#Bedoin#Parasolsd'or#Provencalmarkets
Monday (25th of May) in France was yet another holiday "Pentecost Monday" or "Whit Monday".
Our French landlords, Martine and Jean-Marie had told us about a market in the the village of Bédoin.
Martine explained that it had a "Parasols d'Or" designation.
It is not quite as prestige or coveted as the "Palme d'Or" trophy that one would win at the Cannes Film Festival but it is a premier status in the Provençal market circuit.
These markets have the best produce, products etc.
So this is what we decided to do Monday morning, or atleast I thought that was the plan.
In our village of Sarrians there was a Vide-Grenier (like a community yard sale) and Monsieur Honey wanted to check it out first.
His "check it out" is actually to walk the whole park and inspect each table, booth ... as he says you never know what treasure you might find.
There was probably over 100 stalls.
This took about an hour of our time and we came away with no "golden egg".
Molly our trusted GPS wasn't her usual efficient self this morning and I tried to suggest an alternate route but my advice fell on deaf ears.
This is when I first realized that the "Bickersons" had joined us on our travels, they must have been stowed away in our luggage.
Today was the first time in our thirty three days of travelling to date that the "Bickersons" made an appearance.
Who are the "Bickersons" you may ask?
Let me tell you they are annoying people ... they are "Monsieur and I" when we don't see eye to eye and can't agree on something trivial, you know the nagging and niggling parts of our personalities!
Normally, they are not are allowed on our adventures!
Finally we arrived in the village of Bédoin which was heaving with activity, many people and after searching for / finding a parking spot we were ready to explore all that this market had to offer.
What a beautiful backdrop / setting for this market ... you will have to try to visualize the size of this market, it was massive and I can't tell you how many vendors there were but in the hundreds would be no lie. We wandered many of the town's streets all lined with vendors of many different products.
Monsieur Honey was disappointed that I had not taken any photos of the crowds to show how busy the village was ... oh well believe me there were many, many and many more people.
There are people that would say "a market is a market" or "if you've been to one market you've seen it all"!
I'm going to disagree and I know my friend "Susie Q" will agree with me ... if only we could have these kind of markets in our hometown!
It was a wonderful day of colour, aromas, fragrances, tastes and textures all in one!
Lavender sachets ... can you smell the fragrance?
Herbes de Provence ... the essence and flavour of Provençal cooking.
Fragrant sea salts ... "sel aux Herbes de Provence" and "sel aux 15 épices" just a couple of the many choices!
Olive oils and tapenades ...
Colourful Provençal fabrics ...if only I had paid attention to the Nuns / "Sisters" who taught my Grade Nine "Home Economics" class and I had mastered the skill of sewing ... what wonderful placemats, tablecloths or maybe even some "French" curtains to cover my windows I could create!
Garlic and purple artichokes the size of baseballs ... we finally tasted these purple artichokes.
Today we felt like mice in a cheese shop ... every "Fromagerie" stand was offering tastes of their delicious cheeses ... another good marketing tool!
We may not have found a "golden egg" at the vide-grenier but we did buy a piece of "golden cheese" both in colour and price!
Live street entertainment...
Once our shopping was complete ... we looked for a restaurant for lunch.
Arriving late and being a holiday, we were turned away at many of the restaurants as they were "Complet" ... full / tables had been reserved.
And the now the "Bickersons" couldn't agree on anything as our tardy start had caused us not to be able to checkout the café / restaurant menus and perhaps reserve a table for a later lunch.
I was ready to buy "deux poulet pour €12" from the chicken rotisserie lady who had been announcing her deal all morning and head back to the apartment in Sarrians.
We had walked the town streets twice checking out the restaurants finally by chance or luck we got the last available table at "L'Escapade" where we enjoyed a wonderful meal under the shade of the plane tree on the terrace.
This salad of beetroot tops, romaine, tomatoes, peppers, yellow and green zucchini, purple artichokes plus olives with a light vinaigrette was Msr.'s starter ...
Followed by a "chicken dinner" ... delicious!
Et deux boule de vanille ... And two scoops of vanilla ice cream! How predictable!
My starter today was the sardines ... with Provençal herbs, have to try things atleast once ... you can't say you don't like something unless you've tried it! The verdict is still out, I'll have to try them again.
My entree was the trout filet ... absolutely wonderful served with delicious farm fresh vegetables plus a lemon sauce.
I chose this amazing strawberry dessert!
As it turned out the restaurant L'Escapade is ranked #3 of 24 restaurants in Bédoin on trip advisor.
Another day in Provence ... where we said "Au Revoir" to the "Bickersons" and hopefully left them behind in Bédoin.
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