A warm and Sunny Day in February
It was not a “Dark and Stormy Night” – but a bright and Sunny day today, so we went to the seaside to collect some seashells for my Mum.
Not much more to say really except “Wish You Were Here” and show some photos or Marseillan Beach and Marseillan Town (the beach is on the Mediterranean and the Port is slightly inland on a huge inland sea-lake.
Marseillan Beach on the Mediterranean in Languedoc
Marseillan harbour Entrance Languedoc France
Marseillan Port
Front Entrance for Villa Roquette
We collected plenty of sea-shells, but could not get a stick-of-rock for my Mum.
Eiffel Eyeful
January 4, 2010 by tony · Leave a Comment
- Image via Wikipedia
I thought I had written about this before. When you are in Paris you can book your ticket for the Eiffel Tower online and print it out. This official service is at Tour-Eiffel.fr
Related articles by Zemanta
- Original blueprints of the Eiffel Tower (boingboing.net)
- Winter in Paris: The cool time to go local (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- The Eiffel Tower Turns 120 Years Old (pinkisthenewblog.com)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_b.png?x-id=de6eecd9-1b30-4f5a-9f70-e44bbaab0dd7)
Beziers the Gateway to the South of France
Our home in the village of Montblanc is between the towns of Beziers and Pezenas. We are a few minutes from the Mediterranean, and are now the focus of a communications network of airports, motorways and high speed rail connection – yet we nestle in a calm and tranquil river valley which has not changed for centuries.
- Image by tibchris via Flickr
I am busy sorting out the marketing for our Apartments and Bed and Breakfast accommodation in our home and
we are offering some great deals and discounts for 2010 in our January Sale.
These are exciting times, the new Motorway from Paris, the A75, a
rrives a few kilometers from us. You cross the highest viaduct in the world, often above the clouds, at Millau.
For centuries, over 800 years, after the crusade against the Cathars, Languedoc was a forgotten backwater, lost in time. The combination of sun, soil and steam-trains in the 19th century brought enormous wealth to this quiet paradise, but not many visitors. The Internet has changed this – in under 20 years, Languedoc has become not only the most desirable place to live in France, but the wines, once considered a vast lake of cheap plonk, are now rated as some of the best in the world. The sun shines longer in Languedoc and communications are the best in France with the best road, rail and air connections in France.
- Image via Wikipedia
At the center of Languedoc is the city of Beziers. An ancient Roman town which still has bullfights in the arena each year. Famous for the birthplace of the Canal du Midi, a World heritage Site and also for the massacre of thousands in the crusades against the Cathars in the 14th century.
Beziers is coming back to life with a new airport and new ideas to show the world how Languedoc became the cradle of Western Civilisation in the age of the courts of love of the troubadours.
A new website from Beziers begins to show the return of this cradle of enlightenment.
- Image via Wikipedia
Related articles by Zemanta
- Property in France: TGV rail link in my French back yard (telegraph.co.uk)
- New French government decree: Party ’til dawn (ctv.ca)
- Why I live in France (twiku.com)
- France the Flip Side (twiku.com)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_b.png?x-id=e988ad07-3423-434d-a154-78c3d6a0c523)
A Plague Upon Their Houses
October 13, 2009 by tony · Leave a Comment
I had a mail from an associate asking about real-estate advertising websites and earning commissions – I have been deeply involved in this over the last ten years and have strong feelings about it.
In my blogs, I have been less than polite about realtors dealing in France, I have had some of these parasites threaten me with legal action – but I have also met a few, very few, (in fact one), gentleman I would recommend .
Here is a reply to an email today, it is at the end of a thread about realtors etc, but it has encouraged me to set out a little more clearly what I am trying to do – Vlad, if yo are reading this we must get this software sorted, if you don’t have time then Richard and Raj, please work with me to make this your next app !!
===
Hi Steve,
My feeling is that real-estate dealing, and all aspects of property sales in France, is, at present, a “commoditised” business and is only attracting a rats-in-a-cage scenario. People will always make money out of selling what is to be sold, but, for-me, this is a bad/dead business.
As all property in France has to be sold through a Notiare, the value of an immobilier is zero – they do not act as true brokers, they do not assist either the buyer or seller, their only interest is to get a mandat and/or get a bon de visite and ensure an immoral level of commission for nothing – a plague on all of them and away with the scoundrels.
What is needed is a true brokerage service (buy it and resell it) or a true marketing/sourcing service (act for the buyer/seller) which clearly sets out the service offered and charges a fair price for the work.
However, to be able to offer any sort of viable and useful service in this area in France, a universal listing facility is needed and the corrupt and disgusting cartels done away with. Dream on.
I am working (too slowly) on software to scrap the useless listings of myriads of agents and simply give a complete “mashup” of all properties listed from existing Internet sources – then use techniques to identify these properties and give information about the seller/owner/agent dealing with it.
So in simple terms, anyone looking in a specific area or for a particular property can see, in one search, all properties, in detail, with full contact information, everything on the Internet which is relevant – this will represent about 80 percent of the relevant search criteria and be many mny times more relevant, efficient and time saving than trawling through the thousands of uninformative agency sites and for iPhone or Facebook would cost a user a very small amount. This concept is an “app” costing from zero to perhaps 4 euro. There are over 500,000 target clients for this.
OK, that is my aim – I cannot see any viability in any “new” listing site, only heartache and wasted time – those early Internet days are nearly gone.
Fractional Ownership is mostly marketed for the “almost” rich people who want a slice of something they cannot really afford – interestingly, in my opinion, it does have a place and is a good product and I would like to find the right marketing angle for this.
Without a license or correct registration, any commission you get on a sale is discretionary – 10 percent is the usual for a non-registered person, you can only do this two or three times with impunity – as an agent commercial I would demand 50 percent of the commission, most gave me 60 to 75 percent of their commission.
Lots to talk about
Raisins to be Cheerful
September 26, 2009 by tony · 2 Comments
My regular dog walk is alongside the river Thonge through vineyards – the dogs chase rabbits and hares and I see kingfishers (well one) – but for the past couple of months part of the pleasure has been discovering the cleverly hidden grape varieties which are (or were) for the grape pickers.
The wine varieties are not the same as table grapes, sour and sharp – but here and there a generous landowner would plant refreshing eating grapes for the pleasure of his workers – along with figs (17 varieties), pomegranate, quince and pears, there is a bounty of fruit. Blackberries (the fruit) are plentiful, but in this climate tend to be small and bitter.
Today was probably the last dog walk where I could have plenty of grapes to refresh myself – at the turning point of our walk, I discovered a row of vines with ten or twelve different varieties of eating grapes – today there was just about enough – tomorrow I doubt there will be any – still, next come the figs – it must be Autumn
Got a Roquette in My Pocket
September 17, 2009 by tony · Leave a Comment
Or are you just glad to see me? We have named our home Villa Roquette because I could get the Internet names for http://www.villaroquette.com and similar ones like http://www.villarocket.com etc etc – I also like it in my salads and now I know why!!! it is an aphrodisiac – it was banned for centuries by the church – so – all the more reason for coming to stay with us – I will make sure it is on the menu 
Last Post From The Island
September 11, 2009 by tony · Leave a Comment
Less dramatic, but rather more comforting, the apartment in the prison-fort where I am staying on the island is next to the 17th century chapel and, until recently, was the home for the priest. It is not the cell of the “Man in the Iron Mask”.
The island is a “magical” place – I spent the afternoon walking round the south western corner – ten years ago a storm tore down many of the ancient trees, it must have been an amazing sight for ther are still giant eucalyptus and cedar trees and the island is covered with dense flowering bushes, cacti and shrubbery.
It seems as if I could easily cross the strip of water to the hurly-burly of Cannes, but to all intentsand purposes I am isloated from the bling and excesses as if I was one the moon. I am “locked-in” until the first boat late tomorrow morning – ther is no cafe or bar on the island – no shop, there is a water tap.
Interestingly the water is piped in from the mountains over 40 kilometers from Cannes, but until less than 80 years ago the only water on the whole island was the rainwater collected and stored in large stone tanks Some of these cisterns were built by the Romans over two thousand years ago and are now used as showrooms in the museam.
Although many visitors to the south of France are not aware of the island, even when they are only a few hundred yards away on the mainland, the island is large, nealy three miles long and half a mile wide. There is a second, slightly smaller island to the south and a few smaller islets – all seem invisible to most of the glitterati of the Croisette.
Apart from the Roman and pre-historic ruins, most of the fort on the island was built in the reign of Louis the Fourteenth – a garrison fort for over 600 soldiers, officers and “others”, the chapel recorded the deaths – and births – of this community.
Apart from the museam, which exhibits some of the salvage from ancient Greek, Roman and Saracen wrecks, there is a hostel for groups of young people from Cannes (Cannes Jeanesse) and I can hear the laughter of about 50 children letting off steam – a long way from the prisoners once incarcerated here for their beliefs and driven to madness, or worse by their jailers.
The island has been used for many things – in the late 19th century, North Africans, Algerians, fought for France, a group were stationed on the island and some died there – other soldiers from the Crimean war were sent to the island to recover, not all survived. Side by side two small cemetaries hold the remains of Muslim and Christian and are respected and each has a memorial for those who died for France. There is a lesson here perhaps.
Is Bigger Better
September 11, 2009 by tony · Leave a Comment
It is over 20 years since I worked professionally as a photographer. I worked in most formats, from minuture (35mm) for reportage, to some work on a twenty inch plate camera. Most of my work was in medium format, (6 by 6), but whatever I used the weight of the equipment was imortant – I loved working with Leica and Hasselblad equipment, quiet, light and efficient.
I had assumd that the development of lens design and computer chips woyld make photographic equipment today much simpler and lighter – but my oberservations this week confirm the opposite. I am helping a friend who is working on a project for the city of Cannes – the equivalent to my old Leica is a monster, a beast of a camera weighing (it seems) several times the amount of my old brass and iron clockwork machine.
To be fair she can take several thousand snaps to my 36 – I am only here for fun and using an Olympus “Trip” I got in a car boot sale for one euro – but the Canon camera she is using cost over one thousant times more – both our lenses are basically the same quality, but I have to use my feet as my telephoto so it i completely unfair to compare as this is not like-for-like.
What I do find odd is the number of tourists with the same enormous lump of plastic slung around their necks that my friend is working with as a professional tool. I have always taught my first rule of photography is that “cameras do not ever take photographs”, people do. I have many reservqtions about “digital” photography and, as this week progesses, I am developing more (reservations).
This may be one reason that many tourists are themselves much larger than I remember – they have to carry much more equipment with them.
Life From a French Island
September 9, 2009 by tony · Leave a Comment
The island is only connected by a ferry during the day – I don’t know all the times yet, but the last ferry leaves for the mainland about 5:30 this afternoon, it is a proteced place and there is no development, in fact the few buildings are shabby and “lived in” in a charming way. The people working here, the guides for the fort, waiters and a handful working in a boat repair yard seem happy , perhaps it is the pace of place with no cars and you have to wear practical clothes to walk everywhere – 1000 euro shoes would last oly a few minutes.
I am here recovering from the intensive work I have been doing for the last 12 months rebuilding our home in Montblanc VillaRoquette - once upon a time I was a commercial photographer so a friend who has a commission to record the life of Cannes for an exhibition and asked me to help for few days – mostly carrying equipement for her – so I am a “photo-caddy” – for me it is the perfect break – simple food, beautiful weather, scenery people pay millions for and an atmosphere unique in the world.
I am sitting outside one of the 17th century buildings, probably housing for one of the officers garrisoned on th Fort – I do’t know if it was build for a Spanish officer or French – I can smell coq au vin being cooked for lunch and as I am writing this on my Macbook in the courtyard, the tourists to the fort assume I am one of the staff and frequently stop to asl me questions – I can only grin and give a gallic “shrug” although I sometimes point to a remote building and state with authority that that must be what they are looking for – as yet no one has returned to complain.
Many Happy Returns
September 9, 2009 by tony · Leave a Comment
The 1960s televion series “The Prisoner” was set in “The Village” – in fact Portmerion – but in the episode “Many Happy Returns” the main characted is seen being parachuted back onto an island.
Today I am on an island just off the coast of France.
I am in good company, historically speaking, the prisoner of Louis 14th, “The Man in the Iron Mask” was a prisoner here for 11 years – the Island was an important Royal prison, similar to the Bastille in Paris – luckily that has been destroyed so I will not end up there.
The island is in Cannes, but a milion miles from the “Riviera” – I have been to Cannes and stayed many times and never noticed that half the view from the promenade is an offshore island.
Perhaps the island, or to be correct, the islands, are the “real” Cannes, certainly people have inhabited them for thousands of years and they would offer a more secure home and better facilities for fishing, which, apart from piracy, is the sole raison d’etre for this coastline.
Piracy is still evident everywhere on the mainland, I cannot grasp any sense in a person paying 2000 euro for a pair of shoes or a handbag, but the Corsaires of earlier centuries had a more direct way of parting you with your goods, your freedom or possibly your life, so civilised piracy is a little more humane, perhaps.
Why am I on an offshore island in the heart of the French Riviera? My principal function is to carry bags for a frind who has a commission to photograph the “paradox of Cannes” for an exhibition next year. Her sponsor is the museam of Cannes and they have a gallary and a base on the Island. So I am writing this from a 17th century French/Spanish fort overlooking the bay, a hotel room on the mainlnd (with an inferior view) would cost well over 1000 euro a night, my tempoary home is infinately less and infinately more interesting and genuine.
Not long ago Cannes was a fishing village on the Mediterranean shore, there is no deep harbour but the islands give shelter and a communinity grew. Today there are about 20 “real” fishing boats and Cannes is known for film, festivals and fashion. This is the veneer seen by all visitors, underneath not much is left, a small, unimportant fishing village has been transformed. I am not yet sure if the oyster has made a pearl, or the pearl has metamorphosised into an oyster.
I am only here for a few days so all I can hope for is a glimpse of the real Cannes – if there still is a real Cannes – but I was sad to see the gross excesses of consuption and tasteless display of agressive wealth in the town, a few yards behind the glittering hotels are the people working to supply the sad dreams of a few.
It is a pity also that such a beautiful place was used for the intolerance and greed of others, but a group of children playing in the old prison buildings gives hope, and the surface veneer of the Rivieria is perhaps glued to stronger stuff.
