Cirque de Mourèze

On Tuesday, we visited the Cirque de Mourèze. A "cirque" is "an amphitheater-like valley formed by erosion." There are several of these in Reunion Island, but until this trip, we didn't realize there were any in mainland France.

 

 

Several art exhibits were installed outdoors.

"C'est complet.. revenez demain" by Pouf et Pouf

"Un monde libre et transparent" by Armelle C.

Me & Frédéric, and view of the town of Mourèze

Mourèze, seen from the observation deck

The path to the observation deck was a little tricky

Typical French antique shop

Antique Mediterranean Garden in Sète

After visiting the port of Sète, we continued to the Antique Mediterranean Gardens. The gardens display and explain the use of different plants in Antiquity. I think our visit might have been better if it hadn't been quite so dry, or if the area hadn't been in a drought and they'd been allowed to water the gardens.

Sète

The last time I went to Sète was 22 years ago, so I don't really remember much about it. We drove to the port and walked around a bit, then found our way to a picnic spot along the coast.

 

Sheila, Christian, Frédéric, and Romain studying the map

Patriotic picnic spot

Noah

 

The Beach!

Our vacation rental was 50 yards from the beach. The Mediterranean was still a bit chilly, even in August, but the boys had fun splashing around.

 

 

Oradour sur Glane

 Since the pandemic basically prevented us from traveling to the U.S. this summer, we took a vacation in France instead. We spent a week at the beach in south of France.

On our way down, we did some "dark tourism." We visited Oradour-sur-Glane, a French village whose inhabitants were massacred by an SS unit June 10, 1944. 642 people were killed. There were few survivors, and the village was also destroyed.  The ruins remain as a memorial.