Au Revoir Olivier!

We hated to leave the village of Sainte-Marie but time to head south to Denia and our Spanish segment. We could not have had a better time and appreciate the hospitality of our accomplished and gentle Father Olivier Nicque, now quite the leader of his flock. We stopped by his church to say goodby and got the tour of the interior, with relics from Saints Cosmos and Damian. Thank you Father!

Collioure and our last night in the Languedoc

Olivier gave us a guided tour of this scenic town near the Banyuls vineyards, and showed us an anchovy store and the local winery in a former church. He even gave us a gift of a case of their excellent dry red wine that we enjoyed later that evening with our simple supper of cheese, bread, and anchovies marinated with roasted peppers. We walked around the harbor and sat for a glass of wine while the sun went down and the lights came on in the town. We are surely blessed on this trip—in more ways than one.

Argeles-sur-Mer and Father Nicque’s Domain

We met Olivier at his church, Notre Dame, in the center of Argeles and he took us on a tour of the bell tower, part of it from the 3rd century. He even rang the bell from the high tower and we looked over the rooftops of the charming town.

Sainte-Marie

The beach village of St. Marie was like Stone Harbor in off season—sleepy. We went to the beach after breakfast in the garden at Olivier’s beach house, John for his second swim of the day in the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Lunch at a little cafe near the beach included anchovies like the one that John found washed up on the shore, all silvery surprise. We didn’t get the “Joe” pizza listed on one of the shop menus, but it did sound good.