Cauterets

Feb 17, 2007

What a trip from Lourdes and what a change from the bustle of Paris. Our bus ride to Cauterets was gorgeous! We passed through several small towns and lauded the driver's ability to steer the autocar up such winding mountain roads. Thank goodness for smaller cars coming the other direction. If we'd have met a Hummer, we'd surely have been done for.

As we venture further south from Paris - now near to the Spanish border - we notice a change in the topography and a change in the dialect. We're at the foot of the Pyrenées, which have so far been shrouded in mist revealing only the rocky pleats of their skirts to us. And we've noticed a change in the price too. Our hotel tonight - Hotel le Chantilly - is half what we paid in Paris. Cauterets is a resort town with a gondola that carries winter sports enthusiasts up to the pointed peak of Cirque de Lys. The town is hilly and streets are delightfully narrow, offering up secrets and discoveries at every turn, not to mention crazy Fiat drivers unconcerned with unwary pedestrians. Hotel le Chantilly is warm and welcoming with an Irish couple (originally from Galway) as owners. It's refreshing to speak our native tongue freely with others and to thus strike up a conversation.

After arriving and walking around town, we went to les thermes (hot springs) which Cauterets had originally been known for (in the Middle Ages, a distinction that has given way to hiking and skiing). After a long wait in line and an embarassing failure of my French skills to ascertain whether there was a student discount, we gained access to the pools and the sauna, all to the tune of 22 euros. Ouch. It wasn't what we expected. The "pools" were a normal swimming pool at best, actually a quite small one, cool and full of children. And we learned that we were prohibited from entering the warmer pool with hyrdojets which was right along side of the other. (It seems this other pool costs more...) Why do they call it les piscines (that's plural pools) if they mean you may only go into one? Fortunately we made it into the sauna for a little bit and got to sweat it out. This was relaxing, but all in all, the whole 30 minute affair wasn't worth the euros. And as for the wait beforehand, my theory is that they stress you out by making you wait so that you that you can't possibly feel anything but relief when you finally get out of line and into the pools, er, I mean pool.

Anyway, tonight, after a satisfying meal of galettes, we plan to read in the cozy study of the hotel. And maybe we'll strike up a conversation with owners.

02-18-2007 (Amanda's Post)

We reached Lourdes last night and easily found Hotel Ibis, which we later found to be a chain of hotels throughout Europe. A bit more than we would normally pay, but the hostel in town was closed. We had dinner at a pizzeria down the street - think Rocky Rococco, with a rugby theme! The owner was really friendly and pizzas were 8 euro, enough for 2 people, though they wouldn't say so. This morning we bought bus tickets to Cauterets, a 45 minute ride for 6,50. Across the street from the train station was a nice cafe with internet access, so we used that for a while before we caught the bus (typing very slowly as the keyboard was set up much differently!). The ride to Cauterets was scenic: small towns nestled in the green mountains, a mist in the air. This is what I love to see and experience - the rural landscape and rural folk.

Cauterets seemed larger than the 1300 people proclaimed by our guidebook, Let's Go. We found during our stay that it is very much a resort town, with skiing in the winter and hiking when the snow's gone, so perhaps the small number refers to the permanant citizens. We reached the town at a time when both activities were possible, and were attracted by the hotsprings as well. Walking around town, we were taken by the old, pretty buildings, the narrow cobble streets, and the mountains that rose on both sides into the fog. We saw where the hiking trails take off into the hills. I look forward to coming back some time to hike the Pyrenees in warmer weather, when I can camp or stay at gites or refuges. It is possible to hike between the small towns and villages. We tested the hotsprings, which turned out to be very modified, a very expensive health spa. (Even liposuction was available!). We tried the pools/sauna for 11 euro each, and the experience was not really worth the money as the pool was small and not that hot, and the sauna was nice but we had to compete for space. Overall, we were only allowed 15 min in the pool and 15 in the sauna. For richer travellers, massages and other benefits of the spa could be a real treat, and in the future they plan to build a larger community pool. However, we were disappointed to not find the small primative hotspring we envisioned.

We stopped at a cafe to taste the almond crepes Mom had told us she loved. They were really delicious, a sweet treat complemented with an espresso. Thanks, Mom! Later, we had dinner at La Creperie du Molleau, where the highest item was 9 euro! Most of the menu consisted of Breton-style crepes, with the edges folded over, and with a variety of fillings available. I had La Creole, with chicken and pineapple curry and cheese, and Shaun had tomatoes, cheese, and basil, and both came with a bit of basil. They were just the right size and price, and really good. We are staying at Hotel Le Chantilly, run by an Irish couple, so it is easy to communicate with them. At 34 euro total per night for a double bed with toilet (shower down the hall), it's a great place to stay. We'll remain here two nights, so tomorrow we can ride the gondola to the ski area and do a bit of hiking.

02-21-2007

Monday was a great day in Cauterets. We were up a bit late for breakfast (I had slept terribly the night before), but our hosts were very kind to accomodate us anyway. They also recommended Pont d'Espagne in the National Park for hiking (or snowshoeing as it had snowed there the night before). It sounded beautiful, but we later found it a better use of time and money to simply hike out one of the trails leading from Cauterets itself, avoiding a bus fare and ride, and snowshoe rentals, etc. We rode the gondola from town to the ski area above and it was nice to see the hill from that vantage point. Back in town, we ate at the Ski Bar and checked out the Pyrenees information office before we headed up the steep mountainside toward Lac d'Estom, a 3hr 45min trek (one way). The trail evened out after a while as we began to walk cross-hill. We chatted somewhat with an older man who shared the trail with us for a while. He commented on the beauty of the place, and we agreed, but couldn't understand much more as he admitted his English was terrible, and of course our French was not on par with his! However, we felt enlivened by our friendly encounter with the man. We walked about three hours and made it to Le Fruitiere, an empty restaurant sitting alone where the trail meets a small road. The trek was absolutely wonderful, and I can't wait to return to do more hiking someday. Upon returning to Cauterets, our hosts recommended places to find the local stew, Gabure, made with potatoes, carrots, roast duck, and pork, among other ingredients resulting in a delicious, hearty meal. Paired with Basque cider, it was especially good.

Tuesday, we made it to breakfast on time, then said good-bye to our hosts who had been so gracious and friendly. We let them read the excerpt about their hotel in our Let's Go guidebook, as they'd never seen what the girl who visited only a year ago had written. They chuckled at the phrases, "charming" couple and "sleepy" town. They also recommended some spots near Galway to see, where they are from in Ireland. Then we headed out to use the internet, send postcards, and pick up some food at the market. We took the bus back down the narrow, windy valley to Lourdes, where we walked about and explored the basillicas and viewed the fortress from its base. Lovely buildings and architecture, and a sense of peace as the day was again beautiful and the place serene (even with a good number of tourists peaking about).

We didn't stay long in Lourdes as we were catching the train to Toulouse. I began feeling ill, with a headache and dry sinus, so the night grew more and more unpleasant as it went on. At Toulouse, we discovered we could not catch a train to Barcelona that night as we'd hoped, so we found a hotel near the station. We had a great dinner, conversation, and lots of laughs and release from the evenings flustering events. To top it off, Shaun tried desperately to figure out how to open the small bottle of wine he'd ordered, which the waitress had left on the table as if that was all she planned to do. As he turned it about confusedly in his hands, she returned laughing heartily, saying no!, no!, and revealed the corkscrew she'd brought to open it.

Later, we watched a bit of CSI a la Francais. The morning came quite early (6:50 am), and we rushed to the station and were directed to the train to Marseille. We left this train at Nabonne, along with other travelers trying to get to Barcelona, and found a train to Cerberre, near the border. We traveled with a Brit from Liverpool who spoke no French or Spanish and was "desparate" to get to Barcelona to see the futbol game taking place this evening. It was nice to have a new travel companion for a time. We shared stories and a compartment to Cerberre, then went in together for a taxi across the border to Port Bou. The ride was quite memorable...

Our driver was a petite woman looking about 60, but with a spitfire personality! She was lively! We shot out of the narrow enclosed parking lot at Cerberre, but I really knew it would be a wild ride when she turned up the radio and belted, "It's the light Fandango..." passionately at the top of her lungs. She whipped around tight corners, making comments and gestures at other drivers, which we couldn't quite understand, but somehow made sense. Another song began to play, and she cooed, "I lo-ve Frankie, baby!", with an accent somewhere between Spanish and French, and we laughed. She joked with our friend, Alec, that we'd picked the best driver, "speedy Gonzalez", and around another blind corner, we about ran into a huge pack of bicyclists, at which she swore endlessly. She slapped our passports against the window as we were waved through the French border, and again the Spanish, and she thought it helped that Alec had thick dark eyebrows and looked Spanish. She remarked that he looked like the guy from Top Gun. "Tom Cruise", I said. "OuI!" Then she dropped us at Port Bou station.

At Barcelona, Alec took off to join up with the many Liverpool fans, noticable by their red jerseys. We had a long, tiring walk trying to find our hostel, but finally were relieved of our packs and grabbed some dinner to eat on the street (a place called Organic is Orgasmic). We watched people as we ate, mostly Liverpool fans who had long since been drinking, singing, and whooping it up before the big game. We wondered later if some of these fans would even make it to the game as there were still some wandering around Ramblas, well away from the stadium, during game-time. We enjoyed the spirited atmosphere, and later, had tiny espressos and ate gelato before making our way back to the hostel.