Passing through Perpignan

Coming home from Spain on Friday, we make a stop for the afternoon in Perpignan to check out the town. We lunch at a brasserie's sidewalk café having pizza all around (except for Christie of course).


With a map of Perpignan from the office du tourisme and our Green Guide walking tour directions, we head out to see the old medieval part of town.

We're disappointed that the major attraction, the palace du roi de Majorca is closed. But we take the tour discovering a couple of churches, a rather sketchy part of the old town with narrow streets, and a part of the old walls of the city. Interesting, but not stellar, although the shopping streets could be fun to explore. Are we getting jaded?




We decide to try to at least drive to the palace, but it is after 5 and we get caught in rush hour traffic, which at one point is true gridlock where 4 streets converge and cars fill the intersection so that no one can move. We're worried about losing Christie as cars are going every which direction. So we pull over and end up having to make a loop once more in the same grid-locked intersections. We finally get out of town and make it home in time for Christie to make chicken and ratatouille to go with the onion soup we had made earlier. It feels good to be back "home" and into a more normal routine. Mike and Browen are exhausted from their 24 hour trek from the states compounded by a long day of touring in Barcelona. We all sink gratefully into our own beds with no alarms needed in the morning.