Is Perpignan worth visiting?

Hi.

My wife and I are going to spend about 4 days traveling from Toulouse to Barcelona in May. We are looking for nice towns to visit on the way down and spend a day visiting them.

Just wondering whether Perpignan is a quaint town that should be on our must-see list.

thanks

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Perpignan is certainly an historic and attractive city. It would also serve to get you used to street signs in Catalan rather than just French.

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I agree - there is a lot of history in Perpignan and it is well worth a day. And, yes, many of the signs are in the Catalan language not French which rather messed up my idea of using a French language street map for navigation! So mainly I just wandered.

It is a bustling city of 120,000 rather than a quaint town but has preserved much of its heritage.

Suggestion - get off the beaten track when inside the old city and you will get to see some interesting sights. One street is cheerfully named Rue de l%26#39;Enfer, literally %26#39;Hell Street%26#39;!

Be careful up there. I was there last year and there had been some minor incidents between the European and Arab populace. I was told that the latter do not like their pictures being taken.

There the ancient streets are narrow and lined with tall buildings. There is the rather splendid 13th Century Palace of the Kings of Majorca, a lifestyle to which you can aspire. Although when I was there, many of the rooms were devoid of furniture as it is partly used a modern day conference centre!

If you can read French visit this site

http://www.perpignanmediterranee.com/

which has a lot of practical information. There%26#39;s a useful article also in Wikipedia.

Well worth a stay and afterwards a simple 3 hour drive to Barcelona.

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Just for the record I would like to say that Perpigan being in France (!) all street signs are in French (and sometimes French and Catalan) but never in Catalan alone.

Rue de l%26#39;Enfer is deadly cold in winter when the strong wind know as tramontane blows, hence its name. There is also a Rue de l%26#39;Avenir (street of the Future) near one of the cemetaries .....)

While there are some venues at the Palais des Rois de Majorque including theater plays and concerts, it is not a conference center. There is le Palais des Congrès off Cours Palmarole for that.

The Kingdom of Mallorca lasted a mere 100 years and the palace itself was built between 1274 and 1309 which might explain why there is so little furniture left from that time....

The %26quot;minor%26quot; events of last year involved 2 murders,the looting of several shops and the burning of a few cars in the city center. It was the first extremely violent clash between two communities : the gypsies and the Arabs. Things are back to normal again and while it is not advisable to go to certain areas of the town at night, they are perfectly safe during the day.

I certainly would not take picture of anyone anywhere without asking for permission first.

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I just love how diplomatic that question was.

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My fave is rue de l%26#39;ange with fantastic shops, cafés and brocante shops.