Day 13
We had done so much driving in the last few days, that we decided to keep our explorations a little closer to 'home' today. Taking advantage of the clear skies above, we began our day with a hike up to Fort Liberia. It was a moderately difficult climb, along a dirt road, the side of the train tracks and little foot path, that took us about twenty five minutes from the L'Ombre du Fort.
Fort Liberia is privately owned and maintained. No fancy audio guides here, but we were presented with a printed guide to the Fort, with explanations in both French and English.
The fort's construction was started by Vauban in 1697, to protect the exposed village of Villefranche. It was built in three sections, the highest of which faces north and resembles the bow of a ship. It's an extremely well thought out structure. Exploring the fort was far more interesting than I had expected. And from turrets and windows, we were able to partake of several stunning views of Mt Canigou and the valley.
The last section of the Fort we visited, etched the clearest impression in my mind. It was the Ladies' Prison where four ladies from the reign of Louis XVI had been imprisoned for plotting to poison members of the court. Two of them survived, one for an impressive 35 years and the other 44 years.
Entering the prison, I felt a swooping movement close to my head- and realized it was a bat. One or two bats, I can deal with. But then came another, and another....there must have been at least 40 bats nesting in the 'chimney' of the staircase. I pulled my jacket over my head, and bid a hasty retreat to the sunlight.
Having completed our tour of Fort Liberia (sans hair snarls or angry bat guano on our clothes), we decided to leave via its famous staircase of a 1000 steps descending from the Fort to Villefrance. What the true number of steps are, is debatable. Our Michelin guide states that there are 743, while I think Sharon told us it was 883. Exact numbers don't really matter, all one needs to know is that there are a lot of stairs to go down. And that the stairs descend though a tunnel. The day and the time we happened to be descending this stairwell, the lights weren't working, so we had close to zero visibility. If not for the earlier bat incident, I probably wouldn't have had any phobias- but now I was dealing with the double paranoia of not knowing where or on what my foot might land coupled with what nocturnal creature might swoop down and entangle themselves in my hair. And of course, I conjured up images of giant spiders and vengeful rats. Thank god, none of my twisted hallucinations made an appearance during our slow and deliberate descent.
Exiting the stairwell, we were almost blinded as our eyes adjusted to the crisp morning sunlight. From there, we traversed the tracks of Le Train Jaune and entered Villefranche. Early morning Villefranche was quiet and tranquil. And since we weren't in a panic over B&B reservations, we were able to enjoy the quaint architecture and the multitude of 'medieval' metal shop signs.
Next on our agenda- thermal baths. There are many well known spas in the Pyrenees, Font Roumeau, Vernet Les Bains, etc. When I had mentioned to Sharon at breakfast that we were interested in visiting a spa, she recommended that we head to St. Thomas Les Bains. It was only twenty minutes away and in her opinion, a much prettier setting than the others.
We arrived at St. Thomas and paid our admission of 12 euros each, choosing access to both the sulphur baths and the hammam. After changing into our swimsuits, my husband was traumatized that they wouldn't allow him to enter the baths in his swim shorts. They gave him tight european-style swim trunks that sent his ego back to the days of pre-teen angst. Once I convinced him that the effect was more Johnny Weismuller than banana hammock, he relaxed.
The spa is nestled on the mountainside. The sulphur baths were located outside, and we could see signposts at the edge of the pine forest indicating GR hiking trails. The mountain air was chilly and it was starting to rain, but none of that mattered as we floated and 'swam', indulging ourselves of the warm healing waters and the beautiful scenery.
We spent nearly an hour relaxing in the baths before visiting the hammam, inside.
The hammam was fantastic. We went from one room to the next(each one progressively warmer...until you reached the hottest inner chamber, that drove the sweat from your body like an exorcism) and making good use of the brisk waters of the dunking pool (I call them by their Dutch name, dompbads) in between. After two passes through the hammam there was nary a toxin nor speck of dirt left in our bodies when we finally wrapped ourselves in blankets and lay down on chaises in the relaxation atria. We both swore we hadn't felt that clean and relaxed in eons. As the rain grew heavier and pounded the glass roof of the atria, we both quickly slipped in to post sauna bliss and promptly fell asleep. In the end, we had passed a blissful and regenerative three hours at the baths.
Since our good friend the rain had returned with such a vengeance, we decided our next stop would be Prades and an internet cafe.
At Prades, it took us about a half hour of wandering in the rain, to find internet access. The original cafe we had been told of was closed, and we eventually found a bookstore where we could log on and check-in with the outside world. Mission accomplished, we headed back to L'Ombre du Fort.
Back at L'Ombre, we passed the time playing with the girls before heading off to dinner in Villefranche. Sharon had recommended three different restaurants to us, and we eventually chose Le Relais. We practically had the restaurant (and the town for that matter) to ourselves. As we lazily walked back to L'Ombre du Fort after dinner, we were thankful for the gift of another wonderful day in La Belle France.
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