Showing posts with label Narbonne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Narbonne. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Wrapping Up Our Last Week in La Belle France.

May 27th - May 31st, 2019 

The last week of  “my birthday trip” in France! 

Monday ... I needed some “city life” as in some retail therapy but not really looking for anything or in need of anything. 
We headed to Carcassonne to a large shopping area on the outskirts. 
Here we found the largest as in massive Carrefour (grocery store) I’ve ever seen. 
It was inside an indoor shopping mall with many interesting shops. 

And of course this happened today ... Monsieur Honey got himself coiffed. 
I had hoped to get myself pampered with a cut however it looks like I’ll be waiting until I get home.
Normally, when we are in France each city, town, village has several coiffures.
Late last week I had asked Sylvie at the Vival where she gets her hair cut/ styled. 
She told me Montlaur does have a “coiffeurs à domicile” ... that does both men and women’s hair and she comes to you. 
Anyway time has slipped away ... so I’ll wait until I’m back home in Canada. 



Some pretty bling in the jewelry store window. 

The grocery store was massive with a great selection of goods! 
You’re sure to find a Rosé you like here ... so much selection.



The cuts of meat are so different to what we are use to / familiar with as the children of butchers. 
Both Monsieur Honey’s and my father were butchers in their day. 
These charts hanging in the meat department of the supermarket might be helpful and also make for interesting conversation with my brother who is a meat cutter (recently retired). 



Tuesday was an at home day ... we visited Jean Louis the butcher and we were in luck ... fresh made « Friands » were in the showcase. Delicious!
These are similar to meat pies. I’ve already searched for recipes, there are several varieties with different fillings. 
The ones we enjoyed were made with fine ground beef, mushrooms, parsley, herbs and a light gravy/sauce in puff pastry.  
We purchased a couple to have for our lunch today.



Wednesday ... date night at Bourdasso, if we are ever in the area again we will definitely add this to the must do list! 
See separate post “La Bourdasso Cucina Italiana” posted May 31, 2019





We shared lots of laughs about my birth “day” that turned into the birthday “month”of celebrations. 
It was an amazing night in a beautiful setting with great ambiance, Italian aperitifs, delicious creative food and wine shared with my best friend. 


Thursday ...was a holiday in France (Ascension Thursday). 
We  did a return trip to Narbonne. 
There was much more boat activity on the Canal today, and an outdoor market lined both sides of the Quai on the Canal de la Robine near Les Halles. The city was humming. And the sun shone brightly! 



Here some tourists walked on the 2000 plus years of history on the ancient Roman road ... “Via Domitia ”.



There was a large number of flower vendors today.
I hoped that I’d still be able to get plants for my gardens when I get home. 
Jokingly I was going to ask the truck driver to deliver some plants to my home. 


Friday -  our last day of our trip! Some packing and preparing for our departure tomorrow.
We did make a reservation for lunch at Le Moulin in Trèbes. 
I’ll be writing a separate post about our lunch on the canal.
The weather was absolutely glorious today and we enjoyed a later supper on the terrace. 


I’ll be back with a few more posts over the next few days.


Tuesday, May 21, 2019

The Road to Narbonne

Friday, May 10th-2019

If it’s Friday it must be Narbonne along the Canal de la Robine. 
This was Monsieur Honey & I’s first visit to Narbonne other than the train station to take a connecting train many years ago.
We found a parking spot in a lot along the Canal. 



Our first destination was Les Halles (circa 1901) a magnificent building housing the indoor market place. 
It is open daily from 7AM-2PM. 


Some architectural detail



I’d say if you can’t find what you’re looking for here it probably doesn’t exist.
The market vendors sell all products from A to Z ... from anchovies to zucchinis with everything in between. 


Fresh baked goods from “Le pain to patisseries”, cheeses, butchers of every kind (beef, pork, poultry, etc.), fish mongers,  fresh fruits and vegetables of every sort, olives, oils, spices and of course wines. 


Beautiful fresh flowers ...

There are several restaurants within the Market Hall ... 



After our “market fix” or should I say my fix (I love French markets), we wandered along the canal and crossed the river to the other side where the majestic Cathedral Saint Just and Saint Pasteur is located. 


Construction started April 3rd 1282. It has a long history during it’s time of building. The choir* was completed in the 1330s and then in 1345 work was stopped due to the Hundred Year War. 

*A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tabernacle. Wikipedia

Work continued later and into the 1840s. 
It is dedicated to two Spanish brothers & martyrs Justus and Pastor from the late IIIrd century. 

We visited the Church each with our own reasons. 

We enjoyed an excellent Mediterranean tapas lunch at La Rotonde before exploring some more.
  


Some magnificent architecture ...



Here in the main square is a portion of the “Via Domita” the historic Roman Road.

The Via Domitia was the first Roman road built in Gaul that linked Italy to Spain dating to 118BC.
What history! 

The gargoyles overlooking the church grounds ...


Narbonne is definitely worth another visit ...