Visit to a French Country Market

Finally - we are going to visit one of the little country markets!  The feline lady of the house, Cachou, must have known because she woke us up very early by purring loudly on our bed.  Well, that is o.k. because it's best to go early to the markets.

Esperaza is only about 20 km or so from the house but we took the scenic road with the aid of the GPS - she gave us a few wrong turns but we straightened her out and drove right into the little village. We found a parking spot by the river and just followed a few obvious shoppers to the market.

All kinds of things were on sale: fresh fruits and vegetables, of course, meat, nuts, cheeses, olives, dried fruits, clothing, shoes, knick-knacks and more.  One of the first things we spotted was a man selling paella right from his gigantic paella pan.  It looked and smelled delicious so we thought that we would return and buy some on our way out.

The fruits and veggies looked lovely and oh my - the cheeses!  We stared at the cheese display for a moment and the nice sales lady offered us several samples ranging from very mild to more aged.  We decided on one and she wrapped it up for us and collected our money. I have no idea what kind of cheese it is - just that it is very tasty. We didn't need much but the leeks were so nice that I bought a couple to make some soup.  I also bought a beautiful eggplant  It was just so much fun to look at everything and take a few photos.  At the edge of the market were a couple of cafes full of happy people drinking beer or coffee and having a great time.

After circling the entire market, we headed back to the paella guy and bought a container of his creation which included chicken, sausage, mussels, scallops, shrimp and octopus.  All for 8 Euros and it was definitely  enough for two ample servings.

Delicious Paella

We took the main road back to Limoux and Magrie and it was almost as scenic as the scenic road.  I made a quick salad and we sat down with a bottle of Chardonnay for our Sunday dinner.  The paella was just as delicious as it looked and we ate every bit of it. The seafood was perfectly cooked and fresh and the rice was perfectly seasoned.  I believe it was as good or better than paella we have had in Barcelona and Valencia.  We may have to go back again next Sunday.    HERE'S THE REST OF THE PIX.

Back to Limoux and Magrie

PS - Below is the reason we did not buy any fruit in the market.  This is what we brought home from Christine and Pierre's orchard yesterday: