Abbaye de Fontfroide

Numbers: 700 feet elevation, 8 foot wide peak, and wind gusts of thirty or more miles per hour. Other than that, a very safe secure place from which to create a VR image...

While travelling through the Languedoc region of France, we found ourselves with some extra time on our hands. It was getting late in the day, we had spent some time further south at a beach, and wanted to get in some sightseeing and photos before the 90 minute drive back to our home exchange.

A quick Google search turned up the Abbaye de Fontfroide, just outside of Narbonne. Since it was on the way home, we decided to stop in and have a look. Normally, I've found that such spur of the moment events turn out quite well. This had tremendous potential to be the case, but our timing was a bit off.

When we arrived, we found that the Abbaye itself was closing with 10 minutes, so we couldn't go inside to explore and photograph. That was a disappointment, as it looks absolutely lovely. However, not ones to give up and walk away, we decided to wander around the grounds and see what we could see.

I started following a path that led up a hillside, looking for a vantage point where I could get a nice image overlooking the Abbaye. There were some nice spots, but nothing that really grabbed my attention. But, the path continued, and so did we.

After about 20 minutes, we came to the top of the hill and realize just how windy it was! I'm not afraid of heights, but I have a healthy respect for not getting blown off the side of a precipitous drop. So, I crawled around the pinnacle, which wasn't very wide at all, searching for a vantage point that would not only give a nice view to the Abbaye below us, but also to show the iron cross that sits at the peak, but was unable to get far enough in front of or behind the cross to see it other than from the side.

Still, the resulting view and image was well worth the effort, and we have put the Abbaye de Fontfroide on our list for another visit the next time we are "in the neighborhood." That, and there is something quite poetic about seeking shelter in a tumultuous wind at the foot of the cross.

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Europe / France

Lat: 43° 7' 36.74" N
Long: 2° 54' 5.03" E

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

Samsung NX500, Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens, Hejnar based VR head, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, Canway GPS logger, SNS HDR software