Le Marché Provençal

Every Saturday morning, the girls and I head out to visit Le Marché Provençal which is about a five-minute walk from our apartment.  This is probably one of my favourite weekly activities as I love shopping for the amazing produce and I also enjoy the social interactions as I make my purchases.  One thing Ginger and I have discovered during our time in France is that the quality of produce is far superior to the produce that we purchase in Canada.  The supermarkets here have relatively high-quality produce but the stands at our local Marché provide multiple delights when it comes to preparing our evening meals.  

We first visited Antibes' Marché six years ago when we travelled to Antibes for Easter weekend.  The market made quite the impression as we discovered what it meant to visit the French Riviera.  I didn't take a photo at the time but the price per kilo for out of season cherries was just under one hundred dollars.  Needless to say, I did not purchase any cherries on that Saturday morning, six years ago.  When we first moved to Antibes, I was worried that the local marché was geared more to tourists, and a teacher on a sabbatical year would be priced out of the local asparagus market.  My concerns were thankfully unfounded as I have found one fruit and vegetable stall that has very reasonable prices and a friendly family that runs the stall.

Lily and Grace are always a great help when it comes to selecting prime fruit and vegetables.

My family always laughs about the time I came home from school and told them that I had described myself to my colleagues as being an introvert.  I am coming around to the possibility that maybe I am indeed an extrovert.  Besides my friends at tennis, my social interactions in Antibes are limited to my weekly visits to the market and the various cafés and shops I frequent.  Grace has been keeping tabs on the various people I talk to in Antibes and she has compiled a list of my top 10 friends in Antibes.

This young man (even though I don't know his name) made the list and I have to say that I look forward to buying my produce from him each Saturday.

You can't quite make it out but he is always sporting a baseball cap from the defunct Vancouver Grizzlies.  That was an obvious lead-in to our first "real" conversation that we had.  We regularly talk about our various activities from the week and sometimes he will even give me a new fruit to sample.  I came home one Saturday and proudly displayed the half-rotten mango that my friend had given me that morning.  That was a big step in our friendship.  

Here are some other photos from our morning at the market:

Lily and Grace love buying a block of Parmigiano to nibble on throughout the week. 

The green cheese is Tomme Fermier Basilic.  I now feel that I need to try it next week.

These beautiful bouquets were only seven dollars.

Here is our saucisson and cheese stall that we go to.  This is one staple that we will miss when we leave.