On the trail of Toulouse Lautrec.......

We like to vary our route between Switzerland and Provence and this time decided to return via Albi and visit the Toulouse Lautrec museum there. It was adding quite a number of kms to our journey but we wanted to explore a different part of France. This decision was made after we read an article in Cote Sud which described the area around Albi and Rodez in glowing terms!

We did initially book into one of the recommended hotels mentioned in Rodez, the Chateau de Labro because of their comments on the restaurant's innovative cuisine. However, thank goodness, we asked for a dinner reservation, otherwise we would not have found out until too late that the restaurant was closed on Sunday evenings! They gave us the names of two other restaurants to book...both were also closed. When their next suggestion was the restaurant at the bowling alley we felt we needed to skip Rodez! However Albi wasn't too much better! Most restaurants were indeed closed there also on Sunday evening, and  on Mondays!
Research led to us to booking a fantastic chambers d'hotes.......La Tour Sainte Cecile.....

..within a stones throw of the museum and the exceptionally large brick built Cathedral. This was a private residence and the owner grew up in the house. It is listed as a historical monument, the

Hotel Séré-de-Rivieres, from the 16th century .........

We were greeted inside the door....

and entered into the owners salon, which he told us had been his parent's bedroom when he was growing up.

Entrance to our room was up a very narrow spiral staircase ......

but I had definitely asked to have the Toulouse Lautrec room, knowing this prior to arrival.  We took very little luggage!

The room was even better than it looked online!
The nighttime view of the immense Cathedral was superb.....

...as was the view of it from our window  the following morning....

We were then also able to check out the tower we were in, during daylight hours...... just behind the circular stairs!

The owner did find us a small restaurant on the Sunday evening, just around the corner......he couldn't remember the name of the place he had booked for us but assured us it was only 20-30 meters, left and left again! He was correct... we had no trouble finding it.......everything else was closed!!

 ...and we had no choice but to take all 3 courses of a 'menu'..... fortunately good!

Game of Thrones……Dubrovnik

When I booked our apartment in Dubrovnik I had never heard of Game of Thrones! It is not as popular in Europe as it is in the US…….
However we heard  that the fortress and small bay we overlooked from our window are apparently prime sites used in the production!

We didn't think we would have an opportunity to see it being filmed, however there was a notice in the Tourist Office that they would be filming in a few locations around the town and so we were on the lookout!!

First item we saw…… and wondered about …... but it wasn't clear until we saw the second one……

……. the arrival of the props……

I tried to take more photos but was informed no photos were allowed…..

but the banners were a dead giveaway …..

and its amazing what a good telephoto lens can do……

 We did actually see the cast leaving the set…..

However, not having watched the show, we have no idea who these characters might be…….

We also visited one of the areas where they apparently do film a lot…..
judging by the electrical system left in place……

I presume anyone familiar with the show may be able to identify this Fortress……

 …..there were great views from the top!

and of course there is the inevitable Game of Thrones tour! We did not feel tempted to join!

Some Dubrovnik restaurants that we can recommend…..or not!

There are a lot of restaurants in Dubrovnik!  So no lack of choice! There is one street which seems to have tables from one end to the other. This street runs parallel to the Stradun, the main street.

We didn't try any there!

Our absolute favorite was Proto…..

First we tried their street tables …..  but noticed this sign for an upstairs terrace….so we returned..

We had to pay a cover charge to eat upstairs….. but it was in a much quieter location.

  Food was the same up or down…and was excellent!

The hot cold salad with shrimps was different…...

…. as was the sea bream with black olive pate….

One night we were going to a concert at the Rector's palace and needed to eat a little earlier and close by. We tried the Cafe Royal restaurant at the Pucic Palace hotel. We had to eat inside as their outside tables were not allowed because of the filming of Game of Thrones! This was no problem as it was definitely in a different style from the other restaurants we had visited…..

and the ravioli with truffles was also excellent!

Another restaurant we tried was the Sesame.

We identified, we thought, where it might be on google maps and wandered a lot of backstreets. it turned out to be on the corner of the main road leading from the Pile gate, just opposite the Hilton hotel! There was quite a bit of traffic noise…. and we did ask to have a table a little further in than the one originally offered!  Food was, however, excellent……

We wanted to eat in the old port so booked a table with a view at the Arsenal.  Location was excellent, food was OK…..

Then one evening we tried our local, the Orhan……

The setting here is absolutely fantastic and definitely worth going there just for that alone.

 However the meal was a little bit of a disaster! We ordered a fish soup to have first, followed by a fish dish. However the waiter forgot we ordered the soup and brought us  the fish first ……. we obviously were a little taken aback and he whipped away the fish……and returned 10mins later with the soup. No problem!
However our fish returned for the second time…. 30 mins from its first visit to the table……a little cold!!!
We did complain…….and they did remove it from the bill…..as we were not temped to eat it!
The wine we had there was excellent!!

We would go there again because of the location……

…but would probably not order a starter!!