Overnight visit to Cornudella Monsant, near Tarragona November 28-29, 2009

About 1 1/2 hours to the south-west by car, lies the little mountain village of Cornudella Monsant, where a Coty colleague of Pat's spends weekends and some holidays. We have now visited them there three times, enjoying wonderful Catalan specialty dishes each time and getting to know their family and friends. The first time we went late last fall was to pick olives and watch the first pressing of the oil at the village co-op. We had our grilled lunch by the open fireplace, in the room below which opens up in summer to the back yard and pool.















The old wine cellar around the corner boasts many rare and old bottles, not to mention a healthy layer of dust!



















The view of the village from the house.















Joan's vineyards with some grapes protected from the birds with paper covers. They would be picked later to allow the highest sugar content to develop. We found them might sweet then!




















A brand new baby olive tree!




















Joan with his two young sons showing Pat how to pick olives using a "rake" powered by air pressure.















A mountain water reservoir nearby, full at that time.















Persimmons on the tree!















The village olive co-op ready to press the new crop.














The press ready to produce olive oil.




















Olives being dumped into the press.















Day 2: a visit to the mountain village of Siurana, where we would spend Pat's 55th birthday after Christmas with Steph and Lou (see later blog).















The village of Siurana, all in stone, has a population of about 50 residents!















The outer "street" of the village.














Pat and Kathie in front of the Romanesque Church.















Here is the hotel we stayed at in December-great views and a wonderful restaurant!















The village Church with the reservoir below.

First day-trip into Southern France November 22, 2009

The day after our visit to Parc Guell in Barcelona, we decided to drive into sunny Southern France and explore their Mediterranean coast a little bit. We left late morning from Granollers along the AP7 (Autopista with tolls) for about 145 kms. to the first exit before Perpignan on the coast. The Pyrenees were quite spectacular on our left as we drove into France, vineyards and orchards abound in the area. We headed towards the Sea and stopped for lunch in Banyuls-sur-Mer at Claude's Restaurant, the only one open along the beach-front "strip", as it was very much "off season".

We took Steph and Lou there for lunch again at the end of December and Claude, who remembered "les canadiens", took great delight in greeting us French-style (both cheeks) then introducing us to some other patrons as "des canadiens qui habitent en Espagne et qui mangent en France"! We will be back-fish, salad with goat's cheese and the local aperitif, Banyuls, were all delicious! Merci bien, Claude! A la prochaine!

View of Port-Vendres














Local wines from Cave Tombour-we woke the owner up from a nap in his caravan!














The sea front at Banyuls-sur-Mer






























A map rendition in tile on City Hall




















Patrons at Claude's enjoying lunch in the sun (as we did)















Leaving Banyuls-sur-Mer on the coastal road high above the Med are some incredible views of the Sea, surrounding orchards and hills, and below the village of Cerbere, just at the Spanish border.















Au revoir!