Céret Market Day!

#frenchmarkets#ceret#catalan#melons#aubergines#placedeliberte#barpablo 

For my blogging today I'm going to live in the moment ... I'll go back and write, post more about our past experiences in the next few days. I stil have much to write about our last few days in the Lot Valley and our first week in Céret. 

Today in Céret we spent the morning at the outdoor market. 

 

A hub of activity started early this morning with the vendors pulling in to the square below us getting their "stands/ shoppes" set up.

Luckily we remembered from our stay last year that someone the vendors pull in as early as 5:30/6:00 am and we closed the shutters tight last night so we wouldn't be woken up too, too early. 

This market is not just in one little square or on one street ... and a best guess is that there are hundred plus vendors selling their wares. 

                    

                       

  

How about a snazzy, new  pair of knickers Monsieur Honey? 

       

Mmm.... Paella for lunch?

What will we be making this week? 

Two pickups. ... fresh lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, eggplants (aubergines) and smoked paprika to take home, and a bouquet of fresh flowers to brighten up our apartment ... And to support the local neighbours!

We also bought a rotisserie chicken and a jambonneau (a small piece of ham which we enjoyed for our lunch).

Another pickup ... I sent Monsieur Honey for some fresh lemons, he came back with much more ... 

the fresh lemons plus farm fresh eggs and heirloom tomatoes. 

The view looking up to to our apartment from the market stalls in Place de liberté ...  we're enjoying our French life from the third floor apartment ( which actually is the 4th floor but in this pic count up to to the 3rd floor ... you can't see the ground floor).

-  view looking down from our balcony overlooking the "Market" activities! 

And that's a wrap ... the vendors packing up and another busy Saturday market is over ! 

A Medieval Walk in Cahors

#pontvalentre#cahors#folklore#lotriver

Tuesday 23rd August 2016 

We spent today just strolling the many streets of Cahors and walked to the famous bridge "Pont Valentre". I read that this bridge is said to be the most photographed sight in France outside of Paris. 

The folklore/ story about this 14th century structure is that "the devil" helped with the construction. 

The construction of the six span fortified stone arched bridge took place over 70 years from 1308 to 1378. The impatient architect supposedly made a deal with the devil ... he would give up his soul if the devil would help with the construction. As the project was nearing completion the architect had second thoughts and tried to back out his part of the deal. Now the devil was not happy and as the masons laid the last stone on the final days ... The devil would remove it at night and repeated this many times.

Today the devil still clings to the corner of the tower! 

The bridge is also part of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella. 

The devil ...

We spent sometime on the bridge watching several boats manoeuvre the locks and floating logs! 

During our walk our eyes were treated with many beautiful sights ...this lovely decorated balcony, interesting architechure, creative shop signage, peeks at some of the secret gardens and we finished our afternoon with a little people watching from our Café seats. 

 

                    

                        

And then we returned to the shade and coolness of our courtyard ...

Lunch in the Lot

#montcuq#cafedefrance#prayssac#lotvalley

Monday, 22nd August 2016

Today we went on a little road trip to a small commune that we visited over three years ago in June 2013.  On that visit the weather didn't cooperate it was cool and drizzly ... so we enjoyed a pleasant lunch but we were unable to tour the village. 

Today we arrived under blue, blue skies and very hot temperatures, so we did get to have a walkabout in the quaint commune.

Montcuq is situated approximately 25 kms southwest outside of Cahors. 

Remnants of the weekend fête .... 

                     

                                 

       

 Such aged patina ... 

Oh my where does the time go ... it's time for "déjeuner" again.  

Oh look there's the same café ... Café de France.

                           "Bon appétit" in many languages ..

                  

We opted for a light lunch ... sharing two starters ... A tomato /mozzarella salad and an avocado/ shrimp salad plate and we shared a most delicious crémé brûle. 

We wandered a little more after our lunch and discovered a very different "war memorial" ... a walkway, park area. 

From here we drove north about a half hour to Prayssac for a surprise drop in to reconnect with our "French Connection" friends. We had a lovely catch up visit and made plans to meet again later in the week.

They have a beautiful piece of heaven overlooking the vineyards. 

Great to see you both again ... C & B! 

www.cafedefrance-Montcuq.com