Yesterday was a beautifully sunny hot Mediterranean day and so we delayed our departure from Camping de la Brise and instead decided to explore Ste-Marie-de-la-Mer, which is just a few minutes walk from the campsite.
Ste-Marie-de-la-Mer is a very old village, being mentioned by the Romans in the 4th Century AD. Now there is nothing to indicate this except a very incongruous looking Romanesque church which dominates the centre of the town. The church is extremely unusual looking, the reason for which is that it was built, starting in the 9th Century, as both a church and a fortress against Saracen and Viking raiders. Apart from the church the town is now 100% holidaymakers and retirees.
It being a Sunday we were surprised to find the narrow streets crammed with day trippers and the restaurants, which were empty when we had our pizza a couple of nights ago, were now all full. With some difficulty we found a table at a restaurant which offered the option of a vegetarian menu, although when the veggie option included “starch of the day” Sarah quickly reverted to the normal menu.
I munched my way through two local specialities – bull sausage and a bull stew, the first of which was a little bland and the second delicious. Sarah’s Leeks in Vinaigrette and Clam Linguine, were both very good. However, although we are nowhere near Italy, this restaurant appeared to have adopted the Italian Slow Food movement and taken it to a whole new level. Over two hours for two courses is taking it a bit far in my opinion. We left the restaurant €100 poorer, which reminded us how expensive eating out in France is. Given our extensive exploration of Europe in Basil, leaving Scandinavia to one side, I would say France and Belgium are the two most expensive countries for dining out. Our food in this restaurant was good, but nothing special.
Today we moved on along the Mediterranean to a campsite near Agde. Camping Tamarissière (43.287821, 3.441252 – €19 ACSI) is situated on a beach, which will suit Skye very nicely. Even better, unlike the previous campsites, everything is open – restaurant, bread, croissants, swimming pool etc. There’s very little in the way of birdlife, but I can’t have everything!
