A weekend under the Mediterranean sun

We have reached the halfway point in our program, and it was the perfect weekend for a change of scenery. After French classes on Friday morning, we all boarded a bus for Port-Vendres.

Although it is only 3 hours from Toulouse, the two places have a completely different feel. A Mediterranean fishing port located about 15 kilometers from Spain, Port-Vendres was developed by the Romans who called it Portus Veneris as an homage to Venus, the goddess of love. A very fitting name for a place we loved so much!

One of the main reasons we fell in love with Port-Vendres was thanks to Paul Swan. Paul owns and runs the hostel “Chez Swan”. He welcomed us with open arms, an open kitchen, and warm hospitality.

After dinner, Paul led us on a tour of his town. He organized the tour as a trivia game. We split into four teams and stopped periodically to come up with our best guesses to questions which were historically and culturally relevant to the town. Team "Jean Jaurès" won, but we all had a great time!

The next morning we had breakfast, packed our lunches, and left Chez Swan on foot. We would arrive at our destination, Plage de Paulilles, three hours later after a breathtaking and challenging hike which Kevin documented in yesterday’s blog post.

Saturday evening was the eve of Fête de la Saint-Jean, and the residents in Port-Vendres celebrated with a traditional bonfire. This celebration observes the birthday of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, who according to the Bible was born six months before Jesus.

Once the fire died down, the dance floor warmed up and we spent the evening having fun together to the tune of popular French songs.

On Sunday morning we left Chez Swan and walked to the next town, Collioure. Located only 15 minutes from Spain’s border, the town proudly displays red and yellow Catalan flags.

We explored a massive French royal castle, wandered around town, found some ice-cream in an attempt to beat the heat, and just in general enjoyed our last few hours by the Mediterranean Sea.

When we returned to Toulouse Sunday evening, I think we were all a little surprised at how much it felt like home. Helena captured the same sentiment in her recent blog post. We’re all happy to be back and anxious to keep working towards our French proficiency goals.