It was a holiday in a part of the world that neither of us had been to before. Nor, somewhat surprisingly, had the dogs. In fact they hadn’t actually ever been to France at all so add that to the list of 4 countries they have been to.
I’ll keep this blog short because most of it will be given over to photos.
We had a great time.
Marseillan is a very small and quiet village about 25 minutes outside of the nearest town of Tarbes which is itself an extremely unremarkable place principally known for its association with the famous Marshall Foch from WW1; the legendary regiments of Hussars that are still based there; the annual Tango dance festival and not a lot else.
The area itself is a rugby-loving part of France as well as being more famous for the town of Lourdes, where the Catholic faithful undertake solemn pilgrimages to take on the magical and mythical waters from where hope always springs.
It is also extremely green. There are forests all over the place and fields full of sunflowers, wheat, corn and other green stuff that I am too ignorant to know about. It is a beautiful part of the world.
It is, of course, full of French people. This cannot be helped. But they are a real healthy mix of French people of so many shapes, sizes and shades of colour. After the somewhat monocultural aspects of Andalucia, it was a pleasant sight to behold whenever we perambulated around town and the endless markets.
The markets. They are everywhere and anytime. Any decent town or village has one at least one per week where they take the food extremely bloody seriously. The cheese! Oh my God, The Cheese! Words cannot do justice to the variety and sheer beauty of the smells and tastes of the cheese.
And the wine! Oh my God, the wine! Don’t get me wrong, we love Spanish wine but we have high regard for the Portuguese varieties and now the grapes of southern France. There is a local one called Madiran, one that gets its very own local wine festival because it’s that good.
We stayed in an old farmhouse that has two donkeys as neighbours. There was also a really fast and scary road alongside that, thankfully, the cat stayed clear of throughout. In fact the cat seemed to love it there. The cooler weather helped, I think.
We had an all-too-brief visit from my BFF and members of his family; I got to watch Tarbes FC play a friendly at their ground with the most amazing mountainous background; we went out to witness the eclipse that was only partial there; we had the best Thai food we’ve ever had in Europe and saw Kool and the Gang at a nearby Jazz festival – they were just brilliant.
Luna got to chase deer but they don’t hide away so she quickly became knackered. At the end she did chase a badger down a hole and then completely lose her shit when she found out that badgers fight back. We have never seen her so totally and genuinely scared for her life as when she tried to get out despite Dora blocking her way. Poor thing. The badger buggered off unharmed but probably pissed off. Or he could have been laughing at wussy Spanish dogs. It was difficult to tell.
We managed a day out at the top of the Pyrenees and a visit to the genial town of Pau.
All in all, everything a holiday should be. We may well go back in two years to see the 50th year of the Marciac Jazz Festival. Who knows?
We have a fridge full of cheese – I do not exaggerate – and a lot of other foodstuffs that we just can’t get here in Spain as well as much wine; well…why not?
Back to the grind next week; the never-ending treadmill of work that we must take part in for now.
Hasta Luego, inshallah
Ciao
Ayubowan
Paul
PS: It has to be these guys. There is one surviving member from 50 years ago when they started but they are still a phenomenal show to see.