It is not hard to see why Céret, capital of the Vallespir region, has always been so popular with artists and tourists alike. The old town is overhung by plane trees, which cast welcome shade into the squares so that you can escape the intense sunshine. Narrow cobbled streets wind into each other and occasionally open out into unexpected squares where there is usually a café or two where you can quench your thirst or sit down for lunch.
Place des Neuf-Jets, named after the fountain in the centre, has a good crêperie-type restaurant called Le Pied dans le Plat where you can eat without great expense. The nicest restaurant in town is undeniably Les Feuillants (04 68 87 37 88) that serves gourmet Catalan food. Self-caterers may be interested in the market on place Pablo-Picasso and avenue d'Espagne on Saturdays, with a wide variety of goods on offer.
Céret has a very Catalan feel to it and you often hear the language being spoken in town. There are even corridas (bullfights) here in the summer in the arena on the Amélie-les-Bains road, on the opposite side from the market square. The cherry harvest takes place around Easter time and in August there is a sardana shindig on the last-but-one Sunday of the month, celebrating the Catalan folk dance sardane.
All of these activities are of peripheral interest, however, compared to the celebrated Musée des Beaux-Arts at 8 boulevard Maréchal-Joffre. Céret was a popular hangout for artists at the turn of the 20th century. Picasso came here and so did Matisse, the former leaving a number of works of art especially for the museum, which also has works by Chagall, Dufy and Dali to name but a few. Picasso's 50 or so pieces mainly consist of a series of ceramic bowls painted with bullfighting scenes and a couple of paintings, so don't expect to see any of his famous paintings here, but the museum in general is well worth visiting.
The Pont du Diable (Devil's Bridge) is a single arch stone bridge built between 1321 and 1341. With a single span of 45.45 m, it was at the time of its construction the world's largest arch bridge in terms of span length.
The region around Céret is major fruit producer, in particular famed for its cherries. The first of the season's pick are, by local tradition, sent to France's President. Céret hosts a cherry festival each year with such oddities as cherry beer and a cherry stone spitting competition. The cherry season is during the end of April and May. At this time, the town is at its most picturesque.
