By Ava Kabouchy – Photography & Travel Website
When Ava Kabouchy took the plunge and exchanged the Atlantic temperatures of Maine for the Mediterranean temperatures of southwest France, she additionally gained a totally completely different color scheme. Based in Perpignan, she spent 3 years on this multi-cultural metropolis and found the numerous layers of French tradition and historical past.
Follow her, as she takes us by way of this each French and Catalan metropolis and reveals us its vibrant magnificence.
I had by no means heard of Perpignan till I made a decision to spend my first nonworking 12 months relearning French someplace in France. I checked out a map of France on-line and my eyes went to the south, in search of a heat local weather and I noticed the identify “Perpignan”. Then I checked out google photos of Perpignan and noticed palm bushes, blue skies, and the emblematic Castillet, town’s medieval gate, and my determination was made. Called by some the second sunniest metropolis in France, Perpignan has 250 days of sunshine, and its personal micro-climate. It is likely to be overcast and gray in Toulouse, solely a two-hour prepare trip away, however the solar might be shining in Perpignan.
Off I went to the University of Perpignan which provided moderately priced, full-time programs with the potential for a homestay. I landed with a retired French couple – the husband was a chef. My nice success! I loved quite a lot of French dishes each night, as soon as together with frogs’ legs as soon as, and as soon as for me. When my son requested me what I needed to do inside the household, I answered, “Well, uh, I have to make my bed in the morning.” No house responsibilities, no laundry, no cooking. I studied French with wonderful professors, one in every of whom efficiently spent eight hours on the research of the subjunctive mode within the grammar class and made it fascinating, no small feat. So, my non-working years began with simply learning and having fun with my new environment, town’s medieval historical past, a compact metropolis with its café tradition, the place all of the points of interest might be walked to, glimpses of Catalan and Gypsy tradition, and a bus costing one euro to Collioure on the Mediterranean, a straightforward day journey. I had deliberate to remain in Perpignan only for the 12 months. I stayed as a substitute for 3. Why go away?
When you go to Perpignan, you’ll not see any of France’s well-known monuments, however you will notice colors and extra colors. Photography has been a ardour of mine for a very long time, and never noticing Perpignan’s vibrant colors could be not possible. Colours in all places! The blue skies, the pastel colors of the structure, the bricks of the Castillet, the garnet formed theatre, L’Archipel, a vibrant crimson inside and outside, designed to represent the world’s garnet trade, the contemporary greens and fruits of the Casanyes Market.
Salvador Dali, who referred to as Perpignan in Catalan, his native language: “el centre du mon“, “the centre of the world”, caught a few of these colors, such because the one he painted of the Perpignan prepare station. You will expertise Catalan tradition and its spicy delicacies together with delicacies of southwestern France, quite a lot of dishes made with duck and lots of others with mussels and different seafoods. You will pattern a few of France’s best wines from close by Collioure, whose rocky, dry soil and steep, southern uncovered hills create intense, full-bodied wines.
For Lovers of History
If you’re historical past buff, seeing the Palais des Rois de Mallorque, the Palace of the Kings of Mallorca, will intrigue you with its medieval historical past and immensity of its gothic structure. The Palace was begun in 1274 as a fortress by the primary King of Majorca, King Jaime II, who wished to guard Perpignan’s rising prosperity. It is believed that Perpignan was settled across the starting of the tenth century and have become a industrial centre for the Roussillon area at the moment.
The Musée Hyacinth Rigaud will delight you with wall dimension work of Louis XIV and even of the Sun King’s mom. Hôtel Pams, not a resort however a mansion constructed between 1852 and 1872, was constructed by Pierre Bardou, who made his fortune by manufacturing cigarette papers, now owned by town of Perpignan and open to the general public.
New Surroundings, New Experiences, All in Vibrant Colour
Each September, Perpignan hosts a world photojournalism pageant Visa Pour L’Image, showcasing reported and unreported information occasions all over the world. The pageant brings mild to environmental issues all over the world, how nations could or is probably not addressing them, and the results of governmental inaction. It additionally highlights cultural practices, something from weddings to the lives of nomadic tribes, senior ladies enjoying a sport of basketball on one wall, and the tough remedy of prisoners on one other.
Surprises Around Every Corner
As you stroll alongside Perpignan’s medieval streets, it’s possible you’ll be stunned by what or whom you see. The metropolis’s slender streets attest to the summer season’s warmth, because the buildings have been constructed shut to at least one one other, creating cooling shade.
Cuisine for Everyone’s Tastes
Along the Canal Vauban, which runs by way of the centre of Perpignan and is bordered by cafés and retails retailers, additionally, you will discover Les Halles, an indoor market, which opened in 2017. Even earlier than coming into the big market space, you may be tempted by an assortment of gelati and French pastries on the entrance. Entering the primary space of Les Halles, nonetheless, you is likely to be overwhelmed by the alternatives awaiting you – which of the 27 stands to go to to buy contemporary fruits, meat, fish, oysters, shrimp, an enormous assortment of olives and dried fruits, cheese from the Pyrenees, regional wines, and craft beers. Or you’ll be able to select amongst a number of eating places and benefit from the delicacies of Morocco, Lebanon, Portugal, Catalonia, or only a well-made American cheeseburger.
Les Halles is most frequently crowded weeknights and weekends and there may be an out of doors seating space and if you’re early sufficient, you’ll discover a snug couch the place you’ll be able to sit and luxuriate in your meal with a glass of wine within the convivial ambiance. You would possibly even be capable to study to bop the tango or watch a soccer sport with some native residents.
Cathedral of St. Jean the Baptist and the Flag of Catalonia
The 14th century Saint John the Baptist Cathedral in-built gothic fashion structure with one
central nave is within the centre of Perpignan. Catalan tradition and historical past are a part of the historical past of this area of France, Roussillon. The crimson and yellow Catalan flag, symbolizing blood and battlefields, might be seen in quite a few locations in Perpignan and throughout the area.
Celebrating Perpignan’s Medieval Past
Next to the cathedral is the cloistered cemetery, Campo Santo, the place a medieval village is recreated yearly with singing troubadours, music and dancing, knights in fight, and demonstrations of forging, leather-based crafts, and pottery making.
Casanyes Market – Off the Tourist Track and Well Worth a Visit
Open air markets might be discovered throughout France. They make up a lot of the tradition of cities and villages and are a social gathering place as a lot as a spot to do one’s day by day meals purchasing. If you’re an early riser, you will notice ladies and men establishing their stalls of contemporary fruit, greens, enormous platters of paella, olives, dried fruit, cheap clothes, jewelry, make-up, and quite a lot of each family gadget conceivable.
The meat markets are all halal, nicely stocked, organized, and clear. Fresh fish from the close by Mediterranean is on the market day-after-day. The market is open every day from 7AM to 1PM, and it isn’t simply what you’ll discover out there, but in addition the folks that you will notice and listen to – pleasant ladies calling to prospects, promising the perfect costs.
Some will even offer you an additional carton of blueberries or no matter fruit it’s possible you’ll be shopping for. I bear in mind filling my bag with quite a lot of vegatables and fruits and after I handed it to the service provider to pay him, he seemed by way of my bag and requested me for six €. The value would simply have been double in any grocery store and with out all of the conviviality of the Casanyes Market.
Two Distinct Cultures Living Side by Side
What makes this market distinctive from others, nonetheless, is the mingling of two very distinct very completely different cultures: Gypsy and North African. The Casanyes Market borders the St. Jacques neighbourhood. which had been a Jewish enclave for a few years till round 1940 when the Gypsy group started transferring in together with African households.
The two communities, Gypsy and North African, are sometimes at odds and violence erupts on occasion, however they do agree on one vital level – they won’t enable the federal government to demolish the neighbourhood because it has proposed doing even with the promise of higher housing. Not solely the Gypsy and North African communities, however native folks as nicely who wished to protect the neighbourhood have been additionally joined by an assortment of native middle-class teams who have been eager to protect St Jacques’ structure and cultural ambiance.
Talks to make the neighbourhood a UNESCO website proceed. These information, nonetheless, don’t cover the realities of life in St. Jacques. Unemployment could be very excessive – some estimates put it at 90% and public help is the norm. School attendance shouldn’t be a excessive precedence for some Gypsy households, creating future issues for the kids who attain maturity with minimal studying and writing abilities. Health is poor amongst many due to a food regimen of processed meals, leading to weight problems and different well being issues.
“Work”, he informed me, “We Need Work”
My French host household has a younger Gypsy man as a part of their household as he’s the daddy of two of their nice grandchildren. This younger man and I had a number of conversations throughout my first 12 months in Perpignan and he informed me of the numerous difficulties he confronted rising up in an impoverished household, and being unable to search out work as a result of his Gypsy background is seemed down upon by many potential employers, including to the restricted education he had as an adolescent. He emphasised the necessity for work among the many younger folks of his group and the way close to to not possible it’s to search out it. Problems of medication and violence have discovered no answer.
A Lively Though Disenfranchised Community
The St. Jacques neighbourhood appears to get up about 4PM when folks congregate outdoors, youngsters working in all places, music being loudly performed. Often as I handed entrances into the properties, I glimpsed unlit, slender staircases and puzzled what life is like for this group, the hardships it should face each day, and but the folks keep. Family ties are very robust.
Among the Gypsy group, there’s a palpable sense of group and togetherness. A younger girl isn’t seen strolling alone inside St. Jacques nor within the centre of Perpignan; she is all the time a part of a gaggle of mates, usually going into city to the low cost clothes retailer – and they’re carefully surveilled. These younger ladies are simply recognizable, nearly all the time wearing black with their lengthy, black hair piled excessive upon their heads.
The neighbourhood shouldn’t be clear and is known as unsafe by many. Trash and particles line the curbs. I had been warned many instances to not stroll by way of St. Jacques at anytime of day or night time, however the colors, sights, and sounds have been too intriguing for me to bypass – partitions coated in vibrant graffiti, folks of all ages sitting outdoors on ragtag sofas and chairs, music enjoying, laundry hanging from entrance home windows day or night time. Not as soon as, even late at night time, nonetheless, did I ever really feel threatened. One night time, in actual fact, upon seeing my digital camera, two younger Gypsy cousins got here as much as me and requested me about it, nothing greater than that. We talked for some time about college, what they have been learning, and the way a lot they loved enjoying soccer. And then I walked safely dwelling
The Sanch: Procession of the Penitents
If you’re in Perpignan on the Friday earlier than Easter, you will notice a convention, which can take your breath away, courting again to 1416 when a Dominican priest, Vincent Ferrier, likened the struggling of Christ to the way in which criminals have been handled on the time. One of his sermons on this matter resulted within the id of executioners and condemned males being hidden to maintain the condemned males from being recognized by indignant households, who may need taken justice into their very own palms. Over the years, the procession of condemned males advanced into La Sanch, which means The Blood, to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus, and for a few years, was forbidden by the Catholic Church as immoral, however La Sanch endured and continues till right now.
Peaceful Demonstrations
The violent protests in France starting in November 2018 towards proposed rises in fuel and gasoline costs have been broadly reported. People supporting and collaborating within the demonstrations wore gilets jaunes, yellow vests, which turned the image of the motion. Paris was the toughest hit, the place companies, vehicles, and shops alongside the famend Champs Elysée’s have been torched and vandalized.
During the three years I spent in Perpignan, I witnessed a number of political demonstrations, not one in every of which was violent – one for greater salaries and improved working circumstances for lecturers, one other for the rights of immigrants, and one by the gilets jaunes, the yellow and vests and their calls for.
One morning close to the Castillet, I occurred upon a lot of women and men wearing employees’ blue uniforms performing an anti-Macron track and dance routine to protest the proposed adjustments by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to present authorities retirement insurance policies. The ambiance was clearly festive – no shouting, no trace of violence, only a group of individuals letting the federal government peacefully understand how they felt, and letting the federal government know their emotions by singing and dancing.
Late one morning after I was in Perpignan centre, I heard automobile horns beating in rhythm and I waited to see what was occurring, considering {that a} well-known individual or politician was on the town, probably Marine Le Pen, a political conservative with ambitions to turn into the subsequent president of France, who may need been visiting politically conservative Perpignan. But the horns weren’t blowing to welcome anybody well-known, however to announce that the gilets jaunes have been coming by way of. The feeling was that of a celebration or pageant, under no circumstances not like the dancers singing and protesting President Macron’s proposed coverage of adjustments in retirement legal guidelines.
People have been waving to the gilets jaunes, displaying help in the way in which that so many issues are completed in Perpignan – joyfully and with a lot laughter. Later that day after I was again with my host household, we heard bikes, one after the opposite, passing in entrance of the condominium. Once once more, the gilets jaunes, lots of of them on bikes have been passing by. Residents, together with my host household and myself, went out onto the balconies to cheer them on and wave to our neighbours.
Take the One-Euro Bus
Perpignan boasts about being solely 20 minutes from the Mediterranean coast, and significantly from the colorful, Catalan city of Collioure, the place anchovies are caught, processed, and bought. Easily reached by automobile, however you too can take the one-euro bus, which is able to drop you off across the nook from the 14th century Château Royal overlooking one in every of Collioure’s seashores.
Hikers can stroll alongside the Sentier Littoral, the coastal path, as I did someday in a January and considered the Mediterranean on one facet and the Pyrenees on the opposite, with its snow-capped peak Canigou, 2,875 meters, nearly 9,000 ft. By probability in a single afternoon in a January, the temperature had reached 26C, 79F, a lot appreciated by somebody like me from Maine or anybody in search of a little bit of winter heat.
The wines of Collioure are well-known through-out France due to the distinctive dryness of the white wines constituted of grapes grown in dry, rocky soil on excessive, south-facing slopes overlooking the Mediterranean at an incline of fifty%. Having pushed previous these slopes or hiked above them within the Alberes Mountains, I’ve puzzled how folks handle to reap the grapes on such steep land, however they do, and the scrumptious wines whether or not white, crimson, or rosé are proof of their labour. So a lot about Roussillon is about color, and in Collioure, you will discover properties painted in pastel colors, paint left over from the paint of the fishing boats, and a summer season pageant celebrating Catalan music and tradition.
A Vibrant City Not to be Overlooked
Perpignan is a small metropolis, one for all seasons, one from which there isn’t any exodus in August as there may be from Paris or from the Dordogne area the place giant numbers of expats go away in January and February in search of hotter climes. Theatre, cinemas, wine tastings, open air markets, and only a easy stroll by way of town’s winding streets will all the time offer you one thing to see and to do, one thing to take pleasure in, one thing new to study, one thing to have a good time.
Getting there
Barcelona’s El Prat is the closest worldwide airport. From there, you’ll be able to take the metro for 4 euros or a taxi for about 25 euros to Sants prepare station. The journey by prepare takes about one and a half hours, and the prepare goes from Barcelona to Perpignan 3 times a day. Regular flights and trains go away from Paris as nicely.
Where to remain
Hotel de la Loge is positioned proper within the centre of Perpignan, throughout from the vacationer workplace the place the English-speaking workers will enable you with tour preparations and which websites to go to. Hotel de la Loge is a favorite amongst guests to Perpignan and is positioned on one of many metropolis’s typical slender streets, and the setting is quiet.
Where to eat
My response to that is – anyplace and in all places. All sorts of delicacies might be present in Perpignan and amongst my favourites is L’Arago on the Place L’Arago, a brief distance from Hotel de la Loge. A really nice outside seating space is on the market and there are numerous scrumptious decisions on the menu.
About Ava Kabouchy
As a baby, Ava was fascinated by world maps, which later became travels to many elements of the world. She has labored in a number of African nations, created a microcredit group for ladies in Honduras, and did a volunteer images gig for a clinic for a Mayan group in a distant mountainous area of Guatemala. Recently, she hiked alongside the Camino de Santiago in Spain and in France, travelled in Morocco, fulfilling a childhood dream of strolling barefoot within the Sahara and one other of seeing the aurora borealis in Iceland.
Ava is the writer of the lately printed “Where in the World is Grammie Now?”, a e-book for younger readers to show them about Saudi Arabia, a rustic not usually studied in center college curricula. She has additionally authored a e-book on her 4 years in Saudi Arabia: “Wanderlust, A New Lease on Life in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.
Ava makes her dwelling in southwest France and on a distant island off the coast of Maine, USA.
Find out extra about Ava Kabouchy on her web site.