Wanderlust and Words

On my first full day in Collioure, I went for a walk uphill to Collioure’s windmill. The walk starts at the modern art gallery and meanders its way through a naturally wild cactus garden overlooking the sea. Above the cactus garden is a small open-air pagoda (not shown). Apparently this was where Senator Pams came to smoke opium in times gone by. Stone stairs lead up to the 14th century windmill that was used to grind grain. It was repaired recently and is now used to make olive oil. There is a panoramic view of the terraced hillside vineyards. The Greeks introduced grapes and wine-making and Collioure/Banyuls is apparently the oldest wine region in France. I could have headed further up the hill to Fort St Elme. It was getting late, however, so I took the stairs heading down the hill through a grove of olive trees. I  had started my walk at the art gallery and I ended it at the Dominican monastery, which is now used by the local wine co-operati...

The Baja Peninsula is a desert and the heat can be overwhelming. There’s been a lot of rain in the past two months, a source of delight and astonishment to the locals who say that they have had no rain for the past four years. The hillsides, which are normally brown, are currently green, but the dominant plant in this region is still the cactus, that canny plant that does such a good job of storing and conserving water. For a close-up look at cactus, we visited the Wirikuta Cactus Park just outside of San José del Cabo. It’s part of the planned resort community of Puerto Los Cabos, providing plants for local gardens and a site for events. But it also plays an important role in conserving endangered cactus and succulent species from around the world. The 12-acre garden houses one million plants, with over 1,500 different species and a labyrinth of 1,000 bonsai bougainvilleas. There are massive greenhouses with tiny cacti of all shapes and sizes. I particularly liked the ...