and artists' society dinner invitations - interestingly in FRENCH, not either Spanish or Catalan, as well as some erotic photos - with virtually no flesh showing as well as a variety of Eastern European Crossbow bolts -

These two places illustrate how history can treat places with the same status at one point very differently. Once these two places were the seats of their respective count. Now one is a major centre for its area, with a population of the order of 100,000, the other is a minor village of some 1,500 people with medieval streets and a tourist industry, but little real significance.

Both are Roman towns, captured by the Visigoths and later the Arab invaders from North Africa. Initially restored to Christian rule by Charlemagne in the 8th century, they were both established as counties by him, and exchanged hands between 'France' and  Islamic rulers of 'Spain' (the inverted commas reflect the fact that the names are anachronistic simplifications) until the 11th century. They both finally end up as part of the County of Barcelona and subsequently the Kingdom of Aragon; whilst Girona was integrated into the County of Barcelona in the 9th century, Beslau retains its separate status into the 12th. Both had significant Jewish communities which were eliminated over the years. In Besalu this was done by walling them off from the rest of the community with only one, difficult, gateway to leave by until they all left. The final end coming in 1492 when all Jews were forced to leave Aragon or convert.

We arrived first in Girona, and started by walking round the city walls. These were a disappointment; whilst providing an good view, there wasn't actually that much to see. The walls have also been 'restored' unsympathetically; a number of towers of very modern brick have been added with metal spiral staircases that allow visitors to have a good view, but give little insight into what the towers must once have been like. Similarly the inner wall has been built up of the same brick; creating a safe, if narrow, pathway. It is illuminating to compare this with both Jerusalem and Chester, where the walls and towers have been restored, if at all, with stone of the same type as the original.

Having returned to ground level, a walk through the old town along the river (aka the tourist trap area) allowed me to return to the Cathedral. This is well presented as a museum, with an excellent audioguide to the highlights, of which there are many. The Wikipedia gallery provides some excellent pictures.

There is a second major church in Girona, a bascilica. This is slightly down the hill from the Cathedral. I ran out of time to look in it - the ticket (yes, you have to pay to enter the Cathedral) is good for both.

So we went on to Besalu. They've worked at developing this for tourists! The parking space is on one side of the river, then you cross the river on a medieval bridge into the town.

Medieval as in: first built then. It was actually destroyed during the civil war...

Meanwhile they have built a very boring modern bridge to allow the road to around the old town. This works well!

As with Bath - though dating from an earlier era - the decline of prosperity at a particular time left the town with no need or incentive to rebuild; instead the it has been preserved as it was. A measure of its prosperity is that it had TWO monastic communities - a Benedictine monastery and an Augustinian Priory. The church of the Benedictines, now no longer the home of a religious community, along with a secular church (secular is the opposite of religious, which is the generic term for all monks, canons, friars and other species of vowed people in the Roman Catholic church) has survived, whilst only the Apse of the Augustinians' establishment - located within the perimeter of the castle - still exists. The two churches are only open on a schedule; otherwise you have to peer through glass doors inside the narfax to see the nave and sanctuary.

The former monastic church. Note the massive size of the belfry.

The town is not prosperous; although tourism appears to provide a living, and there is the bonus of the miniature museum providing entertainment by showing a random collection of objects defined by their being on the mini to nano scale.

Yet on the town square there is a derelict building.

There is a small, free museum notable mainly for the variety of sausages hanging from the ceiling.

Though there is a small selection of Roman weights; a reminder of its deep past.