Travel: Pyrénées-Orientales, France

A HANDFUL of towns cluster round the point where the Pyrénées plunge into the Mediterranean, on the south-east edge of France. This is Catalan country, with the reach of this vibrant culture stretching out from its Barcelona heartland to span the French-Spanish border, creating a unique atmosphere in the small seaside communities that make up the Pyrénées-Orientales.

The language, in the main, can be a reminder that you are still on French soil, but there is an edgier, almost wilder feel to this area. You see it in the landscape: more rugged, with giant cacti sprawling through the olive groves and along the edges of the vineyards. You taste it in the food: a rustic Med mix of fish, seafood, mountain stews and cured porks, plus the rich triumvirate of olive oil, garlic and tomatoes. You also see it reflected in the light. The sea sparkles here, a deeper blue against a velvet sky, and the sun, not so much shining but glowing.

Over the top? Too much sampling, given the renowned Collioure and Banyuls AOCs? Not a bit of it. That specific quality of light is mainly responsible for the transformation of this corner of France in the early 20th century, drawing the most renowned artists of the day, and then the tourists in their wake, to what were then just tiny fishing ports. The climate also has a bit to do with it. Ideal for off-season visits, it is warm and pleasant for much of the year. The winters are generally short, and although they can be cold, a wind from the Pyrénées chases the clouds from the sun.

Less than ten miles from the Spanish border sits Port Vendres, a charming town that plays second fiddle to its more popular – and therefore, busier – neighbour Collioure. Both were once backwaters where fishermen hauled anchovies from the Mediterranean, but it all changed in 1905. Henri Matisse arrived in Collioure in the spring of that year, in search of light and colour. He found it. The paintings he then produced pulsated in bright pinks, blues and yellows, and scandalised the art establishment ... for a while.

Matisse is now hailed as the founder of fauvism (a translation of beast-like), and in the following years the town began welcoming such names as Andre Derain, Raoul Dufy, Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso. Collioure is revered for this cultural heritage, and it still brings artists and art-lovers to the holiday throng of its pretty streets and restaurant-lined quayside.

Port Vendres, just a couple of miles down the coast, is smaller and less hectic. However, it does have its own special artistic legacy, and this is something that should have particular interest for visiting Scots, as it is the town where Charles Rennie Mackintosh, architect, designer and painter, spent his final working years.

Mackintosh and his wife Margaret arrived in Port Vendres in 1923, having travelled around the area – including in Collioure – but choosing to settle in what was definitely a working port rather than a holiday town. Disillusioned with life in Britain and struggling to make ends meet, the couple discovered a completely new, and cheaper, lifestyle here, eventually spending more than four happy years in Port Vendres before illness forced a return to London and the artist’s death in 1928.

During this period, Mackintosh was painting landscape watercolours, and in recent years a new-found local appreciation of this exquisite work has led to the creation of the Mackintosh Trail, and L’association Charles Rennie Mackintosh en Roussillon, the organisation that runs it, is affiliated with the CRM Society in Glasgow.

The chance to follow that trail and visit the Mackintosh museum in the gardens of Le Dome provided us with an irresistible excuse for another visit to French Catalonia. We wanted to drive, to make the most of a wider exploration of France, but unlike the Mackintoshes – who crossed the channel to Boulogne – we headed to the continent via Newcastle. The long drive from Scotland to England’s southern ports can be tedious and stressful, so we opted to put the miles in on the other side.

After a pleasant overnight ferry across the North Sea, Paris is just a five-hour zip through the Netherlands and Belgium. We didn’t head to the capital, however, and instead turned south, stopping over to visit Dijon and then chasing the sun along the Mediterranean, from Nice to Marseille, before pitching up at the Hotel du Golfe, a recently renovated piece of classic 1960s French seaside architecture, sitting on a spectacular site on the hill above Collioure.

This shining white beacon was a fabulous base for our driving holiday, set back from the coast road that leads in one direction to Argeles sur Mer and then Perpignan, in the other to Collioure, and on to Port Vendres, Banyuls and Cerbère. Collioure is close enough to walk to from this hotel, provided it’s not in the height of summer, but following in Toshie’s footsteps meant using the wheels.

After a ten-minute drive, we dipped off the main route down into Port Vendres, where the coast road snakes around the quayside, before climbing up and off to the Spanish frontier. This is still a fishing industry hub, but the town overall has an intimate, almost sleepy feel. The gallery and museum, set in a peaceful garden just a few minutes from the water’s edge, is worth visiting before setting out on the Mackintosh trail. There are 13 panels on this trail that allow you to “stand where Mackintosh stood” to view scenes such as the quayside at Port Vendres, the lighthouse and the Château Royal back in Collioure.

We also wanted to track down the Hotel du Commerce, where the Mackintoshes lived in Port Vendres, and although it’s not on the official trail it’s easily found on the Quai Pierre Fourgas, on the northern edge of the harbour. Now a ground-floor bank with apartments above, it’s in the heart of the restaurant area. As this is a deep-water natural port, and unique to the Côte Vermeille, it can actually handle freighters and small ships, though these are rare visitors today. The regulars are yachts and fishing boats, with the smaller enterprises often selling their catch directly to the quayside restaurants.

As we sat outside Le Pescatore, enjoying dinner, a large cruiser pootled up and parked a few yards away by the quay. The family disembarked, leaving a single crew member in charge, and traipsed across the small road to take their table next to us. We weren’t envious, not really. We’d already had an incredible journey that afternoon.

The road from Collioure to Portbou is drawn as a series of small twists along the edges of a map, claiming a distance of around 11 miles. However, these are Catalan country miles, sweeping through Port Vendres and Cerbère, winding into the foothills of the Pyrénées, the sharp descents cut into the cliffside. The return journey will take at least a couple of hours, but it’s worth it just to set foot in Spain by reaching Portbou. The eerie presence of long-disused customs buildings and an abandoned hotel here only hint at the drama, and tragedy, that unfolded at this crossing point, particularly during the Spanish Civil War and the years immediately following it.

This must be one of the world’s most beautiful and dramatic coastal drives, but it is not for the faint-hearted. It is, in the purest sense, breathtaking. But you’ll enjoy that glass of rosé back in Port Vendres even more.

• To discover more about this area of France, see www.tourisme-pyreneesorientales.com and www.sunfrance.com.

• Ginny Clark drove to France, taking a ferry through DFDS Seaways (www.dfds.co.uk). Overnight crossings from Newcastle to Amsterdam cost from £149 each way for a car and two passengers. On-board food is good, with a choice of several cafes and restaurants.

• A double room with balcony costs from €95 at Hotel du Golfe (www.hoteldugolfe-argeles.com). It has plenty of parking, a heated outdoor pool and a spa.

There are plenty of listings for apartments and hotels in the town, plus loads of general information, on local tourism site www.port-vendres.com.