salty sea

Yesterday, R. & R. drove us to the coast (Mediterranean side). Our first stop was the town of Peryiac-de-Mer, which had a nice hike on a boardwalk through some old salt flats. Then we drove around the bay to Gruissan, where we had lunch at the marina and checked out a bit of ruined castle tower at the top of a small hill (plus a cool boat-themed church underneath).

Just outside of Gruissan was a functioning salt flat, with a gift shop & museum. The water was bright pink and salt was crystallizing on the shore, which you can see in the phone pic below, just before the enormous pile of harvested salt.

We'd seen the big castley cathedral at Narbonne from the road on the way by, and even though R. & R. were sure we'd be sick of churches by now, I asked if we could make another stop there before heading home. It was worth it: the vaulted cielings were some of the tallest I've ever seen. But it's also surprisingly small inside — the building was actually left unfinished after the choir was completed in 1332, due to local politics, lack of funds, and the black plague.