Sunday, February 21, 2010

Aigues Mortes

Today my host fam took me to see Aigues Mortes, a medieval defense fortress about a half hour away. Louis IX did not first create the place, but he built it up during the 7th Crusade as a port into France. It served as a defense fortress and as a prison later, especially for female prisoners. They were usually stowed in the Tour de Constance. Aigues Mortes is also famous for it’s salt and wine. The land around the ramparts contains a lot of salt, so the wine here is peculiar. Their rosĂ© is almost transparent.


After the tour of Aigues Mortes, we went to the beach to see Florian, their son, kite surf. Florian was here visiting for the weekend. He studies architecture in Strasbourg. He was in Australia for awhile and really took a liking to kite surfing. There were tons of Frenchies out on the sea today with their kite surfs. I cannot wait to get out into that water. It is just the perfect shade of Mediterranean turquoise.


The beach by Aigues Mortes has some crazy architecture around it. The buildings were all constructed in the 60s-70s and have a whimsical/wacky style which made the ride home interesting.


Lovely day with the fam d’ac.

1 comment:

  1. Louis IX was quite the dude. Besides being one of the great kings of France, he is the only French monarch to have been sainted.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_IX_of_France

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