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18 July 2025 - Roussillon
One of the interesting things about walking through this part of France is it's strong connection to the Mediterranean. Many town squares are named "Place de 19 Mars 1962". I had to look up the date. It's when Algeria's war for independence from France ended. Everywhere I've been to in France has a monument next to or in the church listing the names of local boys who died in WWI. Often affixed to it is a much shorter list for WWII. However in many towns in this part of France there is a 3rd addition dedicated to those who died in the wars for independence in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The wording there is important. A million refugees left Algeria for France during and after the war. So the town monuments are not just for the local French boys, but for those who lost relatives and took refuge in France. Here in Roussillon there are so many muslims that the supermarket by the train station doesn't sell alcohol. No alcohol in a country synonymous with wine! The square here is also filled with men speaking something not French and women in hijab. The nearby Rhône river drains into the Mediterranean. Algeria, just to the south, was in the EEC (predecessor to the EU) as a part of France, but lost that sometime after independence (the peace treaty was somewhat ambiguous on this point). Morocco applied to join in 1987 and was rejected as not being European. Despite where governments draw the lines it's good to see the connections remain.
