Lazy Days in the Pyrenees
Geoff Kidd
Over the last few months we’ve mentioned all of the adventurous activities available in the area. This blog is a bit different - over the last few weeks we’ve treated ourselves to some tourist days with an emphasis on less strenuous activities for families and those with less mobility.
Our first focus is on Aran Park - 20 minutes from the chalet and just over the border in Spain - no passport needed - there is a very well thought out animal park. It specialises in mountain animals (from otters to stags and vultures to wolves) in their natural environment. Most of the enclosures are open and you walk around the park on a concrete track. In some of the areas you need to look for the animals really hard (the mouflon were very well camouflaged!) and it demonstrates how close you could be to the animals in the wild without realising. The Lynx, Wolves and bears are all in large enclosures with no public access.
Only the wild animals are caged
Our favourites were the bears - the animal park had a bit of a surprise with three bear cubs arriving this winter. They were all very playful when we visited. The cheeky marmottes (a mountain beaver/meerkat) were also a highlight, we found this cutey one sat in the food bowl outside of the enclosure!
Cuteness overload
After the excitement of Aran Park - around 2 hours is plenty of time to explore - we descended the col du Portillon into the town of Bossost and treated ourselves to a long lazy tapas lunch and a walk around the town. Amongst the highlights in Bossost are the 7th Century church with some frescos on the wall and having a nosey in the supermarkets. The town may only be 30 minutes from our doorstep but the culture is a world apart.
Other less strenuous activities include a spa day at balnéa, relaxing by Luchons open air swimming pool, visits to some waterfalls, cathedrals and the taster tour of all the local producers. We’ll tell you about these in our next blogs.