Market day

Like most French towns, Quillan has an open-air market where vendors sell fresh food, clothing, books, even tools and furniture. It's one of the country's attractions for us. Quillan's second of the week was today. After Paulita's run and my walk up the hiking path and back, we strolled down to the market. We weren't planning to buy a lot of stuff. We had food for lunch at our apartment and had cancelled dinner reservations  at ''the best'' restaurant in town, a meal likely to cost 75 euro (About $80) or more.

Today's market/patisserie haul. (Wine excluded.)

Then we came upon the vendor selling rotisserie chicken. That would make a fine lunch and we could save the cold cuts we planned to have  for later. 8 euros for the chicken to go along with a can of beans I had bought at the grocery. Then a woman selling cheese called Paulita over to try a sample. It was good and would go well with the chicken. 3 euros. We decided to buy two apples for hiking snacks. Another 1,5 euro. A tomato would go well with the sandwiches we make sometime. Way less than a euro. A Lebanese couple was selling treats they bake. Loved the samples. 2 euros for a variety pack we could take on a hike.

On the way home we stopped at the patisserie for a baguette of Qullianaise, a local specialty bread. On the shelf were an eclair cafe and a "cookie maison"  that needed homes. 4 euros.

The lunch was good and we'll have either leftover chicken or sandwiches for dinner. That's if we have dinner. Two meals a day (including pastries for breakfast) usually is enough for us, especially being in retirement/vacation mode.

We'll try the expensive restaurant tomorrow for lunch.

The lesson here is always bring a bag to the market, even if you don't plan to buy a thing.