France – Aigues-Mortes (En)
Aigues-Mortes, an old fortified city, in the Gard, represents a prestigious heritage right amid marshlands, in one of the most beautiful spots of Provence, the Camargue. Established west of the Little Rhône, the medieval city had originally been a small hamlet of fishermen and salt gatherers, washed by marshes reaching the Mediterranean Sea. Another point to note when visiting this incredible town is that the marshes are full of beautiful pink flamingos!
Where to stay
We stayed at a private caravan area called Ferme Aquacole Les Poissons d’Argent (43.564465, 4.163136 lat, long) where they offer you a fishing package for 12 euros which includes fishing equipment, emptying and drinking water without electricity. That’s the one we chose. With electricity, it is 17 euros per day. The area is surrounded by lakes for fishing and full of birds. There is also a restaurant where you can order bread and pastries the day before, a bar that was not yet open with billiards etc. and sales of oysters directly from the producer. You have to pay for the fish you catch, we don’t fish so I don’t know how much each fish costs, but one family caught 5! You need a bike or motorcycle to get to the medieval city, which is impressive! The area is huge so there is enough room. Be careful when it’s hot, there are a lot of mosquitoes.
What to see
We rode the motorcycle to the city, for about 3 minutes, and the first thing you see at the entrance is a roundabout with a giant flamingo. We parked just outside the fortified city, and you can see the river with its beautiful boats and the Carbonnière Tower that represented the vanguard of the enclosure, protecting the town from any land invasion. You can still visit.
The city walls, its gates and towers. Its construction began under Louis IX with the construction of the Constance Tower, a sadly famous keep built on the ruins of the Matafère Tower, the work of Charlemagne.
We enter the fortified city and find beautiful streets decorated with butterflies and shops, a central square decorated with flamingos and full of restaurants and bars, and the church of Notre Dame des Sablons, built in Gothic style with a single nave in the 13th century, it was expanded to three naves in the 18th century. It is undoubtedly the oldest monument in Aigues-Mortes. A historic building that combines perfectly with contemporary stained glass windows by the artist Viallat.
What to eat
It seems that the typical food in town is bull, which is cooked in many different ways and is offered in almost all restaurants. We left the fortified area and decided to launch the dish of the day for 15 euros in a square with a beautiful carousel. We both ate the dish of the day, steak with potatoes with cheese and cream, roasted tomato, salad and pepper sauce. Huge, I couldn’t finish it. I recommend the restaurant called L’Escale as the food was delicious.
And the next day we went on the motorcycle to see the beautiful flamingos, which are pink from eating the pink shrimp in the area according to what we were told.
Our next stop is Beaucaire, a town of Art and History located by the Rhone River, which you can see in the next post!
