Market Day

Monday, July 17, 2017

Our first full day in the Luberon!  I started my day with a short ride on my rental bike to the village of Roussillon.  Bought a couple of newspapers, a croissant, and a coffee and then headed back to our B&B, Le Mas Perreal.

We had a delicious outdoor breakfast and shared our table with a couple from central Germany.  Eventually our conversation turned to politics and they had some very insightful comments about our president.  They noted, “France has a young president and he appointed experts to all the key cabinet positions, your president just appointed inexperienced millionaires and his relatives.”

After breakfast we headed to market day in Forcalquier, which is about 50 km to the northeast.  It was very crowded, and very hot, 32 C, but lots of fun at the same time.  Joni was ecstatic, and made a few purchases.  On our way out of the market we bought some cheese bread and fruit for a picnic lunch in the tiny hilltop village (aren’t they all hilltop villages) of Reillane.  We found an old bench with a beautiful view of the fields below the village.  

For a dessert we stopped in Cereste for an ice cream at Scaramouche.  Joni's read several books by an American author whose French husband runs the ice cream shop.

Before returning to our B&B we drove along Friday’s Stage 19 Tour route which will go right through the Luberon.  We saw lots of signs noting that the roads will be closed, so we are going to have to be creative when it comes to finding a good viewing spot.

For dinner we met up with our friends from Australia, Matt & Emily Ryan.  We had not seen them in two years so we spent the whole evening catching up as we dined on a wonderful dinner at La Fountaine in nearby Villars.  Sorry Rosemary, we were too busy talking to take any food photos!