The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
The Market Comes to Town

We are big fans of the street markets in Europe. Particularly in smaller towns with limited commercial outlets or where local residents have limited ability to travel, the weekly arrival of vendors selling everything from meats, fish, cheese and fresh produce to clothing and hardware is a welcome opportunity to replenish personal stores. It is also a community social event, where conversations with otherwise more house-bound friends gives everyone a reason to be out there.

L'Isle in unique in my experience in that it has two markets a week rather than just one. The Thursday market is the smaller of the two and does not include the antiques that show up on Sunday. It is also unique in that it is set up all through the town rather than just in a parking lot or central plaza.

It was a real treat to just be able to walk two blocks from the apartment and find ourselves in the thick of it rather than search endlessly for a parking place! The winter market appeared to be quite a bit smaller than what we've seen here in warmer weather, but there was still an impressive array of fresh produce, cheeses and household necessities.


The morning was partially sunny, a nice change from the high overcast earlier in the week. We wandered through the market, picked up cheese, paella and pastries. The warmer weather brought out the town and the sidewalk cafes were packed We settled into one by the church to linger over coffee while listening to an excellent jazz guitarist. All in all, a very civilized day!


A French candy store is closer to an art gallery than the small shops full of penny candy we knew as kids. The merchants seem to have a wonderful sense of both style and whimsy. Note the way this boot shop called attention to what it had to offer. Yes, we are heading into winter and most of the leaves are off the trees, but you can see the promise of springtime even in dormant fountains and magical courtyards still entice you to come in and explore. You won't find any of this in your local shopping mall! One other cool thing is that all the trash is collected below ground. Drop your debris into these chutes and it is all collected in underground bins that I assume are then emptied by some sort of truck. I'll have to keep an eye out to see how it's done.


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