Thursday 31st August – the European road trip begins!

This morning it was time to say farewell to Jacqui.  We timed it so that we left before she departed for the shop. For whatever the reason, the farewell was somewhat less emotional than it had been the previous year, where we’d both been in tears. I still don’t know what’s changed…

We had decided to break the journey to Milan over three days which gave us the opportunity to steer clear of the toll roads and take our time on a more scenic route.  First stop – Figueres and the Salvador Dali museum and theatre which was awe-inspiring.  We can’t claim to be particularly cultured or fans of art but there were some really impressive and thought-provoking pieces. 

The extravagant exterior of the Dali Museum

A huge piece of abstract art in the main exhibition room

Dali's clocks

A portrait created out of spheres

A series of comical self-portrait photos of 'that' moustache

The queue for the entrance of the museum

It took at least a couple of hours to meander around the multiple layers and corridors of the complex building.  And that was before we discovered that there was a separate Jewellery section as well, containing further pieces also designed by Dali (right).

We stopped for lunch in the square by the museum, where we were thankful that by getting there early, we had avoided the massive queues that’d now developed for entry to the museum.

We drove onwards, finding out that one down-side in taking the scenic route into France was the queue across the border on the back roads.   But we made it onto a sand bar near Montpellier where Simon had booked us an air B’n’B for the night.  The house we were in was right on the beach but on the down-side our room was on the lower floor with no cooking facilities at all and a shared bathroom and toilet.  The whole arrangement seemed a bit basic and worn for the £76 it cost for one night to me.  I’m losing a bit of faith with the Air BnB thing, it seems to be pot luck whether you’re getting a good deal or getting shafted for a small musty room in someone’s house!

It may have smelt a bit funky, but the gate from the house went straight out onto the beach

The beach at Montpelier

We were ravenously hungry, so went for a walk along the beach despite it being a grey and windy evening.  There weren’t many people about.  We had a drink at a very over-priced beach bar and then started the walk back towards our lodgings a different route. We found a little more life going on in a marina containing restaurants, but it was still very quiet for the time of year and the temperature had dropped dramatically. But, being British, we still opted to sit outside for my moules et frites (that’s mussels & chips to you!) until it became too cold and we called it a night.