Markets in Southern France

From the small villages to the big cities, Market Days are big events in the south of France. We didn't get to many, but the offerings were diverse - from produce to poultry, from old books to organ meats and cheeses, from frilly tutus to sweet-smelling soaps and macaroons, from sausages of every description to octopus and other delicacies from the sea to panties, dresses and everything in between, you could probably find it at one market or another. Some markets were indoors, some out. Some were expensive and some were bargain basement. After purchasing peaches at a drive-by market on a highway, I later learned that the flat variety was the sweetest - like sugar in your mouth.
The sight of fish piled high and looking at me with dead eyes was at first startling, but I soon got over that after seeing whole hogs and chickens with heads poking out from under their breasts. These were, after all, things we don't see in the typical sanitized grocery stores in the US. Flies lighting on sausages and otherwise delicious looking pastries were off-putting. It was good for the diet. We only bought washable produce from that market. If it hadn't been for flies, I might have bought some of those colorful macaroons that France is known for. The only place I saw them was at an outdoor market near Narbonne.

Here are some photos.

Sud Ouest France Sights: Bocce, Warning, Pigeoniers, Homeless

I spotted these gentlemen playing bocce one afternoon. I think it may have been in Castelginest. It was on one of the routes we traversed frequently (even when we weren't lost.)

Took this photo in Toulouse, but it could have been anywhere (except the little bit of litter we saw - not like in the US - was mostly around larger cities.) American cigarettes, French warning.

Pigeoniers are interesting structures that dotted the landscape in our area. A lovely artist in Cordes-sur-Ciel (see post on my Letterlady's Letters blog) had done a series of drawings and paintings of them and answered many questions for me about them. Read more by clicking on highlighted words here. In the early days before chemical fertilizers, piegeons were prized for both their guano (for fertilizing crops) and as food. Farmers and landowners had sometimes ornate pigeonniers built to attract and house them. Many times they were elaborate structures whose architecture matched the main home. Some of these remain, and according to some things I have read, some have been turned into mini-rentals for travelers.

And, not to end on a sad note, but Toulouse is not immune to the big city aspect of homeless people. I snapped this photo of apparently homeless men and their dogs one day in Toulouse.