Tag Archives: Carcassonne

Day 25 – Tango to Évora

Still raining … hm. Ah well. Four weeks are long, but not that long. We have to get going. The seven stork families and their clattering are still very enjoyable background sound to our packing up. Évora is next on our little itinerary. Known for a very well persevered roman temple and a lovely medieval walled old town. It is actually part of the Unesco heritage list.

preserved by being turned into a medival storage bnuilding

We found a parking spot near the university within the wall – a good spot to explore on foot – strapped into our gear and faced the ongoing drizzle. It still turned out a pretty good location. Yet, there was a constant battle going for our moods between the grey wet drizzle from above and the picturesque sights right in front of us. We held on, mood wise, and Évora started to evoke other medieval old towns we have seen in the past. For me, it reminded me most of Avignon. Recent Carcassonne came to mind as well, although this was bigger and had a much more lived in feeling compared to the open air tourist attraction vibe of back then.

Lunch was a brilliant experience at an all vegetarian place trying to reinvent local traditional tastes in a vegetarian way. It was buffet style pay-by-weight and we both overstuffed our plate to make sure we can get a taste of everything.

On our way here, we passed a tantalising window display of an arrangement of pastries. All kinds of tarts, including the mandatory pastel de nata as well as a local treat. The time on our parking ticket ran out, and so we split up. I went to renew the ticket and Nina did some window shopping with Number 3. Once reunited, it was time to tackle the treats! We had one of everything as well and sat down in this barn of a café. It was clear that looks were not what they were going for, but the vibe (and the pastry) were great. We sat right next to grandpa in his break, sipping a coffee and getting a quick round of candy crush in.

It was still raining when we got on our way to Lisbon. After half an hour, we decided that arriving was more important than saving some money and we hopped on the toll motorway. Some tolls we wanted to pay anyway, to get a chance to cross into town over one of the two colossal bridges connecting the south shore with Lisbon proper.

Earlier today, we finally abandoned the idea to switch up accommodation from campground to cheap room. So we arrived at the dreaded Lisboa Camping & Bungalows – and the grey sky amplified everything that seems horrible about this place. Overpriced, under maintained and horribly noisy due to two motorways surrounding it. The things you can get away with for being the only camp in striking distance of the city centre. A white whale could opt for one of the camper parkings, but we cannot.

Town really has to make up for this … at least tomorrow should be the last of this weather.

Wroooommmm …. woooooosssshhhh … wrooooooommmmm ….

farewell Mr. Donkey
Separation of labour
no respect for history
cool aqueduct, although this one is from the 16th century
preserved by being turned into a medival storage bnuilding
a lot of the towers have been integrated into other buildings
central square of Évora
never spare an oppertunity for an “i was here”, even in a chapel
tiles all around, even in the churches. Odd reminder of Iran
A lot of austentatious main altars all around
that stopped Nina in her tracks
Local variity, with cocoa
weather bad!
guy in a park
random free roaming peacocks
jup, up there he is
walking off our lunch …
… to make space for more
we take … all of them, please
this was when Number 3 called quits
110m Jesus in Lisbon. Build as thanks for no WW2
Ponte de 25th Abril over the River Tejo
Flo unnerved by driver over noisy grates
one more motorway intersection and we are here ….

Day 6 – Rest up (that’s the plan!)

We had booked another night on this camp ground already so today was going to be totally relaxing. That was the plan. And life always goes according to plan. 😉

The camp ground provided us with baguette, croissants and pain au chocolate so we feasted instead of having a normal breakfast. A bit of lounging and some well-deserved hot showers later, we packed up to walk into the “new city” which is actual Carcassonne and not the medieval old town.

This time it wasn’t so much what we could look at than how much we could get a feeling for French life on a Saturday before Easter. Number 3 took his place on his “throne” in the backpack and we walked through greenery and parks to the old bridge to cross over into new town. The first few alleys were rather abandoned but then we came upon a square with a market. So many things to look at, smell and wanting to eat! I ended up buying artisanal chocolate because…just because really. But we also got some fresh produce and things to nibble on.

At noon, we were already hungry. Lonely planet provided us with a suggestion for a place to eat so we sat down in “L’Artichoke”. The waiter was very friendly but he also talked to us super fast and we didn’t understand why. Until it clicked – he was the same waiter from the tapas bar yesterday! Such coincidence! 🙂

Flo asked for a recommendation on which dish to get and went with the first thing that was named: A risotto with roast pork. I chose the vegetarian lasagne and Number 3 was happy to charm people around us and trip up the poor waiters. The food was good, especially Flo’s. He loved it. It must have been all sorts of delightful and delicious. With a crème brulee as a dessert afterwards, I was also happy and full.

We headed back towards the camp ground looking forward to a nap. Baby already napped in the backpack. So by the time we were back, Number 3 was rested and not pleased with us being such lazy spoilsports. I tried for quite a while to get Number 3 back to sleep, but no chance. It was playtime!

By 4pm we headed out to buy groceries for the next couple of days. Easter is coming. Shops will be closed for a day or two. A bit knackered, we hopped in the car for a 5min drive to the hypermarche. This was the point where the satnav decided to play a weird trick on us and get us somewhere into a residential area. Number 3 started to make unhappy noises and I started to stress.

It took us maybe 15min to get to the right place. By that time, the unhappy noises had also stopped. We parked, I turned around and froze. Number 3 had vomited all over himself and the car seat and then fallen asleep. The next 10 min were spent cleaning up a baby in a parking lot…a baby that desperately wants to hug you while being covered in vomit. Then, the car seat had to be cleaned as best as we could. Afterwards, we went shopping in a bit of a frenzy.

By this point, I was very tired and hungry. But then we also had to refuel and then we had to really clean all the dirty gear and then we had to have dinner and then I finally brought Baby into bed. Puh!

Our lovely, relaxed, slow day turned into a bit of a mess. It was still quite a good day. Except for the faint whiff of toddler vomit that hangs in the car …

Carcassonne cité
The old bridge
Planning with a map
Little explorer
Market square
Fresh produce
Cheap oranges
Asparagus for Easter
Flo’s risotto – heaven in a bowl
Driving to the supermarket, we left behind a pile of our stuff
Cleaning up the vomit
Regional wine

Day 5 – Too many meeple on my cité

The night was interesting. Nina definitively had more issues with the wind than I had. The wind kept up at about 40 km/h all night – just about what our tents “ok for” rating was. I think I agree. It was about as loud as to be expected in a tent, but no structural issues or weird out-of-shape-ness.

Number 3 loves them, but Nine seems to be enjoying herself as well ,..

We wrapped up in record time and were on the road by 9:30 am. To have a good half-day in Carcassonne, we allowed the routing via toll roads – which was about 50 km longer but an hour faster. Turned out that the quickest way was a bit roundabout via Toulouse.

Good thing about toll roads are the excellent rest stops though. We could take our lunch on a quiet one just next to the canal du midi and be at the campground first thing it opens for new arrivals. We debated going to the old town first, but the camp was in a premium location apparently within walking distance of the attractions. It definitively had the views. We were all prepared to pay through the nose, but in the off season, prices were reasonable for a prime location. Good thing that we went here first. Soon it was almost filled with Spanish Easter holiday makers fleeing a spell of rain on the costa del sol. We got an excellent spot tucked away from the road but close to the facilities. Judging by the neighbours, an area reserved for families with toddlers!

Given that we had absolutely no plan to even be here a week ago, and mainly went because … well … you know, Carcassonne … gamers … you get the point. Given that, we were pretty chuffed with our first pick for sightseeing. Of course the old city (cité de Carcassonne) is mainly a large tourist attraction. But maybe due to the stubborn occitane spirit it has managed to stay just this side of the “Rüdesheim” point of disneyfication.

It was also a good test for the “kraxe” – the backpack-like baby carrier. It works, and Number 3 wholly approved of both the “throne” mode as well as the easy opportunity to stretch his legs from time to time.

We learned that we have to adjust our biorhythms a bit, though. Trying to find food at 5 pm falls right in the dead zone between the 3 pm end of lunch and the 7 pm start of dinner time. We still managed to scrounge something together – a bar with a super chill garden area near the wall had enough tapas to get us through. We even struck up a bit of a nice conversation with the next table over traveling with toddlers.

By the time we hiked the easy 30 minutes back to the camp, we were set and happy to add a day to recharge and refocus. 5 days straight on the road is quite enough, even without the little one. So we hopped by the reception and checked in for another night – the great little spot and clean facilities more than justified the 20% mark-up over our other campsites so far. Or maybe it was the promise of an actual French meal out, with some more time to plan it right …