To Italy and Back: Gruissan

Our first morning in Gruissan we woke the sound of a gaggle of geese, a baby crying, cats on heat, or someone being tortured. We rushed to the window to find a flock of giant seagulls flying around our apartment. They were the size of turkeys – honesty – and they OWNED the beach we were staying at. By the end of our 2 day visit it was almost possible to ignore the sound.

Gruissan is a town with multiple personalities. It is situated on the Mediterranean coast and is built around natural inlets, etangs, spits, islands and bays and man made wharves, marinas and canals.

Developer’s Delight
Our little unit was in a tourist part of the town where there are many quite ugly high-rise buildings lining the beach front. Walking along the Plage du Grazel in one direction the tourist accommodation stops and tightly packed-in bungalows take their place. The beach is family orientated and is protected by a spit.

Boats Galore
Walking in the other direction there were about 4 marinas with too many finger wharfs to count. Fringed around the marinas were restaurants of every kind. We had lunch at a seafood restaurant (avoiding the Australian Shark Bar), watching the French walk their dogs along the marina and ate the best oysters we’ve ever eaten.

Medieval Circular Town
Past the marinas and fish market is the old town. It is quaint with cobblestone streets and touristy in a tasteful manner. The circular design, originally for defence purposes didn't confused us. We didn’t get lost – we were merely looking at places that only the locals know. The Chateau de Guillan is a ruin on top of a hill in the centre of the village and looks out over the town and surroundings in every direction.

Surreal Landscape
Heading out of the old town and across a spit to a small headland we arrived to the bizarre sight of 1300 tiny beach chalets – all in the one style (two up one down) – in rows along the Plage des Chalets. Whilst the chalet's heyday was in the 1960’s but there looks like

there is a recent effort to revitalise the area. I’d buy one if I had some lazy cash – ocean on one side, protected water on the other, ultra-fresh seafood from the co-op at the entrance to the harbour.

There are also sailing opportunities on the ocean side of the headland. John promised me surf cat lessons – he says you can only sail if you know how to sail a little boat (always trying to override my land lubber inclinations). He was very upset that the wind was 0 knots and the ocean was like glass.

Salt Marshes
South of Gruissan along the coast are the salt marshes where salt is “farmed” (not sure what you call collection of salt). This is where the famous Fleur de Sel comes from – why would anyone buy salt

without knowing its origin!! We decided not to go the salt museum (sorry aunty Ness we didn’t get you any salt souvenirs). At the end of this portion of coast there was a very picturesque fishing village.

In summary we decided that after our initial negative feelings about Gruissan it is a great destination and we plan to go back again soon.

Next: To Italy and Back – Gruissan to Perpignon