This trip was two years in the making! Glad that I finally got to visit Samatan way down in the south of France. Closer to Spain than Paris, this part of France feels decidedly more Mediterranean, with the sun bleached houses and banana and palm trees, juxtaposed with the rolling hills of green in the background, and, on a clear day, the distant peaks of the Pyrenees towering on the horizon.
Samatan itself is a good sized town of faded grandeur; buzzy by day and evening, full of life whenever you choose to stroll down. Surrounding towns and villages of Auch, Castelnau Barabens, Boulougne Sur Geese, Boulaur and Saramon, are all good to visit, with beautiful little streets to explore, cathedrals and churches to visit and all around, stunning views of the countryside.
But you can also pass hours sitting on the balcony, watching families of deer move tentatively across the forest, birds of prey ride the thermals far above, and enjoy the sound of nothing much at all.
Sure, it felt more like summer with long dry and warm days and lovely long evenings, but still, I reckon there will be magic to this place all year round. The streets and the houses and the trees and those mountains, they all tell stories, and I’ve barely scratched the surface…
All photos my own or Mother’s 🙂
