Our Mid Life Crisis Gap Year: Uzes

The best time to see many villages and towns is when there are a few people (not thousands like in tourist season) around and there is a bit of a buzz going on. This is why we love going to places when there is a market on........at least 95% of the people appear to be local, so you really get to experience a slice of French life.

So we are continually looking out for market days, it is full of locals going about their food shopping, clothes shopping, and just generally getting on with life, and market days always brings them out in numbers.

So today we made the short 30 kilometre trip to Uzes and its big market that is spread through the old town. We had read that many considered this market to be one of the best in the area so we were really looking forward to it.

We parked just outside of the walls of the old town and walked the very short distance into the town centre. Being a nice sunny day the light reflected from the light coloured stonework of the buildings and gave all the streets a lovely feeling.

Wlaking Through The Old Town To The Centre

Very shortly we came out into one of the tree-lined streets full of market stalls and cafes, and once they started they never seemed to finish...this was one very big market, and a town full of great little cafes.

Cafes and Stalls

Never Ending Stalls

This market had everything....clothes, shoes (not those dreaded French slippers), all types of foods, wines, seafood, olives.....this list could fill this post, it was great. Most streets seemed to have stalls in it, many were extensions of the shops that they sat out in front.

Beautiful Squares

Hidden behind all of the trees and the market stalls were some wonderful buildings that nearly went unnoticed

Wonderful Looking Church

Medieval Tower

Medieval Arches

Beautiful Old French Building

Every so often the lanes would open up into squares just full of people sitting in cafes and shopping at the market stalls.

Cafes and Stalls Shared Space In Small Squares

The larger sqaures were just heaving with the amount of stalls that were crammed into them.

Every Inch Of Each Square Was Full

The quality of the food was great, very fresh. The air was full of the smells of fresh fruits and vegetables, cheeses, cooking meats, cafe meals....it was wonderful, but I am sure the air was full of calories just waiting to jump on our hips!!!

The Cheese Stalls Smelled Wonderful

Fresh Food All Over

But it was not just the market stalls that made Uzes swing into life, the buzz was also coming from all of the wonderful shops that sat just behind them...I am sure Lesley could easily have filled half a dozen suitcases full of goodies if she was allowed to.

Lesley In Her Version Of Heaven!

Great Little Wine Cave

We finally stopped for lunch at a great looking little bar....now what we have learnt about France that we really like is the following...we wanted to have something to eat at this bar, however it does not sell food, so you are allowed to buy food elsewhere and eat it at your table at the bar. So we ordered a few Pastis to drink, and then got a stall owner who was serving up fresh seafood to bring us a dozen large, fresh oysters....now that was a nice lunch.