Borie Basse, Languedoc France

2 weeks with my younger sister Monique,  she is the proud owner of 2 houses in a tiny village. only 6 houses. The first time I came there was in 1992 with Jan, Sanne, Manon and Ruben. We had our tent in camping Le Gatinie (only 1 star, nowadays 2 and a half). Over the years we came on a regular base and helped Monique with renovations, a never ending story with lots of fun.
The Languedoc is now a National Park with many high-lights like 'gorges': Gorge d'Heric is a famous one, castles, abbey's and of course the interesting history of the vanished and slaughtered Cathars.
Places like Carcassonne, Beziers, Montsegur and Albi, places with impressive remains of those brave people, who lost the battle and their lives against the Catholic Church in Rome.
I love this part of France, it is authentic, rustic and not very touristic. The French kitchen is my favorite. The super markets overwhelming and absolutely not good for my weight. uhmmmm but so yummyyyyy. Ah well, in Nepal and India  I will lose those extra kilo's anyway.

Dinner in restaurant La Forge in Bedarieux, a real beauty with an exquisite kitchen. Here the waiter comes with the Cheese platter, wow so many choices with smelly goat, sheep and cow cheeses.

a small selection of the pate's, the other side was the cheese department.

The people of this village made a copy of the cave in Lourdes, where Bernadette le Soubiroux received messages from the Virgin Mary. Bernadette is one of my baptise names.
Many people come here to visit, pray and offer.

the village, where we had a coffee and enjoyed the peaceful view. Remarkable how quiet it was everywhere we went and then to realize it was holiday time.

the road leading to the village Borie Base where my sister lives. Borie Base means literally: lower shelter and in this case for the sheep.

 Monique's home

finishing one of the paintings for my sister's house

every night dinner on the roof top of the house, full moon with in the back the mountain village Margal.

Asking for trouble? A bucket of water was the reward

a refreshment in Olargues with Monique and Silvia

Olargues, one of those beautiful, picturesque villages

picnic lunch on the banks of the Canal du Midi in Narbonne

Court yard of the impressive Abbey Le Font Froide, going more south to The Pyrenees

abbey of St. Sylvanes + cemetery, specially for Manon. As a little girl Manon always wanted to visit these kind of places with me. This church is nowadays a place for performances and a culture centre for art students from all over the world.

mineral water for free. Not far from here is the bottling factory.

Clairac, our favorite place with swim holes and giant rocks to jump from. For many years we came here with the whole family.

and the other side of the bridge

Restaurant in Combes, where we had our 'Last Supper", a real amazing and beautiful place

a  free geste from the chef, an amuse. How beautiful presented and how tasteful

our entree: garzpaggio (wrong spelling)  with tomatoes, pate of seafood and a sorbet on top. Unbelievable. The main was with pigeon and potato puree with truffles, followed by a choice of cheeses from the cheese plateau and the dessert was a coulis with raspberries and a sorbet of nectarines.

   Here the kitchen team, mum, dad and 2 sons. The waiter left from me, goes to Wanaka next year for the grape harvest. A very successful, culinary family.

My last sunset in France, who know for how long. I don't think it will be for long, I love it here