Got on the bus to Banyuls-sur-Mer to see what that place is all about.  It is all about wine, boats, and some French sculptor called Aristide Maillol.  The boats are understandable as we are by the sea, but we are not familiar with the wines of this part of Roussillon and have never heard of Maillol.  There are caves all over town and on the roads in, but there is no point in tasting it if you can’t carry a case back on the bus, and individual bottles in town seemed expensive.  We didn’t sign up with France Passion this year, but this seems like a good place for a few France Passion stopovers in the future.

As for Maillol, he seems to have been a chap with some talent, specialising in nude women.  Here is the fellow:

Aristide Maillol

And an example of his work, of which there are a few dotted around the town:

By Aristide Maillol

Sculptors and wine apart, Banyuls-sur-Mer is a pleasant but not particularly interesting place.  There is an aquarium but that is about it.

Boat getting tossed about in Banyuls-sur-Mer bay

Why didn’t it park up here?

It really was a bit choppy out there

Finally, the Hotel de Ville has a French, Catalan and European look to it with its flags:

Hotel de Ville – Banyuls-sur-Mer

Maybe this is why brexit is so expensive?  They will need to remove one of the yellow stars from all those blue flags that are flying everywhere.   Writing this, it appears the NFU, long time haters of the Common Agricultural Policy, are now running scared of a no-deal brexit.

Meanwhile, back in Argelès-sur-Mer, an evening stroll reveals that it has pretty much shut down for the year.  There are still a few places open to eat and drink, but not a lot.

The fountains are different colours at night

Still some nightlife going on