I have promised someone from the #WorldMapPin team that I will put one red pin on the map of France as I didn't have any, so here we are! I did visit many places in France, and I think that I created a few posts too, but somehow, I forgot to pin them on the map! I will have to search my photo database for more places to add them, but today, it's time to visit Narbonne, France!
The main problem with writing travel posts after a year or more is that you forget those tiny details that make a good travel blog stand out... 😃 last few years, we have been "practicing" traveling by car on our "summer route" to visit our families... As the trip is around 2500km long, we like to split the journey into 3 days, to 3 similar parts... Because we are doing the same route, our 2 "night breaks" are taking place in similar areas... One in France, around Marseille, Montpellier, and in Italy we are a bit more "adventurous", as we were experimenting in the area around Treviso, Padua, and Vicenza, but we visited some other places out of that area...
To make things more interesting, we try to change cities where we take breaks, trying to see as many places as possible... The only problem is that when we arrive at a "checkpoint", it is usually already late in the afternoon, and we are tired from 7-8 hours of driving... On the other side, after that long drive, the best thing is to go out for fresh air, stretch your legs, and relax your mind...
This was our first time in Narbonne as it is a bit "out of our route", so it wasn't on our eyesight before... We were on our way back to Spain, it was the end of July last year (2023), and we were pretty tired of driving on that day, as we passed almost the whole of Italy and France in 1 day! We went to a hotel, dropped our bags, and hit the road to the city center... Luckily, as it was summer, it was still daylight at 7:30 PM when we took our first photos...
Usually, I like to write about the buildings and places around the city, but as I mentioned, this trip was more than a year ago, and I was completely unprepared for Narbonne... It was just a stroll around the city, with the mission to find something to eat...
And there lies the biggest problem... If you've been to France, you know that they are very "picky" with food... I mean, there are some famous French chefs, and the food SHOULD be great, but that's not always the case... But, that wasn't the primary problem... The biggest problem is "EATING TIME"! You can't eat in France when you WANT to eat, or when you are hungry... You HAVE TO eat when the "kitchen is open" and when they serve food!
As I have mentioned our arrival time (7:30 PM), I suppose you are getting the problem that we had... 😃 The lunch time is well passed, dinner isn't very important in France, and most restaurants were already closed!
What I have to say about Narbonne is that the city "screams" a lot of history! When you think that you are lost in those narrow streets, you bump into a huge Cathedral, out of nowhere!
As it was late in the evening, we couldn't enter any of these magnificent buildings as they were already closed... And these underground tunnels are probably awesome!
And there it was! We spotted it! In the middle of a small square, there was the first restaurant that was open, and serving food! The truth is that it was an Italian restaurant, and we were just coming from Italy, so we decided to take a walk and try to find another one...
As the city had many Romans remaining, I suppose that this sculpture was an image of Romulus and Remus...
The search for food continues... Nope... These were just bars, not food there...
Most streets in Europe are safe, but I wouldn't like to go into this alley in the middle of the night... 😃
There was no luck for us, and in the end, we went back to that Italian restaurant from a few photos above and had a terrible experience... My plate (that you can see under this text) was fairly good, but my wife and son had very bad dishes... I mean, the dish was great on paper, but it was undercooked in one case, and in another case, probably warmed up in the microwave from who knows how many days ago... On the way back to the hotel, we bought bread somewhere and had the "second" dinner...
So, how did I like Narbonne? The strange thing was that the city has over 50K inhabitants, but at that moment, when we were there, it looked like a ghost town... 😕 We were probably there in the "worst hour" for eating and socializing, but on the other side, we had many space to take photos! Speaking of that, I had to heavily reduce the number of images as I had over 100... All taken in less than 2 hours that we spent in our walk around Narbonne...
Did you visit Narbonne? As I mentioned France and Italy, and if you have been there, which cuisine do you prefer more? French or Italian?
Thank you for your time,
--ph--
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That was so bad, travel and no good food to eat.🤔 If I travel there, I will take my own food with me so I won't be starving. But anyway nice place you showed with your nice photos. Happy holidays and Happy New Year 2025 to you and your family :)
Hehehee... We usually do that, too! But, as the journey is long, we ate all at the first two days and there was no food left... 🤣
Thank you very much! Happy holidays and New 2025 Year to you too!
All the best! 💜
Beautiful photos mate! I haven't visited France yet. In fact, I am not interested in somehow. Perhaps, some cities near sea. However, Italy is a must-visit for me, as many :)
Cities like Narbonne are full of history and great architecture, as you can see from the photos that I shared... So, if you are into it, you will like it...
If you are more about nature, sea, and landscapes, I would also pick Italy over France... 😃
I do the same strategy, on long trips do some stops, visit a random city around there, eat and go again😅 I wouldn't eat in an Italian restaurant outside Italy tough lol
City looks quite a lot old style, lot of history indeed
Funny tough, I'm from padua 🤣
We stopped only once in Padua, and I think I was so tired that I didn't even get out of the hotel room... Only my wife and son went for a walk...
So, maybe we will repeat the visit in one of the next years...
I'll be curious to see the post if you do so 😀
Not everyone can be able to remember all that happened that day but looking at the picture can bring back some good memories I guess that's why it's always good to take pictures too.
France looks so aesthetic and cultural. Would like to visit someday even tho ive never been there before. Maybe I'll try the food you're talking about by then.
Don't try the food that I did... It was an awful experience... 😃
But, in general, France is a beautiful country and worth visiting!
I haven't explored France very much and yet there is so much to do and see there. I love the architecture you have captured and makes me want to visit soon.
Your culinary experience is shocking for France. I probably ate the best I ever have in France and the French are very fussy eaters.
I heard about Narbonne, but I was surprised by architecture, and that very awkward situation of almost nobody on the streets...
My explanation is that we were in a bad place at a bad time... It's hard to find something good when you are in a hurry without a research and recommendation...
Nice share! Interesting trivia about the cuisine and their opening hours. I think in Asia, it's all lumped together as Western cuisine, but I guess pasta and pizza is more common here.
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I suppose that it's getting like that all around the world... Fast food restaurants, and "easy preparable" meals... We didn't want to go for something like that, but in the end, we finished in exactly a place like that... 🤣
It's just too good of a city to not have any decent food at all. I mean, food makes a travel blog better. It gives it some toppings and maybe some external flair too.
I do agree the buildings are iconic and seem to pack some wonderful stories behind them, unfortunately you said it was over a year you took the pictures. I believe the best way to do travel blogs is to upload the pictures as soon as possible before you forget the stories behind the pictures
As this wasn't our first visit to France, we knew what we could expect regarding food... We learned a lesson a few years ago, but we couldn't "fix" our traveling schedule, so we had to improvise...
And regarding travel blogs, yeah, agree with that... It would be the best to write those posts right away!
Oh, I thought it was your first visit. So basically you already knew what you were expecting food-wise
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Good afternoon my brother
A very beautiful place, maybe I rarely see such beautiful places in my place, but with the pictures that you have shared,I can feel the beauty directly
That's awesome, have a nice day my brother
Thank you very much! I'm glad that you liked my short photo walk in Narbonne... 🙏
You're welcome my brother 💪👍
That was really amazing
It looks like a nice place to visit, but I don't know if I like how you look for food. I guess the restaurants do whatever they want and they don't cater to the average person.
It's not that they are rude toward customers, it's just their tradition... To have lunch in a specific hour, and other meals too...
We were more unlucky that day, in a bad hour searching for food... 😃
Some beautiful architecture with some quaint alleyways... a coffee at an outside restaurant would be great right now!
I suppose we would have a completely different experience if we had only a coffee, or a drink in some French bar or a coffee shop...
I got the same problem like yours hhahaha writing a travel blog after a year or two has passed is a real challenge. I can only vividly recall what made it special at the very least 2 weeks after it. That place is looking great and the food looks bussin as always 😊
As I'm getting older, I can't remember what I was doing yesterday, and not a year ago... 🤣 I suppose I should either do a post right the next day, or record some voice messages to remind myself later on about what happened... 😂
🤣 a voice message would definitely help
This is only the French I know 🤣
I'm not better... As I know some Spanish, I can understand some Italian, but I know zero French... It's always painful to communicate in France as they don't want to speak English, and I don't know French... lol...
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