Food, wine and beer at the town market. Then a wee tour as temps rise!

Day 6

Food, wine and beer at the town market. Then a wee tour as temps rise!

Stars and stripes. Market hats

There was a superb market, large and with much variety, in Chinon this morning. Food, followed by clothing and footwear, accounted for the major part of the stalls.

Kids eye the sweets

Amazingly, we ended up coming home with a bag of Asian food. The intended main course is Chicken with Black Mushrooms while a couple of enormous Spring Rolls are also included along with two little bags of an orange coloured liquid whose purpose we had to work on.

Mussels!

It seems that the sauce, possibly a ginger based one, is to be paired with the Spring Rolls (below). In any case, the rolls, full of shoots, nuts and chicken bits, wrapped in rice paper and topped with prawns, were absolutely delicious with the slightly spicy sauce. What a starter for two euro each!

Garlic

And the main course, the Chicken with Black mushrooms, was incredible. So tasty, especially with the savoury rice from the same stall. Getting worried here as CL is beginning to clear her plate before I do. 

Mother and Child in St Martin's

These two courses underline what I’ve been preaching the past few years about the value of markets and traiteurs in France. One of our best meals so far cost us just over seventeen euro, twenty two if you add the lovely bottle of Vouvray, also bought in the market. Don’t know what the strawberries cost but they are for desert.

The morning wasn't the warmest but the temperatures rose as the day went on and I spotted it reach 31 degrees in the car. Our terrace, sheltered on three sides, goes even higher, so a mid-day visit to the pool was necessary.

Nuclear power

In the afternoon, we headed for the lovely village of Candes St Martin and its ancient church where the saint died. A tough walk in the conditions took us to a magnificent viewpoint over the confluence of the Vienne and Loire Rivers and the view also included the local Nuclear Powered Electricity Plant from which lines of enormous pylons march through the vineyards.

River trip on the Vienne. The bit of sand behind separates it from the Loire,
though the two rivers soon join to your left

Over the river then and on to the wine area of Bourgueil and to St Nicolas de Bourgueil in particular. Here we called to the recommended Caveau des Vigernons and bought our first bottles of the local red (made from Cabernet Franc, just like neighbouring Chinon) and also booked a table in their restaurant for tomorrow evening.

St Nicolas de Bourgueil.
A roundabout.