Roquefort – The Lacaune Ewe and the Fleurine Caves

I may have mentioned this before, but I am a cheese monster. I can never get enough of the stuff and there’s nothing better than a wedge of cheese, some slices of cured sausage and an apple for lunch. So, I am naturally drawn to the small village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon where the creamy, blue-veined cheese is ripened in the damp, underground caves.

On my way there, I was surprised by the lack of Lacaune sheep in the fields. The ewes can produce up to 240 litres while lactating and it is this milk which forms the base of the creamy Roquefort cheese.

A large car park with Motorhome services is available at the entrance of the village, next to the tourist office which, as usual, is closed at the weekend. I’ve never understood why French tourist offices close at the weekend out of season, when this is the most likely time that they will receive visitors. Luckily, I already have a map of the village and so I take a path through the woods and up into the heart of the cheese-making caves. If you have ever bought Roquefort cheese in your local supermarket, then it is most likely to have been produced by the large commercial enterprise of Societe. I tend to avoid such places in favour of seeking out the smaller, less well known producers who offer a more personal touch. This is how I end up in the family owned cave of Gabriel Coulet.

I’m greeted with a smile as I enter the shop and shown to a door where my cave visit begins. A short video explains the method of manufacture of this rather pungent cheese whose scent permeates the whole village. First the sheep are milked and the curds are cultured with a natural penicillin which produces the blue veins. It is then packed into circular moulds and the resulting rounds are salted before the cheese is stored openly for several days in the underground caves where the limestone fissures, known as fleurines, provide a unique ventilation and ensure the cheese ripens.

The next part of the tour takes me down into the caves themselves where hundreds of rounds of cheese are stored on wooden racks. I’m surprised that health and safety regulations allow me to be so close to the cheese until I realise that it is not cheese at all, but polystyrene blocks for display purposes. The real cheese is stacked in plastic crates behind a glass partition where it meets EU regulations.

The cheese is eventually returned to the factory where it is covered in tin foil and further ripened. Three varieties are produced – 8 months, 10 months and 22 months – each colour coded by the packaging. The last part of the tour exhibits the traditional cheese-making equipment and some old photos showing the way the cheese was produced a hundred years ago. It has all changed now. The cheese is no longer milked by hand and no longer stored openly on wooden shelves, more machinery is involved and less manpower is required.

Back in the shop, I’m offered the chance to try the Roquefort, as well as some other local cheeses and cured sausage. My favourite is the 10 month old version and I am able to buy it in small individually wrapped pieces. I also receive some leaflets with recipes ranging from the bizarre prawns in coconut milk with Roqufort, chicken tajine with Roquefort and clementine cheesecake with Roquefort, to the more mainstream omelette, quiche and pasta.

 

 

In order to burn off the calories of my cheese tasting, I decide to seek out the Soulzon menhir by following a path down to the river. It’s muddy and littered with fallen brown leaves but I persevere and eventually find the large rock actually in the river. However, I’m unable to find the continuation of the path and end up backtracking up a steep slope back to the village. It’s a tough climb and by the time I reach the top I find I’m in need of an energy boost so I seek out another cheese producer with the beautiful name of Papillion (Butterfly). It takes a while to locate them as they have moved premises and when I enter the new shop, it is sterile and unwelcoming, as is the shop assistant. There is no cave visit and I am not offered and tasting samples. What a different experience, and one that does not encourage me to buy their product, but the beautiful butterfly themed packaging makes for a nice gift.

What to know more about French cheese?

St Nectaire

Camembert

The Devil and the Desert

Aniane is a shitty little place, and I mean that quite literally. You have to really watch your step while walking around town due to all the doggy deposits!

I’m searching for the Abbey which was founded by St Benoit in 782. What remain at the site today are the large, cold, damp and dim church of Saint Sauveur and the badly neglected adjoining buildings. In 2011 money was provided for the restoration of the abbey but it looks as if little has been spent in the last 5 years.

Back in 804 St Benoit greatly influenced Guilhem, cousin of Charlemagne and military campaigner who fought, and defeated, the moors in Barcelona. Wanting to find some peace from the fighting and perhaps atone for his sinful killing, he headed up to the Herault Gorge, close to Aniane, and founded an abbey there in the seclusion of Gelonne. Its remote location is how the village earned its hyphenated name of St Guilhem-le-Desert. After his death and due to a gift of Charlemagne to the Abbey of a piece of the “true cross”, pilgrims began to visit the site and a village soon grew along the Verdus valley to house the pilgrims. It soon became an important stopping place on the route of St James.

Pilgrims and tourists are still welcomed today, but not if they are travelling in a motorhome. Despite there being an empty car park at the base of the village, there is a 2m height barrier and so I am forced to drive a further 2km along the river to a kayak hire spot and then return on foot.

It’s a Friday lunchtime in January and the village is living up to its name and is totally deserted. All the craft shops are closed and only 3 overpriced restaurants selling pancakes and pizzas offer sustenance to the hungry soul.

The abbey church of Gellone is cold and dark but that doesn’t stop a lone pilgrim from sitting on the floor, quietly meditating in front of the main altar. The cloister is disappointing, having been stripped of its architectural beauty during the French Revolution and they are now located in the Cloisters Museum in New York (part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Luckily, some religious gems, like the cloister of Fontfroide Abbey, remain in their original location.

Between Aniane and Guilhem is an 11th century stone bridge spanning the end of the Herault Gorge. Nearby is a huge car park (free and empty at this time of year) which offers a park and ride facility in the summer to St Guilhem and the caves along the gorge.

I take a peaceful walk down to the large, pebble beach to look at the bridge and then clamber up the cliff to walk across it. The story goes that when Guilhem was building the bridge (not actually possible given a difference of two centuries – but it’s a good story!) he sought the help of the Devil by offering him the soul of the first creature to walk across it. After 3 days work, the bridge was finished and Guilhem craftily sent across a dog. The Devil was angry at having been deceived and tried to destroy his work, throwing himself into the waters below, creating a black abyss.

Today the Devil still claims souls as a plaque in the centre of the bridge testifies. Between 2010 and 2013 one person died and four were paralyzed after foolishly jumping off the bridge into the river below. Perhaps the sign will dissuade others from the same fate, though I doubt it.

 

The Painful Price for the Perfect Travel Photo

Last year I wrote about several deaths caused by people taking travel selfies in dangerous situations. Unfortunately, this problem only seems to be getting worse. The Telegraph newspaper reported that last year there were more deaths caused by selfies than by shark attacks and Wikipedia now has a dedicated page to record these incidents.

23 year old British traveller, Zoe Woolmer died while trying to get the ultimate travel photo. She fell as she attempted to climb onto a rock ledge in Kings Canyon, having been encouraged to do so by her tour guide.

Australian student Kristi Kafcaloudis, 24 years old, fell from Trolltunga Rock, a popular photo spot in Norway.

A young Japanese climber, Eri Yunanto, fell into the volcano crater on Mount Merapi while taking photos on the edge with his friends. This incident has prompted the local officials to set up a dedicated selfie platform and hopefully prevent future deaths on the mountain.

Mount Merapi by Deborah Young

Bull running in Spain has always led to casualties and last year, David Gonzalez Lopez , 32, was gored to death while filming the spectacle in Villaseca de la Sagra near Toledo.

Finally, an engineering student named Prakesh was very unlucky when he posed for a picture on a rock ledge in the Koli Hills in India. The ledge collapsed beneath him and he fell 60ft to his death.

Please don’t risk your life for a photo and please stay away from the edge.

Barcelona – Guided by Gaudi

It’s hard to visit Barcelona without bumping into Gaudi. Even the aire where I am staying is next to Gaudi’s Crypt, the unfinished church which was designed by Gaudi and built for the textile workers of Colonia Guell. But was he a genius or a madman? I decided to find out.

My plan was simple: to visit the exteriors of all the Gaudi designed sites in Barcelona using the metro and my own two feet. While researching, I came across a FREE Gaudi walking tour, operated by Runner Bean and decided that the additional information that could be provided by a knowledgeable local guide would be invaluable, so I immediately booked online.

It’s 10.45 and I easily find my guide in Placa Reial. He’s very tall, wearing a luminous green vest and holding an equally bright green umbrella. Marc greets everyone with a smile, while his colleague checks us off on her list and brands us with a small numbered sticker, red for the Gaudi tour and green for the visit to the Gothic Quarter. The Gaudi group are multinational, with representatives from Holland, Poland, France, Korea, Brazil, Canada and the USA.

We start our visit in Placa Reial where the ornate lampposts were the first, and only, public city commission which Gaudi received. While we admire them, Marc gives us some background information on the famous architect. He was born in Reus in 1852 and was a vegetarian for most of his life. A fierce Catalan nationalist, he preferred to speak only in Catalan and, as a young man, he had petitioned for the Monastery of Poblet to be restored and used as a commune for artists and writers.

 

 

A short hop across Las Ramblas and we find ourselves in front of one of Gaudi’s early masterpieces. Palau Guell was commissioned by the wealthy industrialist Eusebi Guell who became a long term patron of Gaudi, offering him projects with unlimited resources. The Palau was built in the 1890s but the family were kicked out during the Spanish Civil War and the building was later given to the city in 1945, being declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the 1980’s. The exterior is very dark and austere, with only the colourful chimneys poking above the rooftop suggesting a more playful design.

We take to the metro for a two stop ride to Passeig de Gracia where several modernista facades await us. Gaudi’s Casa Batllo is the most striking, with its unusual balconies and rooftop tiles. There is some debate over the symbology. The balconies could be masks suggesting a happy carnival theme. However, more people subscribe to the story of George and the Dragon, with the tower representing the knight’s lance, the roof tiles are the dragon’s scales and the balconies are the skulls and bones of the victims. Gaudi was originally commissioned by Josep Batlló i Casanovas to renovate an existing building on the site. The house is now owned by the Bernat family who are known for the manufacture of Chupa Chups lollipops.

On the same block are two other modernista buildings: Casa Amatller and Casa Lleo Morera. It is possible to enter the ground floor of Casa Amatller to admire the beautiful staircase and stained glass ceiling without having to pay. There is also a chocolate shop and café inside which is very appropriate as the building is owned by a family of chocolatiers.

A short walk along the pavement, which features seafloor designs by Gaudi, and we find ourselves in front of Casa Mila, better known as La Pedrera. Built in 1906, Gaudi used a revolutionary technique of structural columns to enable a more open plan design for the interior apartments. The exterior is quite austere with its limestone façade and wrought iron balconies. Apparently, Mrs Mila, whose fortune was used to finance the construction, was not very happy with the design, along with many Barcelona locals. The rooftop features some unique chimney designs, including one which supposedly inspired George Lucas’ characterisation of Darth Vader. Marc told us of one long-term inhabitant called Carmen who has benefited from rent control, paying only €500 per month to stay in such an iconic building.

Another metro ride brings us to the final stop on our tour, La Sagrada Familia. Gaudi was a very religious man and the design and build of this church was his life’s passion. Construction began in 1882 and it is anticipated that it will not be completed until at least 2026. Founded by the donations of sinners (or tourists), it receives over 3 million visitors each year.

 

 

 

The nativity façade was completed by Gaudi before his death in 1926 when he was hit by a tram. Thought at first to be a tramp, due to his dishevelled appearance, there was some delay in getting him hospital treatment, and by the time his friends realised what had happened he was already dying. He was buried in the crypt of his beloved church and immortalised by the architect Josep Maria Subirachs as a character in the passion façade.

All this walking has made me hungry so, following Marc’s suggestion, I head towards the St Pau Hospital in search of a restaurant with a good menu del dia. Just before I reach the Hospital, I find Firo Tast with an intriguing menu for €14.95. Inside, it reveals a rather posh décor and when my food arrives it is beautifully presented. Feta salad with strawberry dressing, garlic lamb chops and a light panna cotta for dessert. They are not stingy with the wine either.

While enjoying my lunch I decided on a plan for the afternoon. Despite there being no queues for the Sagrada Familia I didn’t have a good enough camera to do it justice and besides, I’d just spent the entrance fee on lunch! Instead, I decided to take a quick look at the modernista hospital of St Pau and then take the metro to Parc Guell.

 

Marc had mentioned an escalator which assisted with the steep climb up to Parc Guell, but all I found was a never ending set of steps which brought me to the rear of the site. Although you now have to pay an entrance fee to visit the monumental area of Parc Guell, much of the surrounding park is still free and it’s possible to view quite a lot of Gaudi’s creations. Also, the views across the city are quite wonderful.

From the park, I walk back downhill to Place du Lesseps, in search of one of Gaudi’s earliest creations. Unfortunately, when I locate Casa Vicens, I discover it is shrouded with scaffolding and in a state of renovation. The house was commissioned by stockbroker Manuel Vicens i Montaner and built between 1883 and 1888. Despite the scaffolding, I could see many of the decorative details, such as the iron fan palm railings and the tiles of yellow marigolds.

The day is drawing to a close and, although I have managed to visit much of Gaudi’s work in Barcelona, I have still only just scratched the surface. However, it does give me a reason to return to the city and next time I’ll bring a better camera and perhaps venture inside some of the amazing houses and monuments of ‘God’s Architect’.

So, genius or madman? Probably a bit of both, but that’s usually the combination needed to become a great artist or architect.

 

Gaudi in Barcelona

Sagrada Familia 1882– [Completion estimated 2026–2028] – €15 (€22 with audioguide)

Casa Vicens  1883–1888 – closed for restoration

Güell Pavilions 1884–1887 – €4

Palau Güell 1885–1890  – €12

Teresian College 1888–1889 – still used as a school

Casa Calvet 1898–1900 – now houses a restaurant

Casa Figueres (Torre Bellesguard) 1900–1909  – €9 with audioguide or €16 guided tour

Park Güell 1900–1914 – €7

Casa Milà (La Pedrera) 1905–1907 – €20.50

Casa Batlló 1905–1907 – €22.50

Church of Colònia Güell – Santa Coloma de Cervelló (Barcelona) 1908–1914 – €9 with audioguide tour of village.

Sagrada Família Schools 1909 – used as offices for the Sagrada Familia construction.

Gaudi beyond Barcelona

El Capricho – Comillas (Cantabria) 1883–1885 – €5

Episcopal Palace of Astorga (León) 1883–1913

Casa Botines -León – occupied by Caja Espana Bank

Bodegas Güell – Garraf, Sitges 1895–1897  – now houses a restaurant

Artigas Gardens – La Pobla de Lillet 1905–1906 – €4.15

Other Modernista buildings in Barcelona

Casa Amatller – €15 (or 22.60 combined ticket with Casa Lleo I Morera)

Casa Lleo I Morera – €15 (or 22.60 combined ticket with Casa Amatller)

Hopital St Pau – €10 (or €16 guided visit)

 

Tarragona and the Via Augusta

Anyone who has driven south along  the Spanish coast from La Jonquera (the French border) to Cartagena has probably covered some stretches of the ancient Roman road Via Augusta,  and nowhere is it quite so obvious as Tarragona. Known as Tarraco in Roman times it was capital of the Hispania Citerior Province and the richest town on the coast.

Today, many important Roman remains are preserved in the city and I spent a day visiting them. Easily seen from my parking spot above Miracle Point is the large 2^nd century amphitheatre. Heavily pillaged for its building materials, recycled stone can be found all over the city. It is still a wonderful site and easily viewed from above without having to pay an entrance fee, but if you want more detailed information then the included audioguide is very useful.

Close by are remains of the 300m long Roman circus, built for horse and chariot races. Only a small portion can be seen as the rest is beneath modern apartments and the Archaeological Museum which displays many of the Roman finds from the city.

Placa del Forum is bustling with a local produce market, but amongst the stalls of colourful fruit and vegetables I find a small section of the Roman walls. A much larger section can be visited further west in the Archaeological Passage, a long, narrow garden which runs between the 3^rd century Roman walls and he more modern medieval and 18^th century fortifications. Opposite the entrance, in an inconspicuous modern building, is a very useful miniature reconstruction of 2^nd century Tarraco showing all the main Roman sites as they would have looked at that time.

My last stop in the city is the Roman Forum. Hidden behind the busy and noisy Central Market and unusually higher than the modern street level, the site includes the ruins of a judicial basilica and some splendid tall columns.

Tarraco would not have been such a successful city without the life force of water. Carried to the coast from the Francoli River 15kms away, a magnificent section of the aqueduct still stands just 4kms inland and close to the AP7 toll road. It is known as the Pont del Diable (Devil’s Bridge) and towers 27m above the valley. Amazingly, it is possible to walk across the 217m length. It looks pretty scary when you view it from below but it’s not so terrifying to walk across. I even felt safe enough to take a selfie!

North of Tarragona, on the N340, I find two more Roman monuments, marking the route of the Via Augusta. The first is the Tower of Scipios, a funerary monument, while the second sits proudly in the middle of the road. The Arc de Bera was built in honour of the Emperor Augustus and marks the city limits of Tarraco.

Novelda – A Perfect Place for a Picnic

Boxing Day is when you traditionally feast on cold meat and pickles, sat in front of the TV watching the latest action movie. However, in Spain the weather can often be too good to waste in front of the box. With this in mind, I packed up a feast of leftovers and took my mother and her two chihuahuas to Novelda and the Sanctuary of Santa Magdalena.

Arriving at the hillside site just 4km from the main town, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you had stumbled across a Gaudi masterpiece, for the church of Santa Magdalena looks like a mini Sagrada Familia. In fact it was designed and built by local engineer Jose Sala Sala between 1918 and 1946. The interior is quite restrained and calm compared to the modernist influenced exterior.

The church shares its perch with the ruins of a 12^th century Islamic fortress which boasts a restored triangular tower, unique in Europe. La Mola Castle, as the fortress is known, was passed down through Aragonese kings and nobles until the feudal estates were abolished in the early 19^th century. Now the castle is managed by the town and there is a handy tourist office on site, next to a laid back restaurant offering tapas and a very good value menu del dia for €10.45.

However, if like me you have bought your own food, there are plenty of picnic tables dotted around the area offering wonderful views along the Vinalopo river valley with lush vineyards and the high speed train track from Madrid to Alicante (25 kms from Novelda). There are also several walks around the hills to assist in burning off any excess calories you may have consumed.