It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 2 days away, we travel with our friend M to the markets in Narbonne in search of specialty cheeses, fresh vegetables and seafood for Friday’s special meal. Bigger with more variety than our little Capestang market, crowds of last minute shoppers search for the perfect meal items. You cannot help but feel the spirit around us.
Narbonne is a 20 minute drive away from Capestang, and has a year round covered market, with a variety of stands; seafood, butcher, baker, florist, olive, cheese and wine.
With Christmas shopping in full swing, the out door markets extend way down the streets, along the Canal du la Robine with people selling purses, clothes, trinkets, material, shoes, makeup, curtains as well as cooked, dried and fresh food. Anything you need is found at these open-air markets.
With kids in tow, we discover new fish, taste new cheeses and walk around every square meter of the markets. Then we stumble across a little cafe over looking the Canal for a coffee, where the kids enjoy a decadent hot chocolate. Later we walk the pretty streets taking in the lovely architecture of Narbonne.
Located 15 km from the Mediterranean Sea, and has over 50,000 people, Narbonne is a nice destination in the Aude district. Once a prosperous port now a tourist destination with its beautiful Narbonne Cathedral, tallest in France. Their train station runs direct to Paris, Barcelona, Toulouse and Marseille making it convenient to all tourist alike.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy Hanukkah to all our online friends and family! We will be posting French Christmas traditions over the next week as well as to share our new experiences with you.
That’s Hamori!
Merry Christmas and a Prosperous Happy 2012 from Mike & Mavis.
As an aside Eva, I heard that the cathedral at Narbonne and the church at Capestang were being built at the same time.
Neither were finished according to their original design but the cathedral was more finished than the church which was left truncated.
A reversal in economic fortune is said to be the cause and it could possibly have been the ‘black death’.
Could make an interesting area of research. Another such area would be ‘why was the village of Quarante called “quarante”?’
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