January 9, 2024: This morning I find my mind drifting back six months to a warm dawn in Collioure, France, when we watched dawn climb over the wine-dark Mediterranean sea.
“When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, we admired the island… ”
Greek Homer’s “The Odyssey“, 7th Century BC
Two Dawns
It is a bleak January morning in Charlotte. Fifty-mile-per-hour gusts whip a cold rain, thrashing the few miserable pedestrians uptown. I’m wrapped in a blanket, sipping coffee, looking through bird-stained window as I sit down to write. And I recall a morning quite different than today; a warm August dawn. Jean and I shared coffee with a few gulls and mosquitos under the cross at Chapelle Saint-Vincent as the dawn colors rose over Collioure Harbor.
Collioure, maybe in France?
Jean and I spent a month in Collioure, mid-August to mid-September 2023. While the city is in France, the locals consider themselves Catalan, aligned with their separatist Spanish Catalan neighbors just a few miles south across the border. We’ve learned that Europe is a collection of cultural regions, and these often span sovereign borders.
Why Collioure?
There are no “must see” sights here, just friendly locals, colorful buildings, and a beautiful seashore. We stayed in the old Mouré Quarter, with its steep narrow cobblestone alleys and stone walls seemingly reinforced with bougainvillea. Other than a couple of day trips, the car remained parked. We swam, hiked, wandered to the market, and read. Several times we rose early to watch dawn in Collioure, over the harbor. It was the perfect summer break.
Wow, it’s 2024 already?
While I have not written in a while, it is certainly not for lack of subject matter. Posts on our New Zealand trip could fill a month. And I’ve many MANY times that from Central Europe, France, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Happy family holidays and reunions with friends kept us busy since we returned home in November.
But the calendar is clearing, and I hope to post more soon.
Well, end of post; back to cold rain and reality. The upside – maybe today’s torrent will finally wash the petrified bird droppings from our 6th floor windows and improve the view of tomorrow’s dawn in Charlotte.
Stay warm, friends!
This post is the perfect antidote to the dismal weather in Charlotte today, and I enjoyed escaping to these stunning destinations. Thanks, Mark and Jean!