Time flies when you‘re having fun, doesn‘t it. We met with friends on Sunday, and we re-visited a lot of our old haunts. We hadn‘t been back to the „zone“ for 10 years now (I think, it might be 8 years), but there were times where we visited at least once a year, sometimes even three times. But we stayed away for a long period, because of a multitude of reasons.
Of. course we visited the village of mystery, Rennes-le-Chateau; and we found it has changed again. Usually, change is welcome and good, but I have to say that it‘s worse each time we visit. Now they‘re having sculptures from a local and recently deceased artist everywhere. If you like his sculptures, great news! If you don‘t, then, well.
We met this artist – and I am not deliberately keeping his name from his blog, I just can‘t remember right now – on one of or previous visits. Since I recognized a lot of the sculptures and statues I figure he. wasn‘t able to sell a lot of them. Wether he gifted them to the village or why they are everywhere now eludes me.
Here‘s one of the more beautiful ones, ruining the double staircase in the Domaine.
We were lucky to get the chance to actually visit the chateau of Rennes-le-*Chateau* this time. A rich family from Toulouse bought it 11 years ago and is slowly but steadily renovating and restoring it. At this point I‘d love to write about how extraordinary an experience it was, but that would be a stretch. Don‘t get me wrong, I‘m pretty happy to have been inside, but if you haven‘t – I don‘t think you‘ve missed out on anything.
Some rooms have been converted and can be rented via AirBnB. Unfortunately the owners didn‘t match the style of the chateau and put a lot of what looks like cheap Ikea furniture in there. After a short while I also started to doubt the feasibility of the infos our guide gave us; and might I say, I really dislike guides who make up stories just to sell more tickets (or books). If you don‘t know details, that‘s fine. Don‘t invent them, or I‘ll lose interest in anything you have to say really quickly.
Still, the company and the experience made it worthwhile.
We had dinner at an incredible place we found more or less by accident. Their French cuisine was amazing (we even brought our friends over the next day). I shall keep it secret for now, because I can‘t find the name. I thought it was „La Galerie“, but according to search engines this is a pizzeria – that place most definitely wasn‘t.
Wednesday we went to the Donjon d‘Arques. Up until maybe 15 years ago, there was an old lady selling honey just outside the Donjon (the Donjon is the rectangular tower-like structure on the photo). She has since retired, but we picked up some local honey fro the gift shop.
Afterwards we found something to eat for lunch and just had nice conversations with our friends. We‘d love to stay and hang out with them for longer, but tomorrow we drive to Spain.