Mirabel-aux-Baronnies

After travelling all day yesterday, we thought we would take it easy, sleep in a bit and then walk down to the heart of our local village for a reconnoitre. Within minutes of our arrival, we met a rather gregarious gent on the street who happened to love Canadians. When he found out that we we were looking for a place to have coffee, he insisted that we join him for a drink. He seemed to know everyone in town and was kind enough to buy us drinks. 

My new best friend,Jean-Paul, with the boys. Here we are drinking wine and pastis at 10:30 a.m.

Once we finished "smoko", we gave our thanks and said good-bye to Jean-Paul. Just down the street, we found a great little épicerie and boulangerie so we picked up what we needed for dinner. I do love shopping for fresh food daily. 

Then we started to wander. This woman had a great garden. Remember that it is only April 1. We saw her sitting on her terrace and commented on her beautiful garden. She seemed to be most pleased.

I have no idea what bush this is, but I just love the red berries. I'll have to consult someone at Greenland nursery once I get back to Edmonton.

As with most of these old and beautiful hilltop villages, there are stone archways, narrow streets of cobblestone, interesting doors, windows and gates. Here are some of those features in Mirabel-aux-Baronnies.

I believe this is called le trompe d'oeil - a style of painting that gives the illusion of being real. It was painted on the side of one of the homes.

Although this isn't a great shot (mostly legs using the timer setting), we were just sitting down to another wonderful, simple meal at our gîte. Tomorrow, we are travelling south again to visit more of Les Beaux Villages. Stay posted.