How we ended up in Tarascon, Midi Pyrenees, France

When we go somewhere, it is practical to have a destination. We all know the journey is about the journey, not about the destination, and that the present moment is the challenge: Get into the present moment; there you will have it all.

For practical reasons, though, we set out with a destination. It is just like making a plan in the morning. In our belief and lifestyle, it is of great importance to be always awake, always ready, and always in every moment listening to what the Universe is whispering – so that we can adjust accordingly. At the same time, we are five people living together, and the practical elements of life need attention, so planning and coordinating are needed. As long as you follow the basic rule of always writing your plans with a pencil.

Always write your plans with a pencil.

Anyway. The good thing about a destination is it gets you out of the sofa, out of the routines, out on the roads. Our original plan when we left Mon La Bassa was to spend a few days in Andorra and, after that, go to meet Magalie and Kieth in Thil, not too far from Toulouse, since this was what we felt would be the right adventure to go for in France, this time.

The idea of Andorra was 1. New country, we had not visited before, and 2. (more importantly) get some Pyrenees experiences since we had too few of those.

Those of you who know Andorra are welcome to laugh at this point. Oh, are we wiser now!

So, we set out in Val Fosca and drove towards Andorra. This route took us through mountain landscapes that differed a lot and were, of course, so very beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful. So much so that we would actually leave the aircon car and get out in the 45 degrees to enjoy.

We drove through the town Sort, where the world championship in freestyle canoeing was going on, stopped to enjoy that and a cup of tea, and moved on.

Driving through the mountains is pure joy. It is so beautiful. So we did not mind, becoming a bit hungry, and thought we would stop as soon as we reached Andorra. Find a nice spot to eat and spend the night.

But something strange happened. There we were in our green van of happiness, flying high on the mountain lake dip and the extreme beauty and the music while driving – entering Andorra. The Pyrenees are uplifting, cleansing, and highly vibrant, and we were flying. Before we drove over the border.

Inside Andorra, the energy fell at a speed hard to imagine. The vibration was off; nothing felt real; everything was shopping malls, five-star hotels, restaurants, more shopping malls, spas, beauty clinics, shopping again, parking, shopping, skiing. It felt so weird, it actually took more than 10 minutes to understand what was going on. Firstly, we thought it would go away, but it did not.

Then, the text message arrived.

“Welcome to Andorra. If you use data on your phone, it will cost you 100 DKK /12 EUR pr 100MB”.

Translation: “Get out of this consumption temple right away.”

This is when we finally realized where we were and what we had to do.

It did cost os 125MB to set the GPS to “Out of Andorra”, and we did not even stop the car. The vibration, the idea, the atmosphere, the options in this country were so off; we just had to leave! We had to keep driving for an hour after we crossed the border until we found a strong vibration again.

It was shocking. There are probably beautiful places in Andorra. I recognize the fact that I have only driven through the main road and not seen it all. But I have no intention of going back anytime soon, as I found amazing National Parks on the Spanish side and a beautiful French atmosphere on the French side. There is so much to explore in the Pyrenees; we just love it.

We stopped somewhere to eat what we had in our bags and somewhere else to sleep. Sleeping was a challenge since it was still very hot, so we went walking in the night, looking at the stars and listening to the river nearby.

The next day, we were very tired, as we did not sleep much, and very hungry, as we did not really have dinner. We packed up and set off to the closest supermarket to shop for food, but as we started driving, a lamp started blinking in the display, and our very limited knowledge of cars was put to the test.

Thank you, google. And thank you, friends.

We looked a bit at a traditional fishing production place and finally got to the supermarket. Perfectly located next to a river, the supermarket provided nutrition, and we sat down and had a wonderful time with fruit and veggies, saying bonjour to everyone passing by, looking at the river, and finding our energy and peace.

We were in the village of Tarascon. Little did we know how interesting this village was, but as the guidance system is always in place, we just had to flow to enjoy the day.

We packed up and went for a walk. Just down along the river, to see if we could find a cafe that would provide coffee, tea, and a restroom. A young man stopped to tell us we were a beautiful family (thank you), and when we met him again at a bridge, we talked a bit. It turned out he was also a traveler and came to this city once a year to set the light on the caves nearby. He explained the region's history and what route to walk in the village, and we had a nice little exchange right there on the bridge.

We walked through the old town, we walked to the old tower on the top of the hill, we walked to the ruins of the castle, we saw the old church, we enjoyed the charming nature of this village, we found coffee, even falafels, we drank water, we walked to the river bank and threw some stones, we found restrooms several times, and we were very slow and tired and happy.

Here, again, we have found a place to come back to. But the next adventure was waiting: New friends. We felt we had to get to know Magalie and Kieth, so when all balances were right, everyone happy and satisfied, we walked back to the van, shopped again to be ready for dinner, and moved on to the adventure of moving in with someone, we had never met. Not in this life, anyway.

With love

Cecilie Conrad

Thank you for reading the blog. I write to share our experiences and perspectives and would love to hear yours. Please comment in whatever way feels right to you: Facebook comment, personal e-mail, text message, or whatever you like. It brings a lot of joy when we hear from readers. Thank you, and may the sun shine on your path.

See images and video clips from our time in Tarascon.