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| Cordes-sur-Ciel, France |
Editor’s note: Beth and Steve
Hagman retired nine years ago and moved to Ireland. But after growing weary of the rain in the
Emerald Isle, these former North Parkers have recently taken up residence in
the sunny South of France.
A PRIMEUR—Travel
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| Ex-pat North Parker Steve Hagman visits the first Christmas markets of the year |
A Primeur is the first tasting of this year’s wines, and this year
Gaillac area wines all did theirs last weekend. We have quite a nice family-run
winery in own own village, Domaine Salvy -- we had met the owner on one of our
daily walks and got a personal invitation. We had to walk maybe 100 meters to
their primeur, held in a big modern barn built next to Patrick and Anne’s home
-- their parents live on the other side of the village. The whole family was
there, along with a few vendors (selling crepes, cheeses, pates, honey,
maccarons and chickpea products including flour, bread and oil). There was a
band, and oysters, mini quiches, bites of cheese bread and a local dish of
tripe and potatoes to accompany the wine tasting. When we arrived, there was a
good sized group sipping and singing -- people came from all over, it’s a big
social event as well as an opportunity to taste and buy the new wines. Dave and
Diane Smith (the people we replaced as caretakers) came, and we had a nice chat
with them… We’re still struggling when it comes to carrying on any real
conversation in French, but the local folk have been very forgiving.
Sunday was the first Marche de Noel of the season -- nothing to do with
marching, marche means market. The little towns in the area have small, one-day
Christmas markets, usually on Sunday, while the cities -- Toulouse, Albi and
Carcassonne -- have bigger ones, often extending through Advent. Since we’re
not going to our beloved German markets this year, we’re determined to make the
most of local events.
The first was in Cordes-sur-Ciel (Cordes in the sky) -- one of the
better-known bastide towns in our area, a place we’d been intending to explore.
So we parked at the bottom of the hill and climbed the steep cobbled streets to
the top, where the market is held in a covered square. The walk up (and back
down) through the bastide, with amazing views, interesting old houses and
shops, was the best part of the day. The market itself was very small, and
nothing like a German market. There was one food vendor with some kind of stew and
cake and little plastic cups of hot spiced wine that we liked very much, though
it bears little resemblance to gluwein. The local crafts on display were
uninspired, though there was some nice pottery, a Santa who played Christmas
carols on the saxophone and a lovely honey that we bought after having a taste.
A bastide, by the way, is a walled town built circling the top of hill
for protection, generally during the 12-13th centuries in response to the
raging religious wars of the era. They are similar to the hill towns of
Tuscany, and there are lots of them, though Cordes has maintained its
historical character better than most. It has an inner wall, and then an outer
wall built toward the end of the 13th century, when growing population pressure
required more space.
There are also small walled towns along the Tarn river, different from
the bastides because they are built on the flat, usually on bluffs above the
water. We visited Lisle-sur-Tarn a couple of weeks ago, a walled town on the
river, known for its weekly market in the arcaded square. Full of cats and fun
to walk around, with narrow streets and old stone buildings.
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| Views of Cordes-sur-Ciel, France |
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