I also felt a bit like an ancient ruin once we had climbed up to the top of the hill!
Jean inspecting bits of the Sommieres Castle 
The view from the Delices du Liban - Sommieres - highly recommended I don’t know what it is about sitting around a table with a group of people, nibbling on pieces of spicy Lebanese bread, sipping a very pleasant white wine and slurping down the occasional oyster. Is it the sunshine and the ebb and flow of the people wandering through the market? Is it the delight in suddenly being able to understand everything that is going on? Or is it that it is France on a Saturday lunchtime, and we have discovered where many of the local Brits and other assorted ex pats gather to swap news and views.
Thanks to a kindly email from Peter Holby who runs the very excellent Languedoc Pages website, we had gone off to the market in Sommieres today, partly to hunt for sacristans (in which we were unsuccessful because the queue at the bakery was too long) and partly to climb up to the castle on top of the hill (in which we were successful, despite the fact that we took the tough route straight up through the woods, instead of walking up the gently sloping road). It was only when we came back down into the centre of the busy market town that we realised we were standing outside Le Delices du Liban and I remembered that Peter had said that he would be there around midday.
In the past, we had arrived at the market early and were usually gone by 11am, but thanks to a slow start this morning and our energetic clamber up the hillside to visit the castle, we were still there as lunchtime approached and realised that not only was the market a great place to shop, but that every restaurant and bar was filled to overflowing, and the tables and chairs set up outside every available provider of food and drink were jammed with people.
From the moment that Peter arrived, it was as though the focal point of some sort of amoeba had placed itself at the table, and from then on, there was a steady flow of cheerful folks, some of whom sat and ate oysters, some of whom exchanged a quick word and moved on, and others who generally milled about greeting old friends and making new acquaintances. I couldn’t remember the last time that I had so enjoyed a casual lunchtime get-together with the chance to meet new people. The wine flowed and the countries represented by the various ex-pats seemed to expand at the same pace. Brits seemed to be in the ascendancy but they were divided into permanents and holiday-home owners. There seemed to be a fair number of Swedes, a Scot or two and some French spouses. English and French were spoken seamlessly, and the Lebanese couple who ran the restaurant were kept on their toes with the non-stop orders for platters of oysters and refilled pichets of wine.
In addition to meeting Peter and hearing more about his association with the informative “Le Thirty Four” magazine, I was also delighted to meet with Laurence Boxall who is the editor of The Languedoc Sun magazine. Her husband is the President of Brit Nimes, and within the hour, I ceased to feel in any way cut off from my fellow English compatriots, and realised that if we were prepared to make the effort to get out and about and enjoy the many things that are on offer in the region, we could once again have the sort of social life that we had enjoyed in southern Africa.
I was glad that Jean was behind the wheel as we drove home via Saussines.
The views of the old village and the expanse of vineyards that surrounded it was definitely enhanced through a gentle haze of rosé wine. Peter had explained that Saussines used to be on the main route from Montpellier to Sommieres, but now with the main route bypassing it, the village is well off the beaten track. I can tell you that there is no way on earth that our delivery truck from the other day would have made it through the centre. I found myself breathing in slightly as we threaded our way past the church and the Mairie, hoping that nobody in a hurry would be coming in the opposite direction.
So what with castles, unexpected new friends and a glimpse of yet another beautiful village, I didn’t even mind that we came away empty handed with regards to the sacristans. It would be greedy to expect to have everything on the same day now wouldn’t it!
Thanks to a kindly email from Peter Holby who runs the very excellent Languedoc Pages website, we had gone off to the market in Sommieres today, partly to hunt for sacristans (in which we were unsuccessful because the queue at the bakery was too long) and partly to climb up to the castle on top of the hill (in which we were successful, despite the fact that we took the tough route straight up through the woods, instead of walking up the gently sloping road). It was only when we came back down into the centre of the busy market town that we realised we were standing outside Le Delices du Liban and I remembered that Peter had said that he would be there around midday.
In the past, we had arrived at the market early and were usually gone by 11am, but thanks to a slow start this morning and our energetic clamber up the hillside to visit the castle, we were still there as lunchtime approached and realised that not only was the market a great place to shop, but that every restaurant and bar was filled to overflowing, and the tables and chairs set up outside every available provider of food and drink were jammed with people.
From the moment that Peter arrived, it was as though the focal point of some sort of amoeba had placed itself at the table, and from then on, there was a steady flow of cheerful folks, some of whom sat and ate oysters, some of whom exchanged a quick word and moved on, and others who generally milled about greeting old friends and making new acquaintances. I couldn’t remember the last time that I had so enjoyed a casual lunchtime get-together with the chance to meet new people. The wine flowed and the countries represented by the various ex-pats seemed to expand at the same pace. Brits seemed to be in the ascendancy but they were divided into permanents and holiday-home owners. There seemed to be a fair number of Swedes, a Scot or two and some French spouses. English and French were spoken seamlessly, and the Lebanese couple who ran the restaurant were kept on their toes with the non-stop orders for platters of oysters and refilled pichets of wine.
In addition to meeting Peter and hearing more about his association with the informative “Le Thirty Four” magazine, I was also delighted to meet with Laurence Boxall who is the editor of The Languedoc Sun magazine. Her husband is the President of Brit Nimes, and within the hour, I ceased to feel in any way cut off from my fellow English compatriots, and realised that if we were prepared to make the effort to get out and about and enjoy the many things that are on offer in the region, we could once again have the sort of social life that we had enjoyed in southern Africa.
I was glad that Jean was behind the wheel as we drove home via Saussines.
The views of the old village and the expanse of vineyards that surrounded it was definitely enhanced through a gentle haze of rosé wine. Peter had explained that Saussines used to be on the main route from Montpellier to Sommieres, but now with the main route bypassing it, the village is well off the beaten track. I can tell you that there is no way on earth that our delivery truck from the other day would have made it through the centre. I found myself breathing in slightly as we threaded our way past the church and the Mairie, hoping that nobody in a hurry would be coming in the opposite direction.
So what with castles, unexpected new friends and a glimpse of yet another beautiful village, I didn’t even mind that we came away empty handed with regards to the sacristans. It would be greedy to expect to have everything on the same day now wouldn’t it!
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