I have to admit, I did nag Mick until he agreed we could go to the seaside. Not that it was too far, at just under 70km which we’ve done before, for Mick it was the worry I might take a wrong turn and get onto a major highway and we’d then be stuck – I’m not sure where, but it panics him. 

Lucky for me, he gave in and we headed off towards Perpignan and the seaside. 

I found a good park and we followed the signs to the Office de Tourisme. 

It was harder to find than we thought because there was loads of action in the town square – it was being disguised as a Christmas village complete with an ice rink. 

We eventually found it under that huge electrified snowman. Have I mentioned before how crazy the French are about Christmas decorations? 🎄

The Christmas Market will open tonight and there were many stalls getting ready to sell their wares. Hot wine for example. 

While I understood champagne and macarons, I have no idea what the last one is. 

Mick was disappointed he missed this place all alight and busy with people. 

But once armed with the free maps, Mick guided us to the fishing village. Very colourful, but fermée. 

Mick reckoned there were several fishing boats out working. The net repairing spot looked a mess to me. 

We then headed to the La Grande Plage (?big beach) …

…to check out the famous casino – image below borrowed from the net . 

This ship was built in 1931 and used as an Australian coastal passenger ship. “Later in life she became the landlocked casino ship and tourist attraction Casino Le Lydia in Le Barcarès, France.”

Well, this is how it looked today. 

It was definitely fermée!
Our final stop here was the suburb of homes on canals. We were interested to see how it compared to Pelican Waters and our canal. 

It didn’t. 

Funnily enough, there was an area near here called Golden Beach, where you could play mini golf —— if it was open. But that’s not the interesting part, Golden Beach is our closest beach at home. Coincidence?

Mick was happy to get home, well rewarded for the effort.