As some of you may know, earlier this year I took a trip to Catalonia and the Eastern Pyrenees. My main reason for choosing this destination was the possibility of adding three new countries to my travel map. One of those countries was France, which I've always found a bit overrated and had no interest in visiting aside from Corsica. But it was really close to Barcelona so I thought, "Why not? I want to visit every country in Europe anyways, and France is one of those countries that everyone dreams of visiting." Shortly after booking my trip, I stumbled upon a tour online called "Three Countries In One Day" which stopped in a small town in the French Pyrenees called Ax-les-Thermes, home to just over 1200 people. After seeing what few pictures there were of it, I said to myself, "Eh, I don't wanna visit some boring village." I wanted to visit Perpigan, and thought it would be pretty easy to get there on our own by train. After consulting with my good GAG friend @alice55, I decided to just book the tour to Ax-les-Thermes. I started researching the town a bit and exploring its streets on Google Earth and thought, "Okay, this town might not be so bad." But with the town being so small, I was still concerned about not getting the chance to experience true French culture. There were also the stereotypes of "rude and non-English speaking French", but for some reason, I felt those wouldn't apply here.
So fast-forward a little bit, there I am in a cramped tour bus heading towards the French border. As we neared the border the feeling over came me. My stomach filled with butterflies, but the good kind. I couldn't believe I was actually heading to France. We passed through the last town in Spain, and as I passed the border sign it was if an electric shot hit my body. I tried my best to control myself in the crowded bus, but the reality of the situation was too much for me to bear. I began crying tears of joy as it hit me that I was actually in France. A country so many people dream of visiting, but many never will. I immediately felt a sense of calm and happiness. France just had this positive, joyful and peaceful energy that I had not felt in Spain. The scenery was fairly dull at first, farmland, rural villages with modern houses, and snow covered mountains in the distance. Stuff that would normally not fascinate me, but this time it felt different, because it was in France. It really was love at firs sight, something I don't think I've experienced with another place.
We passed through several small villages and the architecture here was much nicer and felt much more traditional than in Spain. Had I been traveling by car, I would have stopped in every little village we passed. Despite being only 10 miles from the Spanish border, the drive to Ax-les-Thermes took around 40 minutes, but I wasn't complaining. More time to enjoy the mountains and charming French countryside.
After 40 minutes of driving, we finally arrived in Ax-les-Thermes. The weather was absolutely perfect. I once again struggled to contain my tears of joy as it hit me that I was about to set foot on French soil. Had there not been 20 people around me, I would have kissed the French soil. I was THAT excited to be there. That feeling of setting foot on French soil for the first time, it is something I cannot describe with words.
I wanted to explore the town on my own and experience the "real" France, MY way, but of course the guide had other plans. I had to watch the guide show us how to use the local thermal pools and take us around to his friends' restaurants. Of course he walk right passed the stuff that was truly French, but thankfully he gave us an hour to explore the town on our own. You are about to find out why I fell in love with this town, and how a place I originally had no intention of visiting, ended up being the highlight of my trip.
The Setting
The setting was the biggest factor that made this town so charming. Ax-les-Thermes is nestled in a picturesque valley in the Pyrenees Mountains at the confluence of two rivers. The builders of this town worked with the landscape rather than against it, using it to their advantage, creating one of the most charming and picturesque urban landscapes I had ever seen. As soon as our guide released us for our free time, we made an immediate b-line for the river. I had seen pictures of the town taken from this exact spot, and I was not leaving without seeing it. This was byfar the most picturesque area of the entire town, and one of the most picturesque I had seen anywhere. The colorful little townhouses lined up along the river couldn't have been more French. I envy whoever lives in these. I'd love to have a river and mountains in my backyard.
Traditional French Charm
Ax is somewhat strange. I would best describe it as, "The Tourist Town That No One Knows About". Aside from being a popular hiking, skiing and spa destination for local French, the town as you already know is also frequented by foreign tour groups. You would think this place would be on the tourist map, but almost no one outside of France knows about it. My guidebook only has a short paragraph on the town, and there are almost no pictures, videos or articles on it online. Had I not found this tour, I wouldn't even know this town exists. In fact, I'm certain this MyTake is the first English travel report on the town. Seriously, Google "Ax-les-Thermes" right now and see how much you find. And it's not like it's a boring town. But in a way, this is a good thing as it means the town has managed to preserve its authentic French charm, while at the same being able to cater to tourists in the form of casinos, shops, restaurants, hotels and of course spas.
By far my favorite thing about this town is that it still feels very French, unlike some of the larger French cities. Ax still feels, at least in some aspects, like the France of the 60s and 70s that you always see in old movies. Old French cars parked in narrow winding cobblestone streets, traditional French architecture, French grandmothers dressed in elegant old style clothing, locals greeting each other with kisses and stopping to chat, even if they're carrying a sack of potatoes destined for their restaurant. There was just an overall sense of warmth, friendliness and community, as well as a really relaxing and laid back vibe. Once you break free from your annoying tour group, everything about this town screams "traditional France", right down to its name. Seriously, this town couldn't be anymore French. In addition the population here are, wait for it, actually French. We actually did see one Muslim woman in hijab at the local market, which was a bit of a surprise as they mainly make their home in major cities, but aside from that, the town felt 100% French, right down the littlest details like the ringing church bell, or the old man getting picked up on the side of the street, or a man calling out for "Alice".
The Thermal Baths
In case you haven't figured out already, this is what gives the town its unusual name. I've been to thermal baths before and was not impressed. This is another example of something being intriguing to me, simply because it's in France. The sight of steaming water and smell of sulfur is something I tend to associate with volcanoes. The fact that this is right in the middle of a French town is the thing that makes it so fascinating, as people don't normally associate France with this sort of stuff. The thing that really did it for me though is the fact that these baths were used by the Romans and Crusader soldiers, as well as thousands of sexy French girls. That's pretty damn cool. Even so, this was byfar my least favorite thing in the town and I didn't spend a whole lot of time here, or make use of these baths. I only had an hour, and there were far more interesting places in town.
The Architecture
As a student of Urban Geography, Ax's incredible architecture was reason enough to fall in love with this town. I always feel slightly embarrassed admitting that I've been ignorant, but I always thought French cities were very dull and ugly, and that only the architecture in the colonies was colorful. I had no idea French architecture was so vibrant and colorful, and I especially hadn't expected to find this kind of architecture in such a small town. The colors weren't the only thing that made me fall in love with the architecture. The buildings themselves were quite strange, especially the ones with the wooden shutters. The one in the lower right corner was especially strange and literally looked as if it was part of some of mural, but no , the building was very real. I've visited some colorful cities during my travels, but nowhere was the architecture so vivid and vibrant as it was here. Even the regular townhouses were really vibrant and pleasant to look at. I learned afterwards that this type of architecture isn't unique to Ax, and I had seen in other towns prior to this visit, I probably wouldn't have fallen in love with this town as much as I did.
The Narrow Streets
Our time in Ax was coming to an end, but there was no way I was leaving this town without exploring one of its narrow streets. There was one I passed by at least three times, and each time I felt like it was summoning me, so by the fourth time I went down it and it was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. I have explored some cool streets on my travels, and this was one of the coolest I had ever seen, if not the coolest. Unsurprisingly, I found some more of that beautiful architecture I mentioned earlier. Here it was the most colorful and vibrant I had ever seen. By far the coolest part was that some of the buildings actually curved to follow the winding streets. By far some of the coolest urban design I had ever seen. Once again the cobblestone and lack of traffic and pedestrians added to the French charm. It was here that I found the little French car I posted earlier. This was by far my favorite area of the entire city. I truly felt as if I had crossed a time portal and was back in the old France. Truly incredible!
Market Days
When I found out that I had scheduled my tour during one of the market days, I couldn't have been more excited. I'm not much of a shopping person, and you have to drag me kicking and screaming to a grocery store or shopping mall, but a traditional French outdoor market I can do all day. The main reason I was so excited for this market, was because I knew this would be my only chance of getting the true French cultural experience I came for. So naturally, I was annoyed when our tour guide just walked past it without giving us a chance to browse around. Luckily, we had the opportunity to explore the market during our free time. The market was quite large, taking up the entire town square, as well as a few streets. There were locals vendors selling everything from cheap hats and clothing, to organic fruits, cheeses and sausages and even hot Chinese cuisine. I had no interest in the clothing stalls, but the food stalls were quite interesting as they had several varieties of chesses, sausages and other things that I'd never even seen before. There's no doubt this market saved the trip for me, as I wouldn't have gotten the French cultural experience I came for without it.
The Little Shops
As I mentioned above, I'm not a huge fan of shopping, so you're probably surprised I included this one. Once again, these little shops were only of fascination to me, because they were located in France. Everyone ones knows that one of the most popular activities in France is shopping. The country is famous for its little boutique shops, so it would be a sin to be in France and not pop into a couple. And once again, I was in France for the first time and wanted to experience as much of the culture as possible. Ax had several of these little shops, each specializing in different items. I was mainly interested in the ones selling traditional French handicrafts, such as these baskets you see right. However, these items were too pricy for our taste. The only thing I had interest in buying was a French flag, which surprisingly, none of the shops happened to have. It didn't help that the majority of the shops were closed, but at least their items were beautifully displayed.
Food Everywhere
This one shouldn't come as a surprise. If there is ONE thing that people DO compliment the French on, it's their food. French cuisine is probably the most beloved in the world, and Ax has no shortage of great restaurants. There were restaurants and food stalls on nearly every street. Everything was ornately displayed as if it were an art piece. Once again, if this stuff wasn't in France, I wouldn't even be taking pictures of it. Unfortunately, most of the eateries don't open until noon, and since we only had an hour and wanted to explore the town, we didn't have very many options. I originally wanted to try some typical French food, but of course, none of the menus or labels were in English, so I had no idea what any of that stuff was. I first asked a local lady at a food stall if she had any "pizza". She did her best to explain the items in broken English, but I had no idea what I was looking at. All I was certain of was that it wasn't pizza. We eventually did end up finding an actual pizza place, but the lady behind the counter thought her phone call was more important than her hungry customers. Eventually, we came across a kebab place, which served Turkish style meat in a French baguette for just 6 Euros. After a bit of a language barrier, I was eating a tasty French style kebab. The baguette was probably the only part of this meal that was French, but on such short notice, it was the best I could do. I honestly didn't expect multiethnic dishes in this town, but there were quite a few of them which included American food, Italian food and Chinese food amongst others. This was actually nice, as it means people aren't just limited to French cuisine, which may not be suitable to everyone's palette. That being said, I didn't go entirely without trying French food. As we explored the town we came across several stalls selling French cheeses and sausages, I had never seen before. We ended up sampling some cheeses, and buying some organic sausages, which we ate in our hotel. The cheeses and sausages were delicious and two authentic French foods we didn't mind trying.
A big merci to @alice55 who researched restaurants and prices for me.
Ils Parlent Un Peu Anglais
This is one of the biggest stereotypes about France, that French people don't speak English. It is true that the rate of French people who actually speak English is only 20%, even lower if you only count those who speak it fluently. It is also often said that even those who know it, won't speak it to you because they expect you to speak THEIR language in THEIR country. This is true, but another reason is that French people are often mocked for their English speaking accents, which even the French themselves consider atrocious. That being said, many French people know at least a little English, and won't mind speaking if you're willing to speak a little French. I decided to test this method in Ax-les-Thermes, despite how horrible MY accent and pronunciation of French words is, and it really works. Even a simple "Bonjour, parlez-vous Anglais" was enough to get the locals speaking English. What I've noticed is that the French appreciate mutual respect, so as long as you're willing to speak a few words of French, they're willing to speak a few words of English. Even if they don't know ANY English, they will still do their best to communicate with you, especially when there is money involved. That being said, we DID meet a couple locals who were fluent in English, so it's really not as bad as people think, but I will definitely be learning some more French before my next visit.
Locals Speaking English
https://vocaroo.com/i/s1wxg0USqLYq
The People
If I'm honest, I some how knew the "rude French" stereotype would turn out to be false for me, as MY experiences with locals are always the opposite of other peoples'. Basically, the places that are supposed to be friendly turn out to be rude, and the places that are supposed to be rude turn out to be friendly, which turned out to be the case in Ax. I felt this even more so being that 90% of the "rude French" stereotypes are actually about Parisians, which even the French consider rude. Also, I figured a reputable tour company would want to give their clients the best possible impression of France and its people. Whether tour revenue is the reason for the locals' friendliness, I have no clue, but it doesn't even matter. From my experience, I felt the warmth and friendliness of the locals here is completely genuine. There is certainly a sense of community here, which is common in small towns. People greeting each other with kisses and talking to each other on the street, despite the fact that French people rarely befriend strangers. Ax was byfar much friendlier than the Spanish towns I visited. The French seemed nowhere as cocky as the Catalans. One food vendor smiled and laughed with us when my mom accidently spoke to him in Spanish. Drivers were extremely polite and stopped to let you cross the street, and the locals were really helpful and understanding of tourists, even if there was a language barrier. One example was when I didn't know the bathroom had multiple stalls, and I stood outside waiting for the man who just went into to come out. This older French lady started saying something to me in French. I told her, "Je ne comprends pas." She said, "Oh," then after a few seconds she opened the bathroom door for me, and motioned that I could go inside. The one thing that makes or breaks a place for me is the people, and even small gestures like this make me return home with a good impression of the place and its people. The only negative experience we had with the locals was when we were standing in front of a pizza place, and the owner was on the phone completely ignoring us and the local French customers. And also, one lady was really friendly and helpful at first (the one I mentioned earlier who's voice you can hear in recording) but then I saw her standing with a grumpy expression as we were buying food from her neighbor's stall. But those were such petit things, that I didn't let them ruin my impression of French people. That being said, Ax is only ONE town in France, and I have heard some people say not all small towns and villages in France are this friendly, but the kindness and hospitality of the people is the biggest thing that gave me the urge to explore more of this country.
Well, that's it. I don't have anything more to say about this place. I will conclude this MyTake by saying, this town was far more interesting than I thought it'd be. It's funny how I originally didn't want to come here, but ended up falling in love with it. I guess France will do that to you. I'm really glad I got to experience at least a little bit of French culture, and was able to disprove many of the negative stereotypes associated with the French. I used to think France was overrated and overhyped, but after my brief visit I now understand why so many people fall in love with this beautiful country.
Merci pour lire.
Thanks for reading.
And once again a BIG thanks to @alice55 for helping me research this trip.
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