Céret and Elne - France Day Trip

Tuesday, my Sète Accueil group went on a day trip to the much-farther-South of France, to Céret and Elne. Our bus left Sète at 8:00 am; we drove straight towards the snowy peaks of the Pyrenees, stopping at an aire for coffee, but making the Museum of Modern Art in Céret by 10:30 - this was our first stop in a *very* full day!***

Picasso

Chagall

Picasso's pottery

Picasso

Picasso's Portrait of Jacqueline

Outside, nature's art

From Céret, we drove back over a marvelous stone bridge - I so wanted a picture of this! Imagine a multi-arched bridge over a gushing stream, with snow-covered peaks in the background! Between that, and the virtual forest of blooming mimosas and cherry trees, I would have stopped every 5 minutes for a photo! My fellow travelers don't know how lucky they were :-\

We went on to the Cathedral and Cloister in Elne, where I met my alter-ego, *Sainte* Julie...

Who, me?

Glass and metal fixtures (and a happy accident with a hand!)

This piece of art is a bit more interesting than you might think - many people take it for a tryptic, but in fact, it's a four-sided cabinet to hold the altar pieces. This is one of only three known in the world - the others are in Barcelona and Dallas!

Inside of the cabinet

Outside of the cabinet

From the cloister, we went to the Swiss maternity hospital - an iconic site which was a place of life and hope. From 1939-1944, the owner, Elisabeth Eidenbenz, rescued a thousand pregnant women from internment camps, saving the lives of almost 600 babies.

Somewhere in there, we stopped for lunch. Our menu included a French classic - Hog Jowls (joues de porc) :-)  We also had sangria, a salad, wine, and a dessert that I really couldn't fit, but also couldn't resist! It was a gâteau moelleux de poire, avec caramel au beurre salé (cake with pears and salty caramel) - omg! The wine was a specialty of the region, called banyuls - the grapes are put in a barrel and "cooked" by the sun (cuit au soleil).

We got back to Sète by 7:30pm - a very long day!

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*** I only posted a small selection of photos from the trip here. See the album for more.