The aim of our trip was to scout the southern region of France to see whether we would like to live there and if so, where. ‘We’ comprises a couple in their late 50s looking to retire in a friendlier, sunnier climate.

We decided to concentrate first on the respective surroundings of an area between Perpignan - Carcassonne – Narbonne. Our aim is to live within reasonable distance of a town or city with the usual amenities, easy accessibility, and good medical care in order to be secure about ageing with creature comforts at hand.

Upon arrival in Perpignan we were greeted by the region’s cool winds, which locally is called “le marais”, and can last for a few days bringing cooler temperatures, sometimes stormy days and/or rain; it rained for a little the second day of our holiday. We were spared any ‘bad’ weather thereafter.

Perpignan

The most Spanish and according to the weathermen, the hottest city in France is the capital of Pyrenees Orientales and Roussillon: Perpignan. This city offers a good mix of Mediterranean French and Catalan culture which is also evident in the physiognomy of its inhabitants: short of stature and dark features.

The local accent is more Catalan based than French, and has a melodic lilt to it. The city centre is partly pedestrianized with two rivers flowing through it, the Basse and the Tet. The old town is elegant and well preserved. Friendly, easily accessible the town has many historic sights of which the 13th century castle of the kings of Majorca (le Palais des Rois de Majorque) is a central point and also worth a visit is Le Castillet de Perpignan: a gateway into narrow streets of the older part of city.

The city is dotted with wonderful squares and next to every building of interest in the city is a sign with information in French, English and Catalan. Some of the squares host fruit, vegetable and ‘artisanat’ markets on different days of the week.

Our next destination was Narbonne. En route we stopped off at the Xth century Château Féodal de Fitou (Feudal Castle of Fitou), a small, stone castle high on a hill above the village of Fitou, which is nowadays known for its wine, accessible via a winding, potted road overlooking the fairly barren hills. The hills host windmill farms as well as of course a multitude of vineyards.

The newer part of the village has seen a lot of construction lately of holiday homes belonging to German, Swiss and English people. We found the houses on the small side and too near each other.

Narbonne

By contrast is a delightful difference. Less austere, with an easy flow of architecture from old to modern, the centre of the town contains boulevards, narrow streets, squares and ancient buildings. Among these are an interesting mix of traditional markets, cafes, restaurants, curio shops, boutiques, bakers and confectioners, and other, to suit all tastes and purses.

It also boasts a beautiful, covered food market: Les Halles de Mirabeau. On display are fresh locally grown vegetables, meats (including horse), charcuterie, fish, cheeses, pastries and more, including some locally produced wines. The stalls selling food are interspersed with a few bars, where one can be tempted by a coffee or even a pastis.

On the outskirts of Narbonne there are hypermarkets, sports facilities and again vineyards.

It is a colourful town, home to the stunning 12-13th Century Cathedral de St Just et St Pasteur with adjoining cloisters and the Palais des Archeveques. The cleverly achieved lighting effects within the cathedral beautifully highlight the impressive inner sanctum and show up the majesty of this edifice.

Nearby on the sea is Narbonne-Plage, which is extremely modern and singularly geared to those who want to experience beach life. It was ruled out completely as suitable for ‘retirement living’ for that reason.

We decided to extend the ‘regional borders’ of our trip to include Beziers.

Beziers

This was our second visit. There is a grand tree-lined central square and promenade, bordered by shops and restaurants, with narrow streets leading off on either side. In the oldest part of Beziers stands the Gothic Saint Nazaire Cathedral.

Other architecturally interesting churches have a forlorn look about them, as does much of the town, yet Beziers is known for wine growing and rugby!

In the 17th century, realising the importance of the location of Beziers Pierre Paul Riquet, adoptive son of Beziers, funded and started the construction of the Canal du Midi, a waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean (ironically, the Canal was opened only in 1681, after his death).

The Canal du Midi facilitated the creation of the Sète port, and with it a growing prosperity for the Languedoc region - Sète has been called "the little Venice of the Languedoc", with its quaint neighbourhoods, numerous canals and fishing port which is situated in the heart of the town.

Near Sète and on the sea is the very pretty town of Cap d’Agde, also named the “The Naked City” as it is very much a holiday site for naturists. But originally it takes its name from the nearby old town of Agde. It is an attractive and friendly port town filled with boutiques and a lot of quality fish restaurants.

We did not linger too long in the region, but headed for our next destination Carcassonne.

Carcassonne

Originally a medieval city, its main attraction today is the magnificent walled “La Cité.” To us somewhat reminiscent of St Paul de Vence, but on a much larger scale, somewhat more austere and less picturesque. La Cité contains 52 towers and 2 rings of walls making a total of 3km of battlement, it was built in 1260 by St Louis to a quadrangular, checkerboard layout.

The streets cut across each other at right angles and boast an outstanding variety of architectural styles. A fairly centralised hub of tourist shops greet the visitor upon entrance through a stone gate reached crossing the remnants of a once imposing drawbridge over a large moat. Thereafter this main thoroughfare leads into more tranquil areas and gives access to narrow streets without any shops enabling the visitor to get a more realistic view of life within the city’s ramparts. Today la Cité houses 120 local inhabitants.

The boutiques do not hold a lot of authentic regional artefacts; one recognizes the more distinctive Provence pottery and herbs, table settings, chinaware – and a variety of olive oils throughout.

Carcassonne has immeasurably more historic sights/sites to visit, but we decided to forego the temptation.

We stayed on the outskirts of all the three main cities of this region of France, visiting all three several times during our 10-day stay. They functioned as a base from which we ventured forth into the towns and villages in the area in order to gather our impressions, browse the window displays of the various immobilier offices and get a general feel for housing and prices.

If cost is not a consideration the seaside resorts of the region have a charm of their own, but are of course prone to tourist invasion and subsequent traffic nightmares in high season. This was already starting to be noticeable during our visit, taking place in the cooler climes of May.

We noted a lot more activity in the seaside towns near Perpignan: St Cyprien Village, an old town situated two kilometres inland. The first record of the village is by the Romans dating to 118 BC. It is quite picturesque, with old houses and small streets. Nearby Saint Cyprien Plage is not that old; constructed off marshlands in the 1950s. The middle of the town is the oldest part, the original 1950s district. Here you find hotels and apartments that are a bit faded in a charming sort of way. The south of the town is home to its port full of schooners and sailboats of all sizes.

We fell in love with Elne – more inland and south of Perpignan. It has a unique setting, forms a canton of 6500 inhabitants (Elne in the Ancient Past was on one of the few possible land routes between the Iberian Peninsular and Mediterranean Gaul.

It is a beautiful village with a central square leading off into superbly laid out streets, all clean, modern and attractive. Housing locations are good and in vast price ranges. Again, the village is prone to hordes of tourists: its grocery shops and other shopping facilities attracting them to serve their needs

Housing

Inland from Perpignan lie the following towns that we ‘scouted’:

Thuir – a good-sized town, industrial;

Iles-sur-Tet, a large, busy township with a lot of shops and accessible to real outdoor activities such as canoeing and rafting to name just two.

Vinça, an extremely charming village with adequate shopping facilities and more in nearby Iles-sur-Tet.

Home ownership overall is affordable and there is a good variety in house sizes.

Prades proved another attractive town with a temperate climate, good range of shops and its main advantage being that it is a relatively short (+ 40 minutes) drive either to the beaches to its East or the ski-slopes to the West.

Again an affordable range of house prices, Prades is a friendly town with local history and attractions: we enjoyed an hour’s worth of walking around looking at the different architectural styles and taking in beautiful vista’s of outlying scenery.

Millas proved too small for our taste but we were captivated by Vinça, as also Estagel, albeit that the latter is situated right on the Route national which is its main disadvantage.

Ceret turned out to be the region’s centre of cherry growing and renowned for its pre-eminence therein, locally reputed, culminating in their Fete de Cérises in June. - A ‘barquet’ (about 1 kg) of cherries cost us only €4. – Ceret is snuggled against the Pyrenées Orientales and consequently its narrow streets wind up and down a lot, adding to its indisputable charm.

South and West of Carcassonne we discovered the following towns:

Limoux

Legend has it that is was the Limoux natives who really invented the Blanquette, a sparkling wine equivalent, if not a forerunner to champagne, created in their backyard. Its existence is documented as far back as the 1500s. Excellent location, it stands out as a self-contained town (shopping, grocers, DIY, etc), affordable housing in all possible sizes. The countryside is lush, green, gently undulating and easily accesible to and from Carcassonne.

Esperaza 

The town lies in the very heart of Cathar Country. Many of the most famous Cathar sites are only a short drive or cycle ride away. It is less than a two hour's walk to the hilltop village of Rennes-le-Chateau, the site of continuing mysteries surrounding the discovery of vast treasures by the local priest over a century ago, also tied in to the present Da Vinci Code thriller and mystery.

The area proves to be a delight for those seeking active holidays: cycling, horse riding, hang-gliding, white-water rafting, kayaking and canoeing, mountain climbing, fishing and walking.

Quillan

We thought Quillan to be too far south from Carcassonne but together with Esperaza it has very good housing opportunities for those who prefer being out in the country. Both are surrounded by luscious green countryside, from moutainous to valley (Lavelent) up to Mirepoix, through to Montreal, although nearer Carcassonne one finds less vineyards.

The climate is overall more seasonal and prone to distinctive seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn.

The towns north of Narbonne and southwest of Beziers gave us the impression of being so-called ‘commuter’ towns: newly built, houses very near to one another, very residential; Nissan-les-Enserune (attractive town square with a beautiful church, but other than that too modern); the same can be said of Coursan, Montady, Maureilhan, Cazouls-les-Beziers,...

Further inland from Narbonne it is worth looking at Olonzac. Atmospheric and quite self-contained, it is a good location with good possibilities. The surroundings hold large vineyards.

Lezignan-Corbieres by contrast is a big and busy town, comparable to Limoux in shopping, grocers, DIY, garden centres, etc. According to our information from the immobiliers, also a good range of possibilities in price and taste.

We left that part of France without as yet having decided on any specific area, preferring to continue a little more towards the Var region in order to better meet our idea of what living in France is, with more French authenticity (vs Catalan). Nevertheless both Limoux and Prades remain on our list for further in-depth inspection.

Those of you looking to settle in an area with the intention of planning day trips to interesting sights in this region will not be disappointed:

The 17th Century Fort of Bellegarde,

Millas’ Olive Windmill and farm or the Domaine Lacassagne near Perpignan;
The Valley of the Turtles (near Sorède);
The Corn Labyrinth of Torreilles and St Marie Village;
The 15th Century fortress of Salses
The Pre-historic (recent) Museum of Bélesta
The Caves of Tatavel;
The Jardin Exotique (Exotic garden) of Ponteilla

The 10th Century Medieval Chateau of Castelnou, which is also a wine ‘domaine’ (grenache noir, syrah, mourvèdre, vieux carignan and muscat vines).