Allez les verts!

Ireland : Grand Slam Rugby winners!

What a great weekend for the Irish and just what the country needed : a positive boost in these gloomy days...

It is absolutley the worst time to be away from Ireland and the only time we feel remotely homesick - missing the après match celebrations! Even worse, there is no post match analysis and reports on the telly where we could have relived every stressful moment of that match.

Merci Steven Jones!

But , we can't complain here as the mercury frequently hits the mid 20s and we spend weekend pic nicing , cycling through the vineyards near our house , paddling in the med and cranking up the barbeque for the first grillades of the season.

This weekend we had a group of Americans, all the way from New York for our Red Beret Wine tour. Saturday was a perfect day for a wine tour and we visited three very different vineyards : a small french run family establishment, an English owned Domaine for lunch and a gorgeous chateau over looking the med.
The group were great fun and we all swapped addresses at the end of the day! Coming home to watch Ireland win the Grand Slam, was the icing on the cake of a perfect day. Ah, la belle vie en france!

10 Good reasons to visit the Pyrenees Orientales in April

1. Excellent wine tours run by the French Tour Co. See our Red Beret Wine Tour

2. 11 - 19 April : The kite festival in Port Leucate , attracting worldwide kite surfers to the area and a wonder to watch. www.mondialduvent.com

3. 3 - 11 April : 22nd Sacred Music Festival in Perpignan with lots of international acts ~ Perpignan

4. 10 - 13 April : One of the biggest antique fairs in the South of France ~ Perpignan

5. Stay in fab gites with your bilingual hosts . See www.fab-po.com

6. Easter festivities : the Good Friday Sanch procession in Perpignan and Collioure is a sight to behold

7. Visit the museum of modern art in Ceret and see the works of Matisse, Picasso et al

8. Partake in a "why french women don't get fat tour" in the sunny climes of the south of France while escaping the doom and gloom of recessionary blues

9. Beat the credit crunch : Eat a dozen oysters washed down with muscat wine for less than 10 euros

10. It's sunny, the sky is blue and it's lunch al fresco!

Happy Birthday to the French Tour Co!

The French Tour Co is one year old today and boys oh boys, have we come a long way in one year! It started off as a journey to the capital of France for the purchase of our bus ( which is a story in itself!) and one year later , we are the leading wine tour operator in the Perpignan area.

We have met some wonderful people along the way, made some great friends and have learnt so much more about the beautiful Pyrenees Orientales we are proud to call home.

We are two Irish sisters, Karen and Suzanne O'Reilly who have been living in the Perpignan area for nearly 10 years. Our love for life in the region comes through in our tours : see our website for details.