I have been traveling since my retirement and keep a daily journal that I would love to share.

Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, France Italy, Portugal, Spain, England, Turkey, Greece and a variety of North American towns, cities and villages have all been the subjects of my morning pen at dawn when the ink flows and the mind sees clearly.

Places

Colieure, France. May 7/05

Daybreak

The sun rises above the thin layer of cloud behind me and the air carries a slight chill but before me in pastel jigsaw splendour, nestled on several beaches and bordered by the blue Mediterranean now slurping upon the rocks beneath my balcon sits the lovely town of Colieure.

In the distance, Perpignan and a few nameless smaller towns display their longer footprints and high-rises and behind all of us, the Pyranees fall into the sea.

The scene that so intrigued Chagal, Picasso, Matisse and George Bracque is now the subject of my pen.

On top of the hill, the train station – le gare – clad in pastel pink stucco, topped by an orange tile roof and girdled by ancient walls of stone sits imposingly. Its colouring in counterpoint to its mighty size and importance. Beneath it the town sprawls randomly like a toddlers tumbling blocks smashed down for the fun of it.

A phallic tower coloured in the same pink hue guards the foreground, a green capped light-house sits on a pile of black rock impervious to the white froth of the wavelets that dash against it.

A few small boats, brightly coloured, bob gently in a stone harbour as they make ready to take their fisher folk to the sea as the first white delivery truck glides silently by and disappears.

The entire scene glows golden as it is bathed in the aura of the rising sun.

Aaaaahhh!

My mind wanders to Cinque Terre, Oia on Santorini and other villages by the sea. All memorable, all differently beautiful.

This is truly the bliss of travel.