There’s a joke about places that are quiet in the evenings and on weekends, it goes: “I went to xxx once, but it was closed.” When I lived in New Zealand, you could fill in the name of anyplace in the country.
Today we had a similar experience in a nearby seaside town. We went to Collioure and it was full. Literally. There was no place to park a car within a kilometer. Once you got that far away, you were back on the highway and there was no parking at all. I think it was the combination of being Sunday, tourist season and market day.
So we abandoned the attempt and drove a little bit north to Argelès-sur-Mer instead. It was perhaps more modern and not as pretty, but we found it interesting to see how the French enjoy themselves at the seaside.
The first thing we noticed was this giant exercise class. Given the heat, I expected that it would be over in 30 minutes. But 90 minutes later, it was still going strong.
Not every marina comes with an up-close view of the Pyrenees.
My advice would be to stay to mid-channel.
Having dipped our toes in the Mediterranean, we made our way back to Pierre Peugeot and headed to the pretty-famous village of Céret. Why famous? It was a place favored for work and relaxation by many famous modern artists. I mean folks like Picasso, Chagall, Dali and so on.
The little village is a dream, but the main attraction is the Modern Art museum. Buckle up, you’re going to see a lot of it.
Most of these paintings are of Céret by various artists.
Various pottery works by Picasso. I call them pottery, better informed folks may have a different term. Ceramics?
Paintings by Edouard Pignon. I was not familiar with his work, but I’m now a fan.
A large work in a room of its own by Marc Chagall.
The work of Joan Miró.
The interesting, if somewhat creepy, art of Joan Ponç.
There was a temporary exhibition upstairs celebrating color.
This bird (duck?) is made of bits of old painted wood wired together.
A final look at the Main Street of Céret, lined with Plane trees.
