1. Canet-en-Roussillon

We’re spending a week at a resort in Canet-en-Roussillon, a short drive from the mediterranean city of Perpignan. Canet-en-Roussillon is very obviously a resort town. It has an historical centre with an ancient church, post office and traditional stores, but its life is now lived at the beach with its rows of apartment blocks, restaurants and tourist shops. The two are completely different: the old town is sleepy and provincial, the plage is tawdry and cynical. Well, that’s my perspective at least.

The resort we’re staying in is huge; there’s a large hotel and hundreds of apartments similar to ours. In peak season the complex has over a dozen bars, restaurants and cafes. Despite this, it has a human scale – as does the old town centre of Canet-en-Roussillon. You can walk around without feeling dwarfed by the buildings, crushed by the crowds or threatened by the traffic. The same thing can’t be said for the environment at the beach.

Still, we don’t expect to spend a lot of time here; it’s a base station for exploration up and down the coast and into the hinterland. Canet-en-Roussillon is part of Catalunya, once a kingdom in its own right. Although now divided between France and Spain its traditions and language live on. All road signs are duplicated in French and Catalan or, on the other side of the border, Spanish and Catalan.

Click any image to enlarge it, then use the left and right arrows on your keyboard to scroll through all the images on this page.