The Saturday morning market kicked off the day in fine form. It was beautiful weather - calm, warm and sunny. In fact the weather during last week (and also projected for the week coming) has been really summery, with the high reaching about 27-28 degrees during the day, but with nice cooler evenings.
This Saturday, for the first time since we arrived this year I think, some of the local buskers were at the market, instead of confining themselves to tooting in our square below us during lunchtime. The guitarist/clarinetist duo were superb, and and it added a very lively note to the already busy market atmosphere.
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| Saturday morning market, viewed from Le Comptoir café. |
A festival spirit prevailed the next day when we visited a town 40 minutes away called Saint Colombe de la Commanderie. An artist friend of ours from Céret had been invited to exhibit his works at a fete there, so we wanted to drive over and support him. What we didn't realise is that the whole town opens up so that there are artist exhibits in many different rooms and outdoor locations. A roving jazz band provided foot-tapping music.
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| The band playing inside the room where our friend's paintings were exhibited |
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| Large didgeridoos. |
On an adjacent reserve, a group from the regional medieval club put on a display of medieval activities, including string making, chainmail construction, and some extremely vigorous bouts of knights fighting. Though they were wearing full body armour, we think it's likely this would have been what the chevaliers (knights on horses) wore, rather than the foot soldiers. However, it was quickly evident that trying to beat each other up when trussed head to foot was seriously hard work, pretty much like being in a rugby scrum but weighted down with perhaps 25kg of armour. Once someone was knocked to the ground they were effectively cast and couldn't get up again. This made them an easy targets for a sword thrust. We picked up one of the metal helmets - it likely weighed about 5kg and must have felt an incredible weight once strapped on your head. It was a fascinating display to watch.
By midday we were looking for a coffee and something to eat and decided to head to the town of Thuir, just down the road. Thuir was clearly a more prosperous town than Ceret in the early days, built partly on the wealth of a particularly successful winery. Les Caves Byrrh is still a huge force in the town, and has a magnificent chateau and reserve grounds next to its commercial plant. There happened to be a festival on in the reserve when we arrived - a fashion event, and many of the stalls were selling upmarket clothes.
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| Chateau in the park, with a fashion boardwalk set up on the left |
Thuir is a rather lovely town, with plenty of commerce. Being Sunday not much was open today, but it was fun to wander through. Plenty of money has been spent on paving, sculptures and public spaces generally.
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| A fun sculpture in one of Thuir's squares |
