My first full day in France’s Gers region yesterday; I spent the morning in nearby Fleurance where it was market day in the town centre.
Fleurance is dangerously close to where my Aunt Liz lives, and I think she often goes there on market day. I didn’t bump in to her. I did wonder if an air raid siren which went off was the town’s way of letting everyone know she had arrived in town!!
The market in Fleurance is centred on the main square in the town, as well as many of the streets coming off the square. There’s just about everything on sale there: Lots of fresh produce – fruit, veg, fresh meat, cheese, breads, cooked food as well, as well as clothes, hats, scarves, jewllery – everything you’d expect from a market.
I bought a baguette and some ham and cheese to make some lunch with and had lunch back at Lectoure.
After lunch I had a walk around Lectoure; A quick visit to the tourist office, a look around the church and a walk around the ramparts of the town.
In the evening I got in the car and headed for Toulouse. In the city centre there is a very good Christmas Market on 7 days a week up to and including Christmas Day.
I parked at the Argolets metro station where there is a large car park and it is just a 10-15 minute Metro ride away from Capitole, the square in which the bulk of the city’s Christmas market is located.
I enjoyed walking around looking at the different stalls (more than 90 of them!), watching people doing the ice skating (not everyone was very good at it), listening to the music – and hearing fans of the Moroccan football team go absolutely nuts. They beat Spain.
On the roads in Toulouse, Moroccan fans waved flags from their cars and beeped their horns at every opportunity (it was loud). In the square, they sang. Loudly. There’s some great video footage of the celebrations on the French news website actu.fr.
As the Christmas Market closed I returned to the car and drove round to the airport (only a 20 minute drive) to pick Mum up, then it was back to Lectoure for a late dinner.
Breakfast time now and then we’ll figure out what to do today 🙂
FH.
