Saturday 5th November - Sommieres, France

Today is market day in Sommieres, a small town just 7km from Congenies.  When we first arrived in Congenies we really enjoyed cycling along the voie vert into Sommieres.  On that occasion we set off quite late in the day so only had time for a couple of beers in one of the riverside cafes, but we promised ourselves that we would come back again for a longer visit.  Unfortunately, the weather forecast predicted rain today (a quite unusual occurrence around here) so we went to Sommieres market by car rather than by bike.

There is a medieval walled old town with shops and archways. The river Vidourle regularly floods Sommieres and there are flood marks as high as the second storey on some the the walls in the market square.  There is apparently an exhibition to the memory of Lawrence Durrell who lived in Sommieres from 1957 to his death in 1990, but we never got a chance to investigate this.  We were also told that the the thing to do at Sommieres market is to buy fresh oysters and take them to one of the cafes to eat with bread and wine but, sadly, there were no oysters on sale today.

         

                    A rainy day at Sommieres Market                                                                      One of seven archways into the town square

  Looking in from one of the archways

We were very tempted by something that took our eye in one of the shop windows, but there was no price on him.  He seemed oblivious to the fact that he was attracting so much attention and simply shifted his pose from time to time, tucked his paws under his chin and went back to sleep.

 
                 How much is that doggy in the window?

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