A Vagabond in Europe : Sunday

On the Sunday which was my day off the Richard and Patricia took me out to see some of the historical sites around the area. I had an enjoyable weekend as although I had to work on the Saturday,

I tried rabbit for dinner that night which I enjoyed, and on the Sunday night we had roast duck which I enjoyed for the first time ever (the trick it turns out is to rub salt on the outside before roasting it).

I also tried vin du peche (peach wine) which was delicious. Muscat which is quite nice, and eau de vie which was a bit like drinking straight vodka with pears floating in it, I wasn't a fan but my host family seems to greatly enjoy drinking it straight.

After moving a chain-sawed down tree In bits to the wood pile, I then plugged the gaps in the shed by making and applying concrete. Fun fun.

I was quite proud of shed painting though.

I even ignored to turkey's that gobbled angrily at me while I did it.

Sunday I slept until 9 instead of my usual half 7 wake up so that was exciting. We then drove go the archaeological museum in Montrozier.

It was very small, only two rooms but they were very interesting as they depicted the archaeology of the local region. The first room was from the Chalcolithic period and featured weapon points and tools as well as some finds from local caves.

There were several decorative items like beautifully made jewelry.

My favourite was the collection of human teeth.

The second room came from the roman era and had many objects that were familiar to me as I had dug similar objects up myself in Gabii which was cool. Pottery, oil lamps, coins and fragments of mosaic all featured.

Fragmentary mosaic.

We then headed to another little place I have never even heard of and can't remember the name of. It was also extremely cool, the medieval village clung tenuously to the edge of the cliff, an enormous basin yawning far below. All I could think was how fantastically defensible it must have been!!

We then stopped for a picnic lunch on the side of the road and enjoyed our ham sandwiches. From there we went to my favourite place of the day and also one of my favourite places in Europe. Bellcastel.

Surrounded by a beautiful medieval village and bridge across the river, the castle towered high above, breathtaking and magnificent. I was surprised by the English sounding name, but research proved me different, as it in fact meant 'warrior castle' which I thought was pretty cool.

The castle was abandoned and ruined until the 50s when an architect came along and restored it beautifully, it's impossible to see where his renovations and the original castle ends or begins.

The beautifully kept grounds and imposing stone structures made it one of my favourite castles of all time.

The imposing and heavily barricaded front entrance, thick walls and most. It would be with difficulty that enemies could breach the front wall, but even if they did, a second line of defence with 8 foot thick walls awaited them, followed by a final defence of a keep with stocked cellars and enough space for the few most important men of the castle to hold out until either they of their enemies ran out of supplies.

Beautifully preserved tower and door.

Beautiful stained glass windows.

Ivy growing up the tower walls.

The dungeons, now an art gallery.

An old bible in Latin held in the cistern under the castle.

the only remains of the structures initial purpose, a church in the eleventh century. The coolest thing about it was the faint fresco still visible on the wall of Mary.