The bus was scheduled to leave the village at 08.15 so naturally, it was waiting and almost full at 08.00. The luggage storage was full of shopping trolleys and John just managed to find us a pair of seats together. Getting onto the bus took time because one has to greet (kiss, kiss) neighbours and acquaintances.
The first stop was La Palme on the motorway, about 30 minutes away for a coffee and loo stop. After that, we travelled on to Perpignan and the Palais des Rois de Majorque (Palace of the Kings of Majorca). There haven't been any kings in residence for some time. The last one moved out in 1276.
Perpignan is on the edge of the Mediterranean, on the French side of the Pyrenees. The biggest problem is the wind (the Tramontana) which can be strong and certainly was cold on Thursday. As we entered the palace, we encountered Miss Roussillon, 2012 who was posing for photos.
When it was built, the palace was in Catalonia, the border between France and Spain being closer to the Corbieres rather than the Pyrenees as it is now. It was built for King James I of Majorca and of Aragon and Valencia and he also had titles in Montpellier and Barcelona.
It looks out over the mountains with the Canigou, the largest mountain at this end of the Pyrenees clearly visible.
At one stage it was surrounded by fig trees and it looks as though these might be restored, judging by the use of the ditch as a nursery.
The group had arranged a guide who was very informative and spoke clearly, so we could understand a lot of what he said. Here we are outside the palace.
Inside the palace we looked across to the chapel.
The staircase up to the living level
Unusually, the palace has two chapels, one for the king on top of another for the queen. The design was based on St. Chapelle in Paris.
This is the King's chapel with the columns outside with dragons and griffins.
This is the Queen's
And here the two can be seen together from the outside
Impressively, this ceiling retains its original decoration.
The minor monarchy which lived in the castle did not last long. The third King fell out with his Spanish relatives and was even foolish enough to ally himself to the English.
After a very interesting tour, we were back in the warmth of the bus and on our way to Jonquera for a sociable lunch and then supermarket shopping where we found some Spanish wines and other essentials for the drinks store.
Finally, we stopped at Pertus on the way back. We were not interested in the shopping there, so we wandered along the main street and then up towards the chapel from where we could look down over the valley through which passes the main motorway to Spain.
The main street of Pertus mainly selling spirits, cigarettes, watches and jewelry. We were more interested in Spanish specialist foods.
Pat and John on tour
