Rumor has it the artists paid their bar bills with these priceless paintings. If
you can’t afford to take an original home, stroll the promenade along the sea and bid on
the watercolors being created by the next legendary artist.
Collioure has been nicknamed the St. Tropez of
Languedoc-Roussillon, which seemed appropriate when I saw a crowd of bathing beauties boarding a yacht with a film crew. Alas, I was not invited to join them, but I did learn the model’s most valuable skills: the art of doing nothing. Sunbathing; cheering on the retired men playing boule, a game similar to bocce ball; and dining on the local delicacy, anchovies, as the beautiful people paraded by my outdoor table were the makings of my day.
Languedoc-Roussillon, which seemed appropriate when I saw a crowd of bathing beauties boarding a yacht with a film crew. Alas, I was not invited to join them, but I did learn the model’s most valuable skills: the art of doing nothing. Sunbathing; cheering on the retired men playing boule, a game similar to bocce ball; and dining on the local delicacy, anchovies, as the beautiful people paraded by my outdoor table were the makings of my day.
I decided to shop at the boutique La Maison de Prosper, which offers colorful
espadrilles and striped fabric for your yacht’s deck chairs. Before leaving, pop into the Notre-Dame-des-Anges, a cathedral
with “its feet in the sea”—the front part of the church sits in the water. Place a euro in the slot to
light up the golden altar.
Architecture fans worship at La Grande-Motte (translation: giant sand dune). My
husband and I had to laugh at what the French consider giant sand dunes (about
ten feet tall), since we’re used to Monterey Bay’s thirty-foot-high sand skyscrapers.
An icon to the ‘70s, La Grande-Motte is a city created by the brilliant design of one man, Jean
Balladur. High-rise Mayan-style pyramids along the sand were intended to make
beach vacations affordable for the masses and give everyone a sea view. Today
these apartments with cruise ship portholes are largely used during the summer
by “holiday makers.” In July and August, the population swells to 100,000, ten times the number of
full-time residents, who live in palm-tree-shaded villas a few blocks from the
sand.
It’s called a city you either love or hate, but a lot of l’amour is being thrown toward La Grande-Motte. The Tour de France rolled through
here this summer, Ft. Lauderdale is considering becoming its sister city, and
Korea is trying to replicate the town in a deserted beach area.
The city leaders are not satisfied with a Robert Trent Jones Jr. golf course, a
luxury thalassotherapy spa, and a harbor with multimillion-dollar yachts; they
want to become a university town. La Grande-Motte already has the
infrastructure for co-eds: paths lined with native pine trees next to the
pyramids (future dorms?), lots of green open spaces made for frisbees, and
footbridges arching over roads so bikers avoid traffic.
La Grande-Motte is dubbed Europe’s greenest coastal resort, and the eco trend in this region extends to an
unusual site for a green area. A former dynamite factory has been converted
into Paulilles Recreational Park, the area’s hottest tourist attraction. Only open a year, already half a million people have visited.
Now that you know
why Languedoc-Roussillon is so special, it’s time to book your flight on Air France before North Americans invade its
shores and your stories about the new-old St. Tropez will be old hat. 
