Ugly Grand Motte
Getting Gas at the Boat Dock
Aigues Mortis - outside wall
Salt flats
Tony standing by the potty hole in the Wall (sorry it is sideways - will fix it later)
Tony and I drove to Aigues-Mortes which is at the west end of the Camargue. The Camargue is a swampy area into which the Rhone River empties into the sea. The “city” was built by King Louis around 1400. At that time the location was part of France but Marseilles which is on the east end of the Carmargue was not. King Louis needed a port on the south end of France for many important commercial reasons. He had the city built where there would be a nice port. Unfortunately for Louie the river silted in the city just as it was finished and it never served any useful purpose as far as being a port. The water is quiet some distance away and between the “city” and the sea is a big salt flat where most of the French salt is harvested. You will be familiar with this salt in the cylindrical blue and red boxes we use.
Because the city never served the commercial purpose for which it was intended it has remained relatively unchanged over the centuries. It is now a beautifully (naturally unlike others such as Carcassone) preserved medieval city. Its ramparts are fully intact and (for a small fee) you can walk the ramparts all the way around. There was quite a large crowd of tourists there the day we visited, unlike my other visits to the place which have all been “off season”. Still we really enjoyed it. In walking the ramparts we observed the openings from which soldiers could shoot attackers with arrows or boiling oil. Something we also noted were “potty” holes where we suppose the soldiers relieved themselves and possibly deposited another nasty substance on their attackers below.
Leaving Aigues-Mortis was not easy. We foolishly chose a route through Grand Motte which looked very convenient on the map but unfortunately was hindered by draw bridges and it took us over an hour to go about 5 kilometers. This slow stop and go driving really depleted our fuel and we were desperate for a gas station by the time we got to Grand Motte. Grand Motte is without a doubt the ugliest resort I have ever seen (at least in recent memory). The hotels/apartment buildings are built to look like cruise ships (I’m not kidding).
With the car beyond empty we used the TomTom GPS to guide us to the closest gas station. We were bewildered when it directed us onto a large boating pier. However, we trusted the TomTom and sure enough it had sent us to gas for boats primarily but it did work for cars too.
Leaving Grand Motte and driving through a little bit of the Camargue we saw the white horses and bulls for which it is famous and even saw one flamingo flying and about twenty in the water with their butts in the air.
Because the city never served the commercial purpose for which it was intended it has remained relatively unchanged over the centuries. It is now a beautifully (naturally unlike others such as Carcassone) preserved medieval city. Its ramparts are fully intact and (for a small fee) you can walk the ramparts all the way around. There was quite a large crowd of tourists there the day we visited, unlike my other visits to the place which have all been “off season”. Still we really enjoyed it. In walking the ramparts we observed the openings from which soldiers could shoot attackers with arrows or boiling oil. Something we also noted were “potty” holes where we suppose the soldiers relieved themselves and possibly deposited another nasty substance on their attackers below.
Leaving Aigues-Mortis was not easy. We foolishly chose a route through Grand Motte which looked very convenient on the map but unfortunately was hindered by draw bridges and it took us over an hour to go about 5 kilometers. This slow stop and go driving really depleted our fuel and we were desperate for a gas station by the time we got to Grand Motte. Grand Motte is without a doubt the ugliest resort I have ever seen (at least in recent memory). The hotels/apartment buildings are built to look like cruise ships (I’m not kidding).
With the car beyond empty we used the TomTom GPS to guide us to the closest gas station. We were bewildered when it directed us onto a large boating pier. However, we trusted the TomTom and sure enough it had sent us to gas for boats primarily but it did work for cars too.
Leaving Grand Motte and driving through a little bit of the Camargue we saw the white horses and bulls for which it is famous and even saw one flamingo flying and about twenty in the water with their butts in the air.
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