market day

Saturday: Arles

Posted on by Susan

Saturday is market day in Arles and the amount of vendors selling everything imaginable is huge. There are baked goods, paella, chicken turning on a rotisserie, and many kinds of fish. Clothing, books, and household supplies are all there, and so are fruits and vegetables. I walked straight down the street for a half hour and still saw more sellers.

I bought a French language Little House on the Prairie and another book that the kind bookseller proudly found for me – a book in English. Not that I needed any more reading material.

We had apple pastries and coffee at the market, then headed to the Arles Archaelogical Museum, where a Roman barge from 50 A.D. was excavated from the Rhone River about 15 years ago. It was hard to believe the boat was found in such great shape although it required three solid years of intense work to preserve and reassemble it.

There was a small Christmas parade through the streets later in the evening, with a horse, bagpipes, Santa, and a snowman who encouraged ne to pose with him and his bear friend.


photos: at the Christmas parade; the Arles-Rhone 3 barge; spices for sale at the market

Thursday: Cherasco

Posted on by Susan

Today we visited Cherasco, the self-proclaimed snail capital of Italy and also a big chocolate/hazelnut town. They say they were the first to add hazelnuts to chocolate, and okay – we will believe it.

The small town is charming and of course like the entire Piedmont area, very old. Thursday turns out to be the market day in Cherasco, so everyone was out and about. We checked out their ancient and beautiful church, strolled around the town, and had a delicious lunch. I had to have lumache (snails) and was glad I did.

We drove to Alba on some back roads – the long way – to take in the perfect views in this part of Italy.


photos: snails for lunch❤

the ornate ceiling insiijs the church in town; market day beyond the arch

Wednesday: Saluzzo

Posted on by Susan

We drove to Saluzzo today, a medieval city that is about an hour from where we are staying. The fog was very thick when we started, but as we drove up in the mountains a bit it became much clearer.

We got to Saluzzo on their big market day and many roads were closed off in the center of the city. We drove around for a while before finding parking on a side street – it seemed that everyone in Saluzzo was at the market.

We checked out what they were selling: meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, and clothing, shoes, household items. The market was similar to the one in Alba on Saturday, but still fun to walk around.

We had wanted to tour La Castiglia, a castle there, but it was not open today. The ancient church was closed for a funeral. No matter – it was still quite a beautiful town to walk around. We bought some tomatoes and a couple kiwis.

We had lunch at a busy restaurant with a fantastic buffet. Again, it seemed as though everyone in town was there. We headed back to Alba after buying a few bakery treats at a forno – a bakery – we walked past as we went back to our car.


photos: the ancient city; at the market; decorated streets for a festival this weekend