Kathy's France report in installments: Menerbes, Provence and the Apt Market
Jul 5th, 2003, 11:08 AM
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Kathy's France report in installments: Menerbes, Provence and the Apt Market
We spent 6 glorious nights at a home in Menerbes. This was a home exchange arranged by my sister. I've read with interest the "Provence is overrated" thread... Being first-timers to France and Europe, I had nothing to compare it to. I fell in love with Provence and didn't want to leave. I'm at a loss for words to describe it, but I'll try.
The countryside was gorgeous - I couldn't get enough of the lavender fields, vineyards, rows of cherry trees, hills, valleys, etc. We are nature lovers and this kind of nature was new to us.
Menerbes itself is a wonderfully quaint and friendly town. Our home was perfect for the two of us and my sister's family of 4. We spent mornings and evenings on our deck off the kitchen overlooking the Luberon. We were steps away from the "center ville" which in Menberbes consisted of 3 or 4 restaurants, a couple of gift shops, a small gallery, a boulangerie, patisserie, boucherie (and maybe another "erie" of some sort) and an indoor/outdoor bar with great views of the countryside.
One of my favorite memories will always be the night we discovered we had no wine to go with the fancy home cooked dinner we'd spent the day planning and anticipating. Oh no! No wine! So Dan and I walked up the street hoping that the stores that sold wine were still open. They weren't. Well, we saw that the boulangerie was just closing and we peeked in to ask the woman there if she knew where we could purchase some wine. Actually, I couldn't think of the French words for "Do you know where we could find a bottle of wine to purchase." I think what I said tranlated to "Excuse me, please, ma'am. I am so sorry. Where is wine bottle?"
Anyway, we couldn't tell if this woman knew what we'd asked for, but she was gesturing and trying to explain something to us on her way back into the store. She came out with a key and crossed the road to a wooden door. As we were standing there somewhat guilt-ridden for having interrupted her, she came out with a bottle of wine and a big smile on her face. She asked for $4.50 and after smiles and "merci, merci boucoup, bonsoir, au revior" we were off with our treasured bottle of Cotes de Provence rose'. Later we decided that in France it must be an unthinkable circumstance to be without wine for dinner. (Or maybe we just found a way to justify our indulgence!)
We settled in easily to the relaxed pace of Menerbes, to the point where we found ourselves commenting on the tourist traffic of the day... "Oh, I see we have some visitors today," we'd say. Most were much more fashionably dressed than we were. After all, there was no need to dress up just for a short hike up to the bakery for our daily baguettes and mini-quiche.
We drove to the Saturday Apt market our first morning in Provence. One of my guide books commented that everyone talks about doing this, but no one has anything particularly good to say about it. I found that amusing... I enjoyed the market, but again, I've not experienced such a thing before and I was enchanted. Stand after stand of sausage,(not your average Jimmy Dean variety) olives, olive oil, lavendar products, local original watercolors and oil paintings, colorful Provencal fabrics, fruits and vegetables of all varieties, etc., lined the skinny winding streets of Apt.
I did enjoy this market, but I enjoyed the smaller, more intimate markets at the other hill-towns better... I'm not sure why. Maybe because parking presented a greater challenge in Apt.
The countryside was gorgeous - I couldn't get enough of the lavender fields, vineyards, rows of cherry trees, hills, valleys, etc. We are nature lovers and this kind of nature was new to us.
Menerbes itself is a wonderfully quaint and friendly town. Our home was perfect for the two of us and my sister's family of 4. We spent mornings and evenings on our deck off the kitchen overlooking the Luberon. We were steps away from the "center ville" which in Menberbes consisted of 3 or 4 restaurants, a couple of gift shops, a small gallery, a boulangerie, patisserie, boucherie (and maybe another "erie" of some sort) and an indoor/outdoor bar with great views of the countryside.
One of my favorite memories will always be the night we discovered we had no wine to go with the fancy home cooked dinner we'd spent the day planning and anticipating. Oh no! No wine! So Dan and I walked up the street hoping that the stores that sold wine were still open. They weren't. Well, we saw that the boulangerie was just closing and we peeked in to ask the woman there if she knew where we could purchase some wine. Actually, I couldn't think of the French words for "Do you know where we could find a bottle of wine to purchase." I think what I said tranlated to "Excuse me, please, ma'am. I am so sorry. Where is wine bottle?"
Anyway, we couldn't tell if this woman knew what we'd asked for, but she was gesturing and trying to explain something to us on her way back into the store. She came out with a key and crossed the road to a wooden door. As we were standing there somewhat guilt-ridden for having interrupted her, she came out with a bottle of wine and a big smile on her face. She asked for $4.50 and after smiles and "merci, merci boucoup, bonsoir, au revior" we were off with our treasured bottle of Cotes de Provence rose'. Later we decided that in France it must be an unthinkable circumstance to be without wine for dinner. (Or maybe we just found a way to justify our indulgence!)
We settled in easily to the relaxed pace of Menerbes, to the point where we found ourselves commenting on the tourist traffic of the day... "Oh, I see we have some visitors today," we'd say. Most were much more fashionably dressed than we were. After all, there was no need to dress up just for a short hike up to the bakery for our daily baguettes and mini-quiche.
We drove to the Saturday Apt market our first morning in Provence. One of my guide books commented that everyone talks about doing this, but no one has anything particularly good to say about it. I found that amusing... I enjoyed the market, but again, I've not experienced such a thing before and I was enchanted. Stand after stand of sausage,(not your average Jimmy Dean variety) olives, olive oil, lavendar products, local original watercolors and oil paintings, colorful Provencal fabrics, fruits and vegetables of all varieties, etc., lined the skinny winding streets of Apt.
I did enjoy this market, but I enjoyed the smaller, more intimate markets at the other hill-towns better... I'm not sure why. Maybe because parking presented a greater challenge in Apt.
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