Museu

We went to Spain today, to visit the Museu Memorial de l'Exili in La Jonquera (I won't link to their website because it's got a Trojan on it). The museum is relatively new (it opened in 2008) and although the name implies exile in general, it is really exclusively focused on the Retirada (the exodus of Republicans from Spain in 1939). We found it a bit disappointing in the sense that it relies almost exclusively on photos with minimal captions. We picked up audioguides, but they turned out to be just translations of the Catalan captions, which we could read anyway. The most interesting part was a couple of screens showing archive footage of the war and the retirada, with an audio commentary. To be fair, the museum would probably be more interesting if you knew less about the topic than we do. Living where we do, we can't not be aware of it, because some of our neighbours were among the frightened children struggling across the snow-covered Pyrenees.

Outside, it was 28C and sunny, unlike the still muggy, hazy weather on the other side of the Pyrenees. We decided to have lunch at El Moli, the restaurant we went to last time we were in the area. It was heaving with people, but they managed to fit us in without a reservation. A very nice lunch: we shared a plate of sauteed wild mushrooms to start, and then I had hare for only the second time in my life, and a lovely light yoghurt mousse to finish.

After that it was the obligatory stop in La Jonquera to stock up on olive oil and a few other bits and pieces, and then home via a brief stop at the hospital in Narbonne to visit a friend. I'm knackered now.