I was hoping to post a Bread Baking Babes bread today, but it is still rising in the pan and won't be baked for a while yet, so I'll post it tomorrow. Today we'll continue with our journey in the Luberon area in France.
You won't, any longer, see knight or crusaders or Roman centurions in the lands around St. Saturnin-les-Apt but you will occasionally see chateaus that look like castles appropriate for a knight or crusader, or Roman ruins from when this was Gaul.
We were too late in the year for the fabulous rows of intensely blue-purple lavender that can easily be found in the area during the season, but on the day we headed towards Aix-en-Provence we did get to see a typical open air weekly market in Lourmarin, plus the beautifully restored Chateau de Lourmarin, which dates from the 15th and 16th centuries. The photo above shows the chateau, plus some of the tour buses which carry lots of tourists to visit it and soak up the history.
Ah, the market was wonderful! The parking lot was pretty full of market shoppers, but we found space to squeeze in and headed away from the chateau to the market. There was an open place under some trees where vendors had set up stall with sweaters, linens, toys and similar items. Then we walked a ways down a street lined on both sides with closely spaced stalls. There were all kinds of items for sale, from fabric and rugs, to trays to hold cheeses,
to hand-milled soap and soap-soaked pumice stone. We bought a tray, some soap and some pumice stone, plus little sachets of dried lavender.
At another stall Sweetie tasted some cheese and purchased some to take along with us.
I marveled at all the dried herbs and spices and purchased some herb de Provence.
The amazing array of all kinds of olives was followed by another array of all kinds of dried and candied fruits and nuts.
Same with the fish although it was tempting to try to figure out a way to prepare them somehow. So beautiful.
Eventually we had to leave so we could get to Aix before lunch time was over and there were still plenty of vendors we didn't see. Next time!
Most of the photos don't show for me right now (the mystery of the internet) but having been to France and always the markets, yes, it's time to return. There just don't seem to be anything like the markets in the French countryside!
ReplyDeleteTanna, sorry you can't see the photos. I've been to some markets in different parts of the country in the U.S. and it is very different. One thing about the markets I saw in France was the attention to display...everything was well displayed and enticing because of that. If we had more room in our suitcases my bank account would have suffered a lot more.
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