June 2021
At last, I feel ready to resume the editing of our trip to Camargue. I published the first part of this beautiful part of France in February, just a week before Russian full-scale invasion to Ukraine, and then I blacked out for almost three months. So, in my attempts to bring my life back I decided to finish the articles about this land of flamingos, pink lakes with salty banks, white horses and black bulls.
In this article we will show you the part, which is called “La Petite Camargue”. It is situated in Occitanie and not in Provence like the rest of it, so we split our story accordingly.
Le Grau-du-Roi
Le Grau-du-Roi was our second stop after la Grande-Motte and it looked much like the coastal towns of France that we are used to. Beautiful local architecture, seafood restaurants, typical beaches and tasty ice-cream – this is a good promise of any trip.
Out of context: even if it’s not always easy, I am endlessly happy that we never gave up this blog. Once I removed the pressure of blog visibility, it became a true outlet for our photography and rudimentary impressions and memories from the travels we make. And it feels so good to open a random article and scroll it through bringing all those sensations back. This is what I feel typing this almost a year after this trip took place. It’s never late.
Pointe de l’Espiguette
I want to remember this place and its wind full of sand. It was impossible to be seated straight without receiving a heavy cloud of sticky sharp particles in the eyes, so we chose to lay down and let the send make a thin layer on our naked bodies. We went to a nudist beach, because once we tried it in Landes two years ago, coming back to regular beaches seems like a torture. That was a beautiful afternoon and a beautiful night, in our van close to the dunes.
Aigues-Mortes
Several of the most iconic views of Camargue come from Aigues-Mortes and its salt errr… factory. A curious mix between an ancient wall with impressive stone gates, a surreal scenery of pink salt and flamingos flying over and a totally industrial vibe of an actual factory including the machinery, trucks, workers, safety posters and ugly pink vests for tourists that totally ruin the pictures.
Taking bicycles was an excellent idea, thus we could take the longest itinerary without burning down under the merciless sun. If you wonder where the pink vests are, I confess – for some pictures we chose to take a risk of expulsion and eternal ban from the site, but this story had a happy ending.
A fun fact: while our van Robbie was waiting on the parking of Aigues-Morte, someone tried to break in and failed. I would love to call it another happy ending if two months later, this time just near our house in Toulouse, the robbers hadn’t managed to break the locking system (already damaged by the failed try in Camargue) and hadn’t stolen our mobile refrigerator. So, along with beautiful memories of flamingos and stuff I always think of those anonymous bastards.
It was Xavier’s birthday, so we went for lunch to a nice little place in the town. The food was good, still we were both quite disappointed by the Aigues-Mortes city-center. Despite its obvious beauty and historical value, it was too touristy and we felt completely out of place.
Tour Carbonnière
Just as much as we felt suffocating in Aigues-Mortes, it felt good on a random parking spot on the road a few kilometers from the town. Less people, more nature, the heat calming down, beauty all around us. It is such moments that make our trips unforgettable.
Saint-Laurent-d’Aigouze
We treated ourselves to a beautiful Airbnb in a random village, the highlight of which was a little swimming pool. And oh boy we could hardly leave it alone.
Vauvert
We drove across several more villages and towns, making stop wherever we wanted, taking pictures and breathing fresh air. Camargue was beautiful already and we even didn’t go beyond its smallest part. More was yet to come, see you in the next article! 🦩
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