Last Saturday, our group visited the fortified city of Aigues Mort and the coastal city of Le Grau de Roi. Aigues Morts is similar to Carcassonne, but it's ramparts are still fully accessible all the way around the city and it is a residential city, which means it has many more residents than Carcassonne. The big draw in Aigues Mort? Salt marshes, red salt marshes to be exact. My host father was an engineer at the salt company there for 15 years and it is quite impressive. The mountains of salt lining the red water seen from the ramparts at Aigues Mort are pictured below. According to our tour guide, the area is a habitat for pink flamingos, which become pink from drinking the red water and eating the "petits crevettes" (minuscule shrimp-like creatures) in the water.
 |
| Salt, red salt marsh as viewed from castle wall |
The castle and ramparts were amazing for many reasons, in particular that the entire structure is still standing centuries after it was first constructed and because of its significance in the religious wars between Catholics and other Christian sects. The grand tower at Aigues Mort was a women's prison during the protestant purge under King Louis XIV in the late 1600's. We toured the towers where the women were held and though no pictures were allowed (technically), it was quite eery. They engraved their names and how long they were imprisoned in the walls. Everyone used the same toilet- a hole the floor in one corner that led to a deep hole. There was almost no light in the towers and the conditions were horrible. The crime these women committed was being married or somehow associated with a protestant male who refused to convert to Catholicism. The men were frequently killed, but their wives were put in prison.
 |
| King Louis XIV, whose statue sat in the prison tower |
 |
| City of Aigues Mort as pictured from the ramparts. The castle in at the end of the road the middle. This picture shows just how big the ramparts were and how they stretched all the way around the city. |
The final part of this trip was a two hour long catamaran trip. We cruised on the Mediterranean along the coast and it was quite wavy, but overall an excellent sail-yacht ride. The Mediterranean has deepest blue water I have ever seen and the day was perfect- sunny, warm, and just a bit breezy. Sadly, no pictures here other than of the sail to give an idea of how big the catamaran was. There were topless European women so I couldn't really take any pictures once we got going...
 |
Sail of the large catamaran we rode on
|
Overall, it was a great saturday trip, the last one before classes start. I have been to two of my classes so far and they have been mostly with other Americans, but taught in french. Today was my first day of grammar and writing methodology and it's a class I'm actually looking forward to, because it will help me immensely when I have to write papers for actual french professors. I have class monday afternoons, wednesday mornings, and all day tuesday/thursday, with fridays off. This makes a great schedule for travel! I'm most likely going to Paris in three weeks and I'm spending a week in the UK at the end of October. Blog posts will be less travel stories, more life in france oriented until I travel again. I'm going to a post about a typical day's food, the french university system, french culture, and of course, keep updating about what I'm doing in my classes. Until next week...au revoir.
No comments:
Post a Comment