Life in le Sud de France

Well, it has been a very busy couple of weeks down here in La Sud de France. Pleasant as in sun, sea, Soirees and serenity. We extend a warm welcome to each of you to come and enjoy it with us.

Mayor’s Lunch

The mayor’s lunch was enhanced this year with some live music and additional dances that were organized by the band. The meal was great and the company superb.

We arrived on time but to our dismay all the tables had been reserved with handwritten notices of who and how many were sitting there. Being outsiders, we didn’t dare try to barge in on any table. Our good friend and neighbor, Manola, arrived and took charge. She knows everyone in the village and soon had us a table arranged even though some people had to be moved around. All, except an elderly lady who refused to budge. So Manola had to work around the opposite direction. So in our group we had Manola and her copain, John, Gigi and her copain, Mssr. Ruiz and his Femme (from Malaysia), Richard and Alison and Pat and me. Sorry but the camera chip went bad so no photos except these taken by the house photographer.

Wine was already on the table and after we helped ourselves, the first course arrived: Fois Gras and confiture de Figue with crisp toasts and roquette salad. The band started and a few started dancing but not enough wine yet, I thought. More food came as a half a Langoustine was served with citron and some sort of aioli. A little more energy in the dancing this time. Sorbet floating in Champagne is now served as a palate cleanser. Now the caterers need a little more time to prepare and serve the main course so vigorous dancing ensues with amateur performances by relaxed guests who think they could sing. The Chanteuse picks on unsuspecting males who fall prey to her beguiling request to share the microphone.

The main course is agneau (lamb or mutton) grilled on an open fire out back. It was accompanied with smashed pomme de terre (potatoes) and vegetable medley (legume mixte). The caterers operate the L’Essential restaurant in Pezenas and did a masterful job on the lamb. Serving 400 people for a sit-down dinner can’t be easy. The Fromage (cheese) course was next and while somewhat limited in choice, was excellent in qualite. Dessert was an ice cream cake drowning in Chantilly.

More dancing and singing as the chanteuse led the audience in several French standards culminating in the Marsiellaise. After dessert dishes were retrieved, we were served coffee. And then the lads who handle maintenance for the village came around with cognac and some sort of apple liqueur although not the traditional French Calvados. This was a greenish color and quite sweet according to reports.

Now the music has degenerated into line dancing and many of the older guests start trickling out the door. Those that are still able to dance are having a great time. We also left soon even though it was after 5:30 after arriving promptly at noon. Needless to add we were both happy and tired.

Vide Grenier Treasures

Claude and Mary will be furnishing their house soon, so they asked us to show them all the brocante places around here. Of course in doing so, Pat lost all her willpower and started buying more for our old ruin. Actually, most of was needed to fill gaps in our meager furnishings. 

She found a couple of parlor chairs that were a very close match in both color and style to the old sofa bought last year. We were able to reduce the mismatched hodgepodge of the décor in that room.

We also found a glass top wrought iron table for use in the summer kitchen when we finally get workers out of there. It came with only 4 chairs but it is a popular style her so finding a couple more won’t be a problem.

She bought 4 chairs similar to sidewalk café or ice cream shop.

They were rusty but she now has them looking good in bleu lavande.   

For the terrasse, she found a marble top iron table that she has repainted to match the chairs.

The most interesting piece we bought was a birdcage wine bar and wine rack. It is compact, attractive and very functional.

She started out looking for an armoire for her and ended up

with all of the above. Oh, yes, she did find an armoire and now has almost enough room for her things.



Carnavale in Alignan

(some of you may have ready seen this so please forgive )

Last Saturday was Carnivale in Alignan Du Vent the last celebration before the beginning of Lent.  It amounts to a parade of children of all ages, parents of said children and some random villagers (me and Pat).  It is mostly held for the Children who are all in costume.  The adults can be in costume, but mostly it is the children.  This is the first year we have paraded thru the village with the group so we got a different perspective on it.  After a leisurely stroll thru the village we all strolled on to the Place du Liberte for the trial and burning of Monsieur Carnaval who is responsible for everyone’s wrongdoing throughout the year. He is given a trial and inevitably found guilty and sentenced to burn. The children sing a farewell song and the sentence carried out. He is stuffed with newspapers and filled with firecrackers.  He is first hanged by the neck and then burned up in firecrackers and smoke with the children yelling “Adieu, Monsieur”.   Pat and I mused this probably wouldn’t happen in Kennesaw, especially if the wind was blowing about 15 miles an hour!   

 

Narbonne Market

A market is held in Narbonne on Thursdays and Sundays and with the coming of spring more and more venduers show up. We went with Claude and Mary on Thursday and escaped without spending too much. The highlight of the day was lunch in “Les Halles” which is an indoor everyday market specializing in all things fresh.

"Les Halles" outside

Meats, cheeses, fish, vegetables, fluers, olives etc. are all on open display. Probably 60 venduers all vie for your business.


After touring the outdoor market and wandering thru the main square, we arrived a little late at the restaurant in Les Halles that Claude likes.

Chez Bebelle

Nothing to do but have an apero and wait for Pat and Mary and a table for lunch. The restaurant is wide open surrounded by a bar and a few tables on the side. Cooking is done on a grille in the center for all to watch.

While we were waiting, we watched the lunch orders flow. On either side of the restaurant are bouchers (butchers) and as a restaurant order is placed, it is followed quickly by an order that is yelled loudly 40 feet to the boucher.

Click on this link for a 1 minute YouTube video  Chez Bebelle 

The boucher cuts the order to the specifications of the order. Could be one, two or

more pieces of whatever was ordered.

Then the fun starts. The cut product is delivered “airmail” back to the restaurant. It was actually thrown back over the heads of seated and standing restaurant guests accompanied by the return yelling of what this order is. The restaurant flops it on the grille and, Voila, lunch. Our boucher specialized in Cheval (horsemeat) and canard (duck). The bouef (beef) came from the other direction and another boucher.  Foregoing the Cheval, we opted for magret sur la plancher, duck breast grilled on a flat hot plate and frites. We were served and chatted with one of the owners (the same one who caught every order one-handed on the fly without error).

He was the middle son of a three generation family who has been running the restaurant for decades. They even commissioned a local domaine to label their wine with their photo.

Aigues Morte

According to Wiki: "Aigues-Mortes" translates to "dead waters," but the salt marshes surrounding this medieval city actually have given this town one of its chief industries: sea-salt production. (Bring some home for epicurean friends.) Fortified into a Mediterranean port in the 12th century, Aigues-Mortes’ massive walls survive—walk along them for great views. The foundation of the city is said to have been by Gaius Marius, around 102BC and In 791, Charlemagne erected

the Matafère tower^[5] amid the swamps for the safety of fishermen and salt workers. In 1240, Louis IX, who wanted to get rid of the influence of the Italian navy for transporting troops to the Crusades, focused on the strategic position of his kingdom. In 1272, his son and successor, Philip_III_the_Bold, ordered the continuation of the construction of walls to completely encircle the small town.

Anyhow we went there again recently. It is very quiet in the off season with only locals sitting in the cafes. This time the walls and ramparts were closed so we weren’t able to enjoy the fabulous views of the Camargue. 

I waited in a café while the others browsed about. It was here I learned the very local way of ordering Pastis which is a staple drink down here. Pastis is an anise-flavored spirit and apéritif from France, typically containing up to 100 g/l sugar and 40–45% ABV (alcohol by volume). The name "pastis" comes from Occitan pastís which means mash-up. It is consumed from about 10AM  every day by those who hang in the cafes early. Proper ordering requires a slow guttural, grunting sound “Reecar!” It is taken from the most popular supplier “Ricard 45” but when spoken sounds nothing like it’s written.

Crevette, Moules, chorizo in a Paella

We toured a couple of galleries and browsed some café windows to see what was for lunch.
From the back porte, we could see three huge mounds of sea salt that were about 75 feet tall and just as broad.

The church dates from the 12th century although there was a monastery here from the 7^th century.The walls of the village are about 20 meters high and 3 meters thick with around twelve towers and four portes.

Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer

Le Pere

We went on down to this small seaport on the very edge of the Camargue. On the way, we saw many Camargue ponies and Camargue cattle that populate this marshy terrain. They exist in a virtual bog and are cared for, when necessary, by the guardian cowboys.

Yes, the same ones that come to Tourbes for the annual bull run. The Camargue is also a bird sanctuary and we saw many herons and flamingo, both pink and white, as well as ducks and other waterfowl.

From Wiki describing the village ” The village was noted as "Ra" (see below) in the 4th century AD by the Roman geographer Rufus Festus Avienus. In the 6th century, the Arles was active and created a monastery or church in the town, named St. Mary, a favorite of the fishermen. The village became known as Notre-Dame-de-Ratis (Our Lady of the Boat - Râ being used in ratis, or boat) in reference to the three Marys arriving by boat in 45 AD.

The three saints Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome and Mary Jacobe, whose relics are the focus of the devotions of pilgrims, are believed to be the women who were the first witnesses to the empty tomb at the resurrection of Jesus. After the Crucifixion of Jesus, Mary Salome, Mary Jacobe, and Mary Magdalene were said to set sail from Alexandria, Egypt with their uncle Joseph of Arimathea. According to a longstanding French legend, they either sailed to or were cast adrift - arriving off the coast of what is now France, at "a sort of fortress named Oppidum-Râ". The location became known as Nôtre-Dame-de-Ratis (Our Lady of the Boat - Râ being used in ratis, or boat)  The name was later changed to Notre-Dame-de-la-Mer. In 1838, it was changed to Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

The town is also a pilgrimage destination for Roma (Gypsies), who gather yearly for a religious festival in honor of Saint Sarah. Dark-skinned Saint Sara is said to have possibly been the Egyptian servant of the three Marys. “

We had a nice lunch here
before exploring the village and church. That is it was nice until time to pay the tab. Claude gave the waiter two €50 notes as the bill for four was about €55 I think. We were talking and the waiter kept standing there, when Claude looked again the waiter was only holding one €50 and waiting for more. Claude was dumbfounded but the waiter insisted he only had one. We think he palmed the other 50 while we were not looking so a very expensive lesson from an otherwise nice village.

The church was most unusual as in the crypt supposedly held relics of the bones of two of the Marys and nowhere was a single mention of Mary Magdalene. The Saint Sara was prominently displayed in the crypt and seemed to be the main attraction as all the lit candles were near her versus the large crate holding the bones. And none of the visitors fit my description of Roma or Gypsy. The building itself was unremarkable but it was filled with precious artifacts and wonderful graphic art. The church dates from the 5^th century and has been rebuilt and fortified several times. The last time was after 1448 when King Rene destroyed it to search for the relics. Because of the flat coastline, the church can be seen from 25km away.

The village is a very nice strolling town with many squares and different shopping areas. On one street I found a store called “Sitting Bull” which specialized in Western riding and cowboy gear. Saddles, boots, chaps, colorful clothes for cowboys and cowgirls. Next door was a similar place called “Rio Grande” although it was closed due to off season.

The Fashion Show

(aka Victoria’s Secret and Alignan du Vent)

On Saturday night, Manola convinced us to go with her and friends to the fashion show held at the Salle des Fetes.

Our bon Voisin, Manola

Always up for a good time, we shared our table with Manola and Jean, Gigi and Alphonse, Richard and Alison  and a few we did not know.  As with all things in France, the show started slow.

We were greeted by an angel (or something ) on stilts dancing in the entry standing about 10 feet tall.  

Angel or?

We sat down and were served a Kir to enjoy while waiting on the show. The music (very modern) started with a girl singing  Karaoke to the canned music. It was so bad that neither Richard nor I could determine which language it was. This went on for 20 miserable minutes until a break in “entertainment” to serve the starter.

La femme vocale

Then the main show started and down the runway came models in all sorts of fashion clothes for the ladies. They had about 15 models,

mostly from Alignan and on the segment they changed two or three costumes. Then the show paused while we enjoyed the main course of confit de canard (roasted duck leg and thigh).

While we were finishing we were entertained by a male vocalist over whom the teenage girls swooned as if he was Elvis.  Then more of the female screecher, er, singer.

Once the plates were cleared, the lights went down and the main event started began: Ladies lingerie in all forms of brevity.

They pranced and paraded through another 3 changes of costumes. This was followed by a light show and confetti shower and a final curtain call from the models and vocalists. 

Souvenir de Manola

Manola

It was getting late and I looked over at Manola and she was putting on very bright red lipstick. I thought it a bit odd until we discovered her madness. First, Jean, her copine, then Richard,  then me, as we were blessed with souvenirs from Manola and the evening. 

The obligatory photos of la Madame and yes we do have a good time here.

Hide the water!!

Several started to leave only to find the path blocked by Darth Vader’s cousin complete with modern light saber. The ladies at our table enjoyed a little dancing with the giant and the light show and we staggered down the street toward home at about 1AM.