Car Hire in Perpignan, France
This far south, the climate and geography alone would ensure a palpable Spanish influence. But even more than this, an excellent part of Perpignan's population is of Spanish origin - refugees from the Civil War together with their descendants. The southern influence is further augmented by a substantial admixture of North Africans, in addition to both Arabs and white French settlers repatriated after Algerian independence in 1962.
While there are a few unforgettable monuments to visit,
Perpignan is a pleasant city by having a dynamic street life. Its heyday was in the13th and14th centuries, when the kings of Majorca held their court here, and it is from this period that most of its historical interest derives. Well-placed on the main Mediterranean coast international lines of communication, it is much the best base for exploring the eastern end of the Pyrenees, also, the Cathar castles of the Corbières.
The best place to start your exploration of Perpignan is at
Le Castillet , created as a gateway in the14th century and today the place to find the Casa Pairal (daily except Tues: mid-June to mid-Sept 9.30am-7pm; rest of year 9am-6pm;), an attention-grabbing museum of Roussillon's Catalan folk culture, featuring religious art, agricultural and pastoral exposés, as well as local crafts. From the roof, there's a great view of the dominant pile of Canigou, while to the northwest you may be able to pick out the Château de Quéribus, standing beyond its ridge. A short distance down rue Louis-Blanc you will reach the place de la Loge, focus of the renovated and pedestrianized heart of the old town. Taking over the cafés and brasseries of the narrow square is Perpignan's most remarkable building, the Gothic Loge de Mer. Being developed to keep the city's stock exchange and maritime court, and furnished with gargoyles and also lacy balustrades, its ground floor has been taken over by an incongruous fast-food joint. Side by side nearby are the Hôtel de Ville ,Ville, featuring its impressive wrought-iron gates and Maillol's statue of La Méditerranée in the courtyard, and the fifteenth-century Palais de la Députation ,Députation, once the parliament of Roussillon.
From place de la Loge, rue St-Jean runs down to the fourteenth-century Cathédrale St-Jean on place Gambetta (Mon & Wed-Sat 10am-noon & 2-5pm, Tues & Sun 2-5pm), its external walls built of bands of river stones sandwiched by brick. The interior is most captivating for its detailed Catalan altarpieces, shadowy in the gloom of the dimly lit nave, and for the tortured wooden crucifix, referred to as the Dévôt Christ ,Christ, in a side chapel towards the south. Dating from around 1400, it's of Rhenish origin and was probably brought back from the Low Countries by a travelling merchant. Beyond the chapel, to the left is the entrance to the Campo Santo ,Santo, considered one of France's oldest cemeteries, going back some 600 years.
From the cathedral, rue de la Révolution-Française and rue de l'Anguille lead into the close, dilapidated maze of the Arab and Romany quarter, where women congregate on the secluded inner lanes but are rarely found on the more public thoroughfares. Here, there are North African shops and cafés, especially on rue Lucia, along with a daily market on place Cassanyes . At the heart of the quarter, the wide and grimy place du Puig is overlooked by a Vauban barracks turned into public housing. Just past it, at the top of a shady uphill street, is the exceptional Catalan church of St-Jacques , dating from around 1200, within the edge of La Miranda gardens (July & Aug 8am-noon & 2.30-6.30pm; rest of year 8am-noon & 2.30-5.30pm), laid out on a section of the old city walls. It is from this church that the Procession de la Sanch sets out on Maundy (Holy) Thursday.
A twenty-minute walk away through the place des Esplanades, crowning the hill that dominates the southern part of the old town, is the Palais des Rois de Majorque (daily: June-Sept 10am-6pm; rest of year 9am-5pm;). Even though Vauban's walls surround it now, the two-storey palace along with remarkable arcaded courtyard dated originally from the late 13th century. With thanks to the Spanish-Moorish influence, there's an elegance and finesse with regards to the architecture and detailing - for instance, in the exceptional marble porch to the lower of the two chapels - that you don’t often find in the heavier styles of the north.
Finally, at 16 rue de l'Ange near place Arago, you will find Perpignan's museum of art, the Musée Rigaud (Wed-Sun noon-7pm;), dedicated to the work of the locally born portraitist Hyacinthe Rigaud, who became official painter to the court of Versailles during the early 18th century. The collection also comprises of works by Dufy, Maillol, Picasso, Tapiès, Appel and many others.
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