One of my favorite days when I lived in Vic Fezensac, in the SW region of France known as the "Gers", the ancient name of which is Gascony, was spent driving the thirty minutes to Condom. From my cottage it was a wonderful drive through ancient woods, past vineyards and small farms, crossing a few lovely streams, viewing ancient church spires in the distance and enjoying the beauty of this area of France which was my home for seven months.
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| A view on my drive to Condom |
The main purpose of my drive was the restaurant called "Le Balcon" adjacent to the cathedral. I discovered this wonderful restaurant on my very first visit to Condom the September that I arrived at the cottage. Their summer menu was still available it included numerous crèpes, my favorite being the "jambon et fromage" - ham and cheese. Followed by the "crèpe au chocolat" - chocolate dessert crepe which I sometimes had with vanilla ice cream. My mouth is watering just thinking about how much I enjoyed that lunch.
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| Taken from inside "Le Balcon" with a view of the cathedral |
I had a "carte bleu" which allowed me to park my car in front of the cathedral in the spaces marked with blue. If you parked in one of those spaces without putting your blue parking card on your dashboard you would get a ticket. The parking card only costs one euro in any local store and you can use it in any town in France! Granted, you're only supposed to be there for an hour (there's a little clock on the card that you set showing when you parked), but I noticed no one seemed to check as long as they saw the blue card.
So, with my blue card on the dashboard I could park right in front of the cathedral and walk right up to the restaurant. It was called the balcony restaurant because it was located on the second floor of the ancient building and the on the side that faced the cathedral there were small balconies where, in the warmer months, you could sit at a small table in the sunshine. When Fall had officially arrived, the savory crèpes disappeared from the menu for which I was quite sad. Until, I realized that their daily specials were fabulous.
One of the things I love most about the French is their desire to eat locally and with the freshest possible foods. The chef (and owner) at this restaurant had two specials on offer every day and it was to your advantage to choose one of these. They had a fixed menu, but the specials were always wonderful and never cost more than $15 (approximately), bread basket included. And then I usually got the chocolate crèpe for dessert!
After lunch I would visit the cathedral. I never tired of seeing this magnificent 16th century structure. It's quite amazing that it survived the wars of religion in the 17th century and then the Revolution in the 18th century. Both of those conflicts were strong in this area of France. The 19th century restorers added the beautifully carved stone enclosure around the choir as well as replacing the damaged stained glass windows. I'm not sure when the statue of the Musketeers appeared in the courtyard, but I think it's great that the French celebrate their culture wherever it may be found!
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| The Four Musketeers - d'Artagnan was a Gascon! |
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| The beautiful carved choir inside the cathedral |
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| The cathedral and square as seen from the restaurant |
This cathedral is one of the stops on the road to Santiago de Compostela in Spain and there are pamphlets and maps available for the modern day pilgrims who travel along this route in SW France.
From here it's south to and through the Pyrenées mountains for those determined souls.
After a visit to the cathedral and once the shops had opened back up after lunch (all shops are closed between noon and two), I enjoyed walking down the pedestrian only street to the little book/stationary shop decorated with a drawing of a cat. The older lady who owned the shop was delightful and I could always find something I liked - paper, pens, bookmarks, journals. On the way to this delightful shop I would stop and read the signs in the window of the local realtor's office. Just to see what was for sale and dream . . .
Then it was back to my car and a stop at a chain store on the edge of town called "GIFI". The best way to describe this store is to call it a small version of a Bed, Bath and Beyond. They have everything for your house, but also an auto section and a pet section. I loved going in there to wander around and see what I could find. They have seasonal decorations also and I was surprised to see a huge section for Halloween, a celebration that has never been big in France. They don't have trick-or-treat, but I guess Halloween parties are becoming popular.
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| Halloween decorations inside the GIFI store |
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| Springtime decorations appeared in March |
On the road between Condom and my cottage stands an amazing abbey founded by the Cistercians in the 12th century. It is called the Abbaye de Flaran and is amazing for many reasons! First, just the fact that it is still standing in its entirety since the Middle Ages! It is set against the woods with a nearby river and you can imagine how life must have been for the monks who lived there. After you buy your $5.00 ticket inside the courtyard you enter a small interactive video room where you can watch short presentations of multiple areas of interest in this region. That alone is quite impressive, but set inside this nine hundred year old building is quite unexpected and wonderful.
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| The church at the abbey |
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| The courtyard of the abbey |
You can wander at your leisure and follow your written guide (many languages are available when you buy your ticket) spending as much time as you want in each room or division of the abbey. The builders of the chapter house reused Roman columns from and nearby temple! You can go inside the kitchen and imagine what it was like to cook here. As there is no heat anywhere in the abbey except the kitchen, I decided I would be quite happy to be a cook!
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| The closest column is Roman |
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| The cloister |
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| The kitchen. Looks warm! |
The church is impressive and is the only place I have visited in Europe where you can see the masons' marks that they left on each stone. It has a very tall vaulted ceiling that always makes me want to sing something just to hear the acoustics!
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| Stones showing the mason marks |
Then you go upstairs to something totally unexpected. The monks' dormitories are now rooms filled with art. Not just any art, but there are paintings by Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, Rembrandt and sculptures by Dali! All this for $5!!! They also support local artists and allow them to hang their paintings in the main gallery. I love this place!
I miss days like this. As Facebook reminded me of my last few days in France two years ago, it made me a bit melancholy thinking of everything I loved about life in that little corner of France. I wanted to share this particular day with all of you. I visited Condom at least three times a month. I have other favorite days that I will share with you on future blog posts. I'm happy to be back in Colorado, but a big part of my heart and soul will always be in France. Thank you for letting me share this with all of you.
