Belleville Rendezvous (Triplets of Belleville)

Today we crossed the Pyrenees into France, and although the Spanish Catalans say that the region extends into France, I haven’t heard anyone speak anything but French. It’s funny actually how quickly it changed from 100% Spanish/Catalan to 100% French. 30 seconds after crossing the border, a group of motor bikers joined as at the summit and were speaking French.

In Girona, Catalan pride was very evident with the numerous flags and even the local bike advocacy group’s pamphlet was all in Catalan.

We said farewell to our awesome WarmShowers host George and had breakfast at La Fabrica (it was such a fun novelty for us that we had to go back) and made our way towards Figueres. For whatever reason, the route that Strava chose for us as the “most popular” one took us on tiny hiking trails through farmland. It was peaceful and quiet but not ridable in sections on our touring bikes.

It was Sant Jordi day, so there were tons of people in all the city squares and dozens of people asked us to buy roses for “tu novia”.

The Dali museum was a must see stop, and it’s pretty cool, as the museum itself was designed by Dali. We couldn’t go in because we couldn’t find a place to keep our bikes safely, and there was a long line already waiting.

The climb to France was pretty tough, but we were eager to get to our fourth country, so we had the energy for it.

You can tell the country changed because the asphalt on the French side abruptly changed for the better. That only lasted a short time though.

The French side of the Mediterranean has been beautiful so far. We found a great beach-side campground and I’ve been practicing my French. It’s clear that we will have to stretch our budget on this section of the trip as campground, hostels, and food are noticeably more expensive. We will borrow against our future budget in eastern Europe and Asia. It’s also clear that my French is really rusty, as my accent is not understandable by some.

Today reminded me of the French movie Belleville Rendezvous (Triplets of Belleville) as we suffered up the climb and then all the frogs chirping in the campground in France that we haven’t heard much in Spain. You must watch the movie if you like cycling and wacky French movies!