Fos: A relaxing vacation in the French Pyrénées

The same pool, the same boy, but not the same picture

Back in 2012 when Edouard and I had just started dating, someone pulled out old photos at a family dinner.  In one of the photos there was a little Edouard swimming in a crystal blue pool while his uncle sat near by laughing.

I asked Edouard where the picture was taken and he told me that it was at his uncle’s house in Fos, a small village on the boarder of Spain in the south of France.

“Why don’t you take me there?” I said.

And he said, “OK.”

We planned our first trip to Fos together in August 2012 and have been back every summer since.

Welcome to Fos

Things to know about Fos:

• It’s tiny… Like really tiny. The town went from  a population of 1 724 in 1851 and has declined every year since. Today, there are only 248 inhabitants.
• The town looks like it got stuck in the 1950’s. Back in the day there used to be: a tramway, a little grocery store (épicerie), 2 hairdressers, a mechanic/ car garage, a camp site, a boulangerie (possibly more than one), and 2 hotels/ restaurants. Today, the only things left are the boulangerie (open 3 days a week during the summer) and one hotel/ restaurant.
• The Garonne River flooded in 2013 leaving the town even more rundown that it already was. Fields, houses, and roads were inundated with mud. Most of this has been cleaned up but in certain areas the destruction of the flood can still be seen. For example, the camp site was wiped out during the flood and has not been reopened.

A few remains stand here and there as reminders that Fos was once a bustling little village.  As I jog by in the morning, I try to imagine how things used to be:

Garage Moderne

Ancienne épicerie

Coiffeur, Dames, Messieurs

Hotel, Restaurant, Cafe des Deux Nations (hotel on the border of France and Spain)

One of many stone walls wrecked by the flood.

door and boots, 1866

But besides all this, I’ve still fallen in love with Fos. Here are the reasons why:

1/ Charming country houses

Green house in the village.

Woodland house on the hill.

2/ Fresh bread and blueberry “cannelés” from the town boulangerie

The boulangerie (bakery)

3/ Hikes with family and friends

Hiking to the Argut-Dessous

3/ Beautiful hilltop gardens

Garden, Argut-Dessous

Fountain, Argut-Dessous

Close-up: Chez Dudule

4/ Discovering old stuff

France Telecom phone booth, Argut-Dessous

Hiking map, Argut-Dessous

5/ The views

6/ Nature and it’s wildflowers

Wildflowers that I picked

Butterfly

7/ Hopping the border for a night out in Spain

Port Wine store in La Val d’Aran

8/ All this.

Edouard relaxing by the pool

If you like what you see, there are several places you can stay in town like this “Gites” below.

Gîte de France Le Sériail

Telephone : Mme Patricia Sanchez-Bretano – 09 70 44 60 52

Book online: Here

Le Sériail