"The well-worn resorts of the French Riviera line the beach like prostitutes on bar stools, promising tourists a good time. But Collioure, just before the Spanish border, aims its arms at its own people. It's the ideal small town-without-the-glitz antidote to condo city Riviera. Like an ice cream shop, Collioure offers 31 flavors of pastel houses and six petite scooped out beaches sprinkled lightly with beach-goers. This sweet scene, capped by Collioure's winking lighthouse, sits under a once-mighty castle in the shade of the Pyrenees. The ambiance of Collioure is what was so charming about the Cote d'Azur back before the introduction of the paid vacation turned the Riviera into France's holiday beach."