Welcome to Collioure! This is our third visit to this lovely town by the sea. It was a favorite place for Fauvists and other post-impressionist painters. Collioure continues to attract artists as evidenced by an abundance of galleries and ateliers. There is a trail of reproductions of Fauvist paintings in the very spot where they were painted as in this Matisse view of the village and distant hilltop.

Our apartment is in a relatively new building at the edge of the old city. It is a 5 minute walk to the narrow medieval lanes. We have limited views – the hilltop that divides the two halves of the old town, and the old city cemetery.

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The cemetery is home to the grave of Antonio Machado, the famed Spanish poet of the early 20th century. He is buried here because in 1936 this social realist poet was forced to flee Franco’s fascist army. When the fascists took Barcelona in 1938 Machado and his mother fled to this little Catalan village safely in France. They both died less than a year later.

Traveller, the path is your tracks
And nothing more.
Traveller, there is no path
The path is made by walking.
By walking you make a path
And turning, you look back
At a way you will never tread again
Traveller, there is no road
Only wakes in the sea.”
― Antonio Machado, Border of a Dream: Selected Poems

Another interesting artist, Balbino Giner,  is buried here. His is the most colorful grave and reflects his art.

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Yesterday evening and today we walked around the city. Today was market day, so we began there. Shopping was in order and we didn’t take our cameras. However, the rest of the day we walked the little streets. Here is a brief sample of the sights in the village.

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We ended the afternoon with a stop for a drink at our favorite Collioure bar, Les Templiers. They have the walls covered with paintings. We found some familiar ones from our visit two years ago and a few that appeared to be new since then.

Les Templiers

Today was mostly cloudy with just a few rain drops. The next two days promise thunder storms and more rain.

“But don’t hunt for dissonance:
There is no such thing;
People dance to all tunes.”
― Antonio Machado

Paul