Meg’s Typing
We said goodbye to Bordeaux and drove through the most magnificent French countryside. And if we had time to do our research we would be able to tell you about the different crops being grown in the vast fields along the way, instead we can show you a photo or two or twenty-seven. We didn’t stop for breakfast and thought we would stop at a Patisserie somewhere on the road. This can sometimes be difficult when traversing the countryside, as you may not drive past the patisseries and if you do, they may not be open. I was starting to get peckish and spied a patisserie open on the side of the road with many French people exiting the store with their baguettes for the day.
They were not selling any other pastry type products other than the icon baguette. What to eat????? Look in the fridge they have canelles – YES!!!!! We will take 2 of these S’il vous plait. The lady behind the counter looked at us a little strangely – and explained that they where the store speciality – they were Cannelle filled with ………….ice-cream!?!?!?! YUMMMMMMMM.
Snack breakfast down, we moseyed through the French Countryside until Ken TomTom Navman, directed us through another small town and we saw to our delight that it was their market day. Excellent, thanks Ken, we park the car and go for a wander. The debate about how many clothes we can currently not fit into our luggage was discussed numerous times as we walked through the many stalls of fruit, vegetables, cheeses, meats, baskets, leather goods, jewellery, and some great clothes. We had difficulty finding the name of this beautiful little town, there were signposts pointing out the directions of the towns in the surrounds but no main sign announcing the name of the town. None of the shops appear to be named after the town. We ended up solving the mystery by finding the local convenience store and Elona found a postcard with the town’s monument on it – easy – we were in a town called Issigeac We had a wonderful lunch before making our way to our destination Montmiral.
Elona typing
Now Montmiral was a second choice accommodation as it was too expensive to stay within the walls of Cordes sur Ciel; the oldest medieval town in France (Built 1220) therefore we were a good twenty kilometres away and to our surprise landed ourselves in the most quaint medieval town that made us giggle like teenagers when we walked into the main square where our hotel was – right there in centre square!!!!!! We spent that afternoon exploring the local area and the following day we ventured to Cordes where we were plummeted into history and spent the entire day wandering around not only Cordes; which has a rich history of love, intrigue and war but also the local other nearby villages that though not as old still hold that old charm and you can see that the people have tried to keep their heritage homes just that – heritage.
Would you believe though, we actually did a little bit of shopping in Cordes where we purchased clothing and leather sandals J At this point we are finding it difficult to fit all our stuff in our bags – but hey you get that!!!! I must share with you our first evening’s dinner at the local and the only tavern – it was packed funnily enough by all English speaking people including an older couple from Adelaide. Always great to sit and talk with new people especially those from home – this couple though the man’s (sorry can’t remember his name) father is from Turkey and he himself was born there – therefore we had some great conversation and picked up some tips as to what to do and see in Turkey when we get thereJ
Our stay at Montmiral was outstanding – a wonderful couple and their family owned Hotel des Consuls and we were very comfortable and made to feel very welcome. There is also an incredible artist in this town, from whom, I would buy numerous paintings if I had money and the space or even the place to send them – homeless is inconvenient at times!!!!! I know it is not always a good thing to take photos of people’s artwork but I did get a sneaky shot and I’m hoping that Karma won’t catch up to me because I am now advertising his work!!! Our last day which is a Tuesday I might add, was market day (??) where we were able to enjoy crepes for breakfast and to see the square filled with locals – very nice. There was a very nifty arty guy who had made some very interesting gifts out of beer caps – now believe it or not I didn’t take a photo of this – I know weird but as I reminder to us I wanted to add it here so we would remember the hard but delicate work it must have taken him to put these little quirky gifts together.
We then headed off to Dijon in the car to be inundated once again by the magnificent scenery that France seems to have everywhere – God Bless France!!!!
One of the many views from Montmiral
Just rolling countryside for as far as the eye could see
and of course some fabulous doors - this is actually a painting school
Oh there you go a plaque
Again that fabulous undulating scenery
Aaaah this is where we purchased our canelle ice cream centred delicacies
This is the little town we were meant to drive through but the cutesy markets
were calling as was a delightful lunch
Baskets galore
flowers, cheeses
and many people - quite popular markets obviously
And of course lovely buildings
Here's the yummy lunch we enjoyed - quiche and salad!
The red here are the poppies that come through some of the crops
scattered old ruins of buildings can be found everywhere
Our room at Montmiral
The view out of our window across the atrium to the other room on the other side!
Our personal little walkway to our room
The view from the walkway down to the jacuzzi!
Fabulous buildings and of course many crosses scattered throughout the village
Just look at the lines - a little slanted in places - a common thing in these parts
One of the many narrow streets we drive in Montmiral
Meeting someone coming the other way is fun!!
View from the walkway to our room
Due to the 'no gardens' people will have potted gardens outside their doors
Oh and dogs!!
Again that rolling scenery - beautiful
Still loving the archways - not enough trees to photograph I guess!!
Very clean and tidy is our Montmiral
The archway that you walk through to see what's outside the wall around the village
Every corner just opens up to cutesy houses
This is the main square and that's our hotel there at the back
The local and only restaurant in the village
The crepes from the markets were delicious
Even in colour!
This is an older house next to a more modern house LOL
How cool is this tomato - a staple in our put together dinner of crackers with cheese and tomato
The cheese van at the market in Montmiral
Just loved the pot with the flowers
We are still not entirely sure what the middle sign means after many miles
on French roads!!
Cordes from a distance
This town was built in 1222 - the oldest medieval town in France!
and of course is surrounded by absolute beauty
for as far as the eye could see were forests and farm land
to give you some idea - here are some panoramics
There are a number of restaurants and gift shops in Cordes but very tastefully presented
Some interesting artwork
This is just outside of the historical section but still Cordes
This was very strange - these are two buildings next to one another.
One obviously with windows that had a view but then a building was literally
built right up next to it and only a walkway access in-between - you'd be pissed off really I'm sure!!
Not very neighbourly!
Archway heaven in this place
As always the medieval towns have many steps and some pretty steep gradients.
Lots of buildings are covered with these vines - they look pretty but we can imagine the spiders!!
Nice though hey?!
Yes people drive in here but only the locals who live here now
Access into one of the artist's courtyards
Some lovely shops
New and old - well newer for the time
part of the local church - lovely stained glass windows
Pretty view from the restaurant
Every corner holds something new to admire
It's amazing how well they have kept some of these old buildings
Archway :)
and another - this one is next to the outside wall - it's original fortification
Doors are quite short
and some even small for me!!
this is a little alleyway to the outside wall - a short cut I guess
Loved the roses
One of the main streets
there was a tour group - bicycle group - can you tell - love the matching shirts guys!!
The second floor and the top floor look vastly different in height!
We bought violet lollipops - violet is quite big here used in cooking, artwork and anything they can
think of!!
Unfortunately the lollipops seemed to taste exactly like your old granny's
violet perfume - yuck!!
This bike was soooo incredibly rusty - nice photo though
aaaah a tree - nice to see!
There's that vine again and no the picture isn't skew - the building is!!
Local church - many of the medieval churches in this area had the decorated blue ceilings
Sun dial on the side of a wall in the main square of Puycelsi
This town seemed to be more planned
Most of the buildings seemed to be more modern - I use that word loosely -
what I mean is they looked like they had been built in the older style but not original
pretty
This is a sheep farm just down from Puycelsi
farmland all around - just like all the medieval towns
First time we saw one of these toilets though - it's a squat toilet!
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