Carnon, Aigues-Mortes, Marseillan, Sete, and Vermouth tasting at Noilly Prat, France

A wonderful lunch of mussels cooked in a wood fired BBQ.

Our plan is to spend 1 1/2 years living in France.  That translates roughly into two summers and one winter on Rabelo.  The catch is that Tom doesn't want to be cold.  Our normal mooring in Saint Jean de Losne, Burgundy, France can be cold enough to freeze in the winter.   This meant that we needed to explore the South of France to see whether we could find a decent mooring for our big baby.  

Road Trip!  We packed our bags, loaded up the car, and off we went.  Our first stop was to visit friends in Aramon.  It's a fabulous little village.   I was so fascinated with the place that I forgot to take pictures.  Next time.  It was fun visiting with our friends Nancy and Stephen, and catching up on life.

After lunch on their boat, and a great visit we drove to Carnon which we used as our base for exploring the surrounding area.

We toured Aigues-Mortes in our search for a winter mooring.  It's located in the extreme South of France in the Petite Carmargue region.  Aigues-Mortes was established in the 13th century as the first Mediterranean port in France on the orders of the King of France, Louis the IX.

The region is worth visiting to see the Carmargue bulls, wild white horses and flamingoes, lots and lots of flamingoes. 

Aigues-Mortes is a wonderful old fortified city and a great tourist destination.  We had lunch at Le Petit London which serves amazing hamburgers.  This is the town square.

It''s a bustling town filled with visitors.

Lovely old buildings.

The old wall with the Constance Tower

Beautiful old grapevines waking up from their winter slumber.

We were surprised to discover that the South of France produces some delicious varieties of wine.

When it's mealtime I'm always on the lookout for a place to eat.  Trip Advisor is my source and it didn't disappoint us.  We found an amazing little restaurant La Cabana in Marseillan with two items on their menu:  Mussels and Oysters.  The BBQ mussels were possibly the best mussels we have ever tasted.  They were amazing.  We watched them BBQ the mussels in a special oven just behind Tom.  It's a tiny restaurant where we ate outside with a view of the lake and the shellfish farms.  What could be better than freshly farmed, bbq'd in front of us, mussels, fresh baguettes, pomme frits, and crisp white wine.  Heavenly!

Tom is ready to enjoy his wine and mussels.

The best mussels we've ever had!

Mussels being bbq'd in a wood burning oven.

 In the town of Marseillan we bumped into our friend Julian who suggested a tour of Noilly Prat which makes vermouth.  It was an informative tour which ended with a vermouth tasting.  We discovered that not only is vermouth excellent for cooking, but we now enjoy it over ice as an aperitif.

The vermouth does its first aging inside these giant casks.

The wine is then moved to old casks which sit in the sun baking.

After a long but worthwhile tour (in English) we tasted the vermouth.

Dinner with a view in Carnon

We had a lovely dinner at La Grande Passerella.

It was wonderful being able to catch up with Nicole and Julian.

We had lunch at the covered market in Sete.  Starters were great.

Lunch was amazing.

Artists create street art in Sete

Sete street art.

 The toilet paper debate has finally been resolved by the company Kleenex who makes toilet paper.  They print their name on the rolls so that there is no question as to how the toilet paper should be placed on the holder.

Proof positive that toilet paper needs to roll off of the top.