We decided after yesterday's tiring trip to stay closer to home. After a nice chat with Carol, she directed us to a nearby town having a local market (Langoiran). So we headed south. In Langoiran, although the market was fairly small, we weren't disappointed. It had lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. (One fruit I had never seen before, peche platte) was similar to a peach but not containing as much juice and is flat in shape, although it was very flavorful. The young man at the fruit stand was amused by our pronunciation of the names of the fruit in french and good naturedly corrected us. We bought a few peche plattes, tomate cerise (cherry tomatoes), pruneaux (prunes), fraise (strawberries). We also wandered over to the next stand which contained many Morocan specialities and purchased some couscous avec poulet (with chicken). All of this was for our picnic that we were taking with us to enjoy while sitting by the canals a little further to the south.
However our next stop was to the bastide town of Rions. There we walked the streets and admired the 11th century town and its existing ramparts. We walked to the tower where we saw a woman pruning the flowers in the plaza below the tower. We learned that she was preparing the plaza and town for a medieval faire occuring in the town that weekend. We asked if we could climb the stairs to the town, and the woman was very accomodating. As we climbed the stairs we met David who was in the tower also preparing for the faire. We learend that David was the town's local historian. He took us to the top of the tower to enjoy the view of the town and its environs. While giving us a private tour, David shared with us the town's local history. We learn this this bastide town was built by the Glasconny French who were very happy to continue alliances with the English as they recieved many favors from the English Lords through their trade in wine. David explained that to the Glasconny people, it was the French who were the enemy. It was under the direction of Duke D'Aquitaine (who became to be known as King Richard "The Lionhearted" of England) that this bastide town was built. Richard was the sone of Eleanor D'Aquitaine.
After our tour of the tower David showed us to the local museum where we saw fascinating local artifacts, some dating from the 1st century that were found during a renovation of the church grounds at the center of the bastide. We also saw the paintings of a local painter (Henri Maignan) who painted local landscapes as they existed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries adding a fascinating look into how the town may have functioned and what it may have been like to live there. We also saw the textiles that were created in this building that housed the museum. The building's original purpose was to produce these textiles and wooden shoes for the townspeople.
What a wonderful happenstance to be given not only this private tour, but to hear about the local history from the town's own historian! After thanking both David and the woman (who also happened to be president of the historical association in the town) we headed toward the town of Castets en Dorthe for our lunch at the canal.
We found a nice spot adjacent to the canal for our feast. It was pleasant to listen to the sounds of the water cascading down the loch and see the local bicycle club also having their lunch at this beautiful location. After many exchanges of "Bon Apetite" with many members of the bicycle club and our lunch now over, two older gentlemen came over when they saw me looking over our maps. They politely asked what we were doing and where we had visited, and offered the suggestion for our next town to visit (Verdelais). So that's where we headed.
It was a nice drive to Verdelais and in the charming town we found a nice church which we toured (Cathedral de Verdelais) who's patron saint was the Vigin Madonna. (Here I bought my mom a beautiful rosary). Although I was looking for an irridescent purple color, obviously I did not know as I thought I did what the word in French was for purple, and I had this poor little old nun very confused who was trying her best to understnad me and sell me the rosary beads.
Outside and behind the church we found an old cemetery. As fortune would have it, the cemetery contained the tomb of Henri Toulouse-Latrec (a french painter known as one of the greatest painters of the Post Impressionist period who painted many decadent and provacative scenes of Parisienne life).
After touring the cemetery we headed back and decided to stop in Creon for a drink at a Brasserie recommended by our host Carol. We misunderstood the directions and unfortuantley ended up in a Brasserie that hosted off-track betting. It was not an establishment for the like of us as there were several "characters" hanging about who were quite drunk. We drank our caraffe of wine, politely asked directions to the correct Brasserie and headed down the street. In this Brasserie we decided to stay for dinner, and were entertained by an exhibition of South American Poetry (spoken in French) while we were there. I enjoyed a steak and green salad with roasted vegetables accompanied by a sparkling lemonade (Yes, *gasp* No wine)
It had been a long day, so we headed back to La Forge to unwind, uncork a bottle of wine, and for me to catch up on my journal. Then... REST!
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