marché mirepoix

Yesterday, we drove out to the nearby town of Mirepoix to check out their weekly outdoor market. It's a sprawling jumble of stalls in an arcaded market square, beneath thick, dark beams of wood holding up houses as old as the 13th century.

We bought cheeses, vegetables, cured meat, strawberries, and brioche roti. I also bought a handmade leather belt from a man who made jokes with European cultural references that went over my head. And we looked inside the local cathedral before we left.

Our next stop was a tiny town called Vals (population 93) to see the Église semi-rupestre Notre-Dame de Vals. It's a stone church built into the rock of the hill, with a narrow cave leading up to the main entrance and murals dating back to the 12th century. We ate lunch at the little restaurant in an alley across the street, where I ordered a roasted camembert (just a full round of melty cheese drizzled in honey, with a side of fries) and Snap got a salad.