It is nearly three months since I last posted on this blog - I went to Paris to work on a new project and changed not only my home address for a while, but seemingly my whole lifestyle - blogging and photography went out of the window and the noise and scrumbles of city life took over.

I will be writing about my bizarre experiences dealing with Parisian business, but not until I can put some distance, thought and balance into the perspective.

Needless to say I am much much happier in the South of France, not only because I am with my family, but just about everything is better, food, weather, space, the countryside and friendly people - like most cities, Paris is great to visit and even better to leave.

OK, so this is a short note - but it is the first time I have felt like writing in a dozen weeks.

When I am asked what are the best places to visit, I have a problem - I can only respond and state what I personally like or dislike and this may not be fair to the many alternative, possibly interesting places I do not mention.

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We are coming to stay in Carcassonne from 24 06 08 to 03 07 08. What must not be missed in the area please. We will have a car for 4 days the rest will be spent in the city. A big request perhaps but I would like to be sure to find the best so we are tempted to return. We have spent holidays in France for 35 years and this is the only part we have not visited. Provence and Cote d’Azur are our favorites.
Stuart

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Hello Stuart,

The old city of Carcassonne is well worth a visit - the local tourist office will fill your car with leaflets of local stuff, wine trails and museums - The Abby of Fontfroide is good - local towns like Mirepoix and Foix are interesting, but not as awesome as Carcassonne - nonsensical superstition things like the Cathar trails and looney priests discovering hidden Merovingean treasure are all around that area - some the so-called Cathar castles are have spectacular views, they tend to be on the top of mountains so you need to be fit and have good walking shoes.

For me the best pleasures are finding a quiet village and having a simple lunch with a carafe of local wine (if it is good), or buying the wine, bread and cheese and motoring down narrow farm roads until I find a very quite spot and have a picnique.

Give me an idea of your ages, numbers and preferences and I will try to think of other places and ideas

Best wishes

Tony

When I am asked what are the best places to visit, I have a problem - I can only respond and state what I personally like or dislike and this may not be fair to the many alternative, possibly interesting places I do not mention.

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We are coming to stay in Carcassonne from 24 06 08 to 03 07 08. What must not be missed in the area please. We will have a car for 4 days the rest will be spent in the city. A big request perhaps but I would like to be sure to find the best so we are tempted to return. We have spent holidays in France for 35 years and this is the only part we have not visited. Provence and Cote d’Azur are our favorites.
Stuart

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Hello Stuart,

The old city of Carcassonne is well worth a visit - the local tourist office will fill your car with leaflets of local stuff, wine trails and museums - The Abby of Fontfroide is good - local towns like Mirepoix and Foix are interesting, but not as awesome as Carcassonne - nonsensical superstition things like the Cathar trails and looney priests discovering hidden Merovingean treasure are all around that area - some the so-called Cathar castles are have spectacular views, they tend to be on the top of mountains so you need to be fit and have good walking shoes.

For me the best pleasures are finding a quiet village and having a simple lunch with a carafe of local wine (if it is good), or buying the wine, bread and cheese and motoring down narrow farm roads until I find a very quite spot and have a picnique.

Give me an idea of your ages, numbers and preferences and I will try to think of other places and ideas

Best wishes

Tony

France is a big country with several totally different climates and thousands of years of local traditions. Every army has marched back and forth, conquering and settling in this rich and fruitful country.

France is also the most visited area in the world, in 2007, I am told by the official figures, over 82 million people came to France with about 60 million stating it was their main destination. I still dount these figures, but any way you look at it is a lot of people.

France is also a very popular place for families to mover to and people to retire to - the combination of a great lifestyle, security, civilisation and great public services make it a top choice.

France is still a strong farming country - self sufficient and exporting, the farming culture is very strong in rural France, and there is a lot of rural France.

I get a lot of questions about the “best place to live” and “what do I think of …” - I can only comment that “it depends what you are looking for” - remote country areas will be cheaper and may have great scenery, but the will be - well - remote, isolated, often bloody cold in winter and, ummm boring to al ot of people - but it may also be a dream for many other people.

Her is a recent mail I relied to about a town in Languedoc…

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Hi Tony,

We read all of your articles, thank you for writing them!

What is your personal opinion of the village Lezignan-Corbieres? Are you familiar with this area? We purchased a Village home there some 5 years ago, and have not been back as often as we would like. You seem so knowledgeable regarding the different areas, and while we like the village, we would like a second opinion,from someone we consider to be an insider.

Thank you!

Lynn

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Hi Lynn,

I like to visit the area around Narbonne and Lezignan-Corbiers, but some parts prone to high wind (hence all the wind generators in that region) and, apart from a little in Narbonne, culture is sparse.

It depends what you are looking for -

The French model is family based. often with very large extended family groups, they keep close and private and take a lot of vacation time in adjacent areas - this can suit people looking for peace, quiet and simple relaxation, or an “escape” from a stressful iestyle.

The “tourist” model usually needs itineraries, plans, routes, travel, visits and stimulation - this is good for a couple of trips or infrequent visits, but for a lifestyle will “burn out” most French towns and villages an the local region very quickly. Larger cities are needed to keep this level of tourism alive and contented.

The second home model, the time on vacation is usually taken up with repairs, building work, decoration and expense. Once the property is finished it usually reverts to “quiet and boring mode” and the owners then try to sell for a big profit (not always successfully).

The lifestyle model - leaving a steady though boring job to run a BandB, farm, cafe, small shop etc - always a much harder experience than expected and often not as rewarding as the previous lifestyle - paperwork and taxes usually kill this dream off in about four years.

Lezignan-Corbiers suits the French model, as long as you are a farmer.

Just my 2c

Bonne Chance

Tony

There have been several famous Oyster Clubs, these were often private societies dedicated to fine eating in good company.

Through the enterprise of Robin Hicks, a businessman who lives near us in the Herault, a group of press, publishers and bloggers get invited to visit and experience local events. As the first meeting was to learn about the cultivation of Oysters in the Bassin du Thau, and as our research involved the eating of large quantities of Oysters washed down with larger quantities of local wine and followed by a typical French lunch - Rupert Wright, a writer for the Sunday Times, named this the working group of journalists the Oyster Club.

Last week, organised by www.herault-tourisme.com we met in Pezenas and had a presentation by the local tourist office www.pezenas-tourisme.fr with a tour of this unique Renaissance town, a French lunch and then a www.scenovisionmoliere.com presentation of the life of Moliere.

I would like to learn to like Molier’s plays, his life sounds interesting with a lot of travel, often running from the law it seems, with his group of actors, up and down France - he was supported by royal court of France, perhaps as much for the “talents” of his actresses, as for the quality of his penmanship - but what I have seen has not enthused me to watch more.

I was hoping the “scenovision” presented by the tourist office in Pezenas would tell me more and encourage me to see the plays, but, although done at huge expense with a massive investment to convert the medieval buildings of the old prison to show five scenes of Moliere’s life in five different set-piece rooms - I was underwhealmed.

We were handed 3D spectacles as we entered the first “theater” I have not worn these since the 1960s - the problem with the technology is that the designers start to think of gimmicky ways to use the effect. After the first scene I took the silly things off, it meant that only part of the scene shown was in sharp focus, but with the glasses on it was all soft and blurry anyway. It also meant that the production was by necessity a flat and posed presentation, very little movement (apart from sticks, swords and place names wandering about as these were easy to make in 3D).

The old prison building could have been much more interesting, a few racks and guillotines would have been better and possibly less painful than this bland presentation of Moliere - but if you are in Pezenas and want to remember what 3D was like 45 years ago, it is a bargain hour (you cannot escape) for 7 euro.

I travel to a lot of towns and villages in France on business and often have to eat lunch out - today Carole and I had a meeting near Limoux and called into the town center looking for a simple lunch.

The old heart of the town is a square of cafes and restaurants, but a tip I offer is to look for the one which has the PMU sign - this means they are a place where you can bet on the horses and buy tickets for television live time lotteries.

These are typically activities for the local French people who will also expect a good, fair priced meal - which is exactly what we got. Great stuff.

I just re-read a reply I did to a reader asking for advice on what to see and visit driving south from Paris. Perhaps I have been living in France for too long and am getting over-familiar with the sights and scenery I see every day. I am not a great fan of developed tourist areas or organised sites and scenes.

France has so many great places to see that it is not possible to do it quickly - all are different and deserve time. My advice is to wander slowly, when you find something which “feels” good - stop, look for a cafe and sit a while.

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Hi Tony

Having visited France back in 2002 and falling in love with the country but in particular, Provence, I am so excited to be coming back again in Aug/Sept this year.

I am travelling with some friends (we are from NZ & Australia) and we will be driving from Paris down to Provence to spend a couple of weeks exploring and relaxing.

My dilemma is the best route to take to get there, stopping along the way to see some other parts of the countryside.
Ideally I would like to either go down the centre and/or take in a bit of the Western regions (I travelled the Eastern regions last time).

Can you recommend any “must-sees” for someone who is really looking forward to Provence but wants to give the rest of the country a viewing too (just in case they’re just as nice or better!)
I look forward to (hopefully) hearing from you soon.

Best wishes

Tiffany
BTW - I really enjoy reading your Newsletters, so keep sending please!

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Hi Tiffany

It depends on your budget - 2 weeks is not a long time and France, although much smaller than Australia, has many times more variations of culture, scenery, lifestyle, food and climate. It is not an exaggeration to say that each of the 95 departments is a different “country”.

So whizzing from Paris around France in a couple of weeks would be exhausting and disorienting if you try to go too far or do too much.

Going down the center from Paris there is nothing to see until you get to the Mediterranean - the scenery is great over the Massif Central, but after ten kilometers, ummmm, there is the next ten of similar stuff. The bridge at Millau is worth seeing.

Pezenas, Sete and Montpellier are worth a quick look (I would say that wouldn’t I, we chose to live in this region for the last fifteen years).

Everyone plans to visit Avignon, yes it is worth a ten minute coffee break - same for Aix - my preference in that area is the old part of Marseilles. Arles has some good parts and Nimes some super Roman stuff.

The Riviera/Cote d’Azur is ghastly in August - too much traffic and candy floss - but old Nice is always worth the time.

Inland Provence is - well - inland. Blooming lavender and pseudo museums (except you will be too late) - the postcards are more interesting.

If you take the West coast then La Rochelle and other holiday towns offer a softer France than the South - you will still get Peruvian nose flute players of course and the usual beggars with cans of beer, packets of fags and dogs - but they seem less smelly (must be the Atlantic air).

I like Beirritz (many people don’t) and Lourdes must be the tackiest place on the planet - Bordeaux is good as it has many roads leaving it and you can escape quickly. Carcassonne is worth a visit, it needs to be ticked off your list, but once is enough

My favorite towns (apart from Paris) - Lyons, Marseilles, Nice,

Hope this helps

Tony

A recent article in the Telegraph by Henry Samuel, announced Sarkozy’s ambition for a new Paris - President Nicolas Sarkozy of France has tasked a group of top architects, including Britain’s Richard Rogers, to dream up a Grand Paris to rival Greater London that could stretch as far as the Channel - Read the Full Article.

I find this very interesting and exciting - Paris is forced to be a small city, the peripherique is a beltway containing the posh and touristy bits inside and much of the real world outside. Public transport is absolutely brilliant inside the peripherique but poor to non-existent outside.

Over the next few months I am going to be spending a lot of time in Paris on some new projects, so the opportunities simply thinking and planning an initiative like this open up are perhaps those which come only rarely in a lifetime - watch this space.

On my blog at www.FrUK.eu I am writing about setting up ways to find what properties are available for sale in France. This is not an easy task. A reader sent me information about three websites in Australia which offer direct introductions from seller to buyer or buyer to seller…

G,day Tony,Herewith web sites for reference : http://www.goprivate.com.au http://www.owner.com.au http://www.NoAgentProperty.com.au and http://www.diysell.com.au Best o’luck,John - these seem to be a sort of classified advertising site, there are some like this in France like http://www.pap.fr

It would be interesting to make a list of these services in other countries, so if you know of any sites which eliminate estate agents in the property sale process, please write to me

Many recent mails have asked questions about coming to France and teaching English. Although English is a compulsory subject in all schools and most people in France have been taught English for seven years of their live, or more, the level of fluency is very low. Living in France it is not necessary or even useful to speak English unless you work in the tourist industry or are involved in an export business. With teenage children we meet many young people in our home and they very rarely can understand English and never speak it even after years of compulsory schooling. So it would seem there may be a big demand to teach English - but I see little real evidence to support this.

I was going to write more about this but an article in the April edition of The Connection gives a lot more information about TEFL - teaching English as a Foreign language - and refers to some other trades and professions if you move to France