Uzès - in search of ghosts of the past...

Trip Start Jun 02, 2008

Trip End May 01, 2010

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Where I stayed

couchsurfing in prison chapel

(Uzès hotels)

Flag of France Uzès, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The road to Uzès heading inland towards the Cévennes mountains,is one of those unforgettable drives. Lush green fields overflowing with wild spring flowers like i imagine Provence to be, the falling light casting a warm vibrant glow accross the landscape. I was meeting Theo, a young musician and fellow couchsurfer...to stay with him and his mum... sleeping in their 800 year old appartment, formerly the castle prison . I meet him in a car park....below the city walls. Hes carrying bongos casually strung round his neck, a mass of dark curly hair squashed under his cap... smiling he greets me and jumps in beside me. "Its the wrong way round" ...he says indicating the drivers seat..."yes ..I nod..its no problem ..really ive got used to it" ...
He warns me his mum - Marie - is quite bohemian ..and i realise Theo has not had a chance to forewarn her of my arrival. But she is lovely and greets me warmly. I have a comfy mattress on the floor in one room adjacent to the chapel which Theo shows me

Theo and his mum

. The noise vibrates and echoes around the room the acoustics changing depending on where you stand. Selfconsciously i utter a few notes which seem to do nothing but Theo just smiles and says if "you're a musician you will notice"..... Here some prisoners would have spent their last moments praying for salvation...I turn away, shake off the ghosts and go to make tea with Theo.

Theo turns out to be an excellent cook...he rustles up some great vegetarian pasta in a kitchen that would not look out of place a centuiry ago....His mum lays the small wooden table and we drink tea and chat about life..later we go out and eat ice cream in the old square as its too late to order wine. Theo tells me about his last girlfiend, his passion for travel,his quest to find his Dad and his desire to help his mum...and I tell him about my my failed marriage and my father...and how I dont think I will return to Australia very soon, how at some point in time you accept things as they are and stop trying to change them. Only then can you find some kind of peace. .. I admire this young guy, his directness and his relaxed philosopy on life ....I sleep soundly ...and if the ghosts appeared i never heard them...

The next morning i chat to his mum as she arranges flowers for the market - she calls them Zoe's flowers - she invites me to come back and stay longer and I say I will .......I have some time to spare so i wander around the market stalls filled with a huge variety of delicious truffles, wines, asparagus, olives, nuts, meats, veg and olive oils ..I manage a confused mixture of French and Spanish and translate for some Australian tourists.... I fill my bags, return to my car and turn one last look at Uzes and my castle for the night, leaving the ghosts behind me....