Last Day in Provence

Yesterday, we took our good friends, Brian and Greg, to the train station in Avignon so that they could catch their train to Paris. We so enjoyed our holiday with them and look forward to hearing about the rest of their trip when we meet up with them again in Edmonton. On our last day in Provence, Keith and I thought we'd head west to the market in Buis les Baronnies. We hadn't gone in that direction previously and the countryside was so beautiful. About 15 minutes outside of Mirabel we noticed a pretty hilltop village called Faucon. It was still early so we turned in. What a find! We both liked it more than some of the other places we've visited on the list of most beautiful villages in France. It was quiet, authentic and filled with delightful surprises. First was the boulangerie. As we walked in, we saw a woman busy making a fresh strawberry tart while talking to someone in the back. She told us that all the bread was made by hand by the boulangère who was the gentleman she had been talking to. Then we noticed all the beautiful tarts and biscuits which are also made on the premises. As good as they looked, we only bought a baguette which really was exceptional. Believe it or not, there are significant differences in the quality of the baguettes. Nowadays, many of the boulangeries bring in frozen baguettes made in a factory and then just cook them in the boulangeries. Below are pictures of some the homemade tarts, both sweet and savoury.

Once we left the boulangerie, we took a walk around the town. It was positively charming. There were old ruins with colourful flowers growing out of the walls....

churches and chapels.....

beautiful homes and gardens....

.......spectacular views of the countryside 

.. and animal life. These horses were eating grasses and plants in the front yard of this home. You can see the patio table on the right.

France still has public telephone booths. I haven't seen one quite like this though.

There was a very nice restaurant in the village called Le Laurier where we thought we would stop to have lunch. My entrée was a velouté de chou-fleur with proscuitto and parmesan shavings.

Keith opted for the foie gras de canard.

My plat was cabillaud (cod-like fish) with "je ne sais quoi", but it tasted good.

Keith had the agneau (lamb)with fresh vegetables cooked to perfection, pumpkin purée and polenta.

For dessert, he had a combination of a pureed pear with chantilly in the shooter glass, a chocolate gâteau and a scoop of cherry sorbet on a crushed biscuit. Of course, I had a bite of everything and they were all excellent.

By the way, the crisp white wine we had with our meal was superb. It was made from grapes that came from the field just diagonal to the restaurant. Here is Keith looking pretty comfortable post déjeuner.

We had invited Juliette, our lovely host and owner of the gîtes over for happy hour. We wanted to get back to Mirabel to do a bit of packing before she arrived, so we headed back. What a beautiful spot!