We made a day trip to Narbonne. (To be honest: we made 2 day trips to Narbonne during the last weeks … there’s quite a lot to see & to visit or just to relax at the Canale de la Robine.)
The main landmarks are the unfinished cathedral Saint-Just et Saint-Pasteur and the adjoining Palace of the Archbishop. From the channel you’ll only get a view of the towers.
Another very interesting landmark is the Marché, the food hall resp. market hall, a rather vast building, home to stalls filled w/ fresh vegetables & fruit, bread & cakes, wine & olives, meat, fish, seafood … whatever to imagine. Walking down the aisles is a breathtaking adventure! (Be sure: I would have filled lots of bags w/ these delicacies, but … unfortunately reminding me of our tiny kitchen and … I backed off.)
Our sightseeing in Narbonne started – of course – w/ the cathedral & the archbishop’s palace.
The cathedral was built in the 12th & 13th century – they started building the monument. However, during the next decades there were some challenges: financial problems, the Hundred Years’ War, the plague … & quarrels in the administration of the city among each other & with the clergy. So this gorgeous cathedral was never finished.
The palace of the archbishop, however, was …
Narbonne dates back to the Roman Empire & was founded as Colonia Narbo Martius. The Roman road Via Domitia leads crosses Narbonne … & in front of the town hall there is a part of this ancient road to be seen.
We also went down into the Horreum, a rather vast Roman underground magazine … So you guess how important Narbonne was as a centre of trade.
Today Narbonne is a colorful city w/ beautiful old houses, cafés, bistros … whatever … where you may walk leisurely for some time.
Coming now to the pasta …
We came home somewhat later & exhausted from the day trip. (That’s not so special – most of the time we are mentally fully loaded w/ the adventures & views as well as tired concerning our feet.)
So no ideas arose to start walking to a restaurant … we would have dinner at home.
It was an easy, quick & dirty dinner.
We had some tagliatelle … In our fridge was a packet w/ minced meat (beef only) from our trip to the supermarket the day before. So the basics for some pasta with bolognese were on our kitchen counter.
On our tiny storage shelf we always have a glass w/ pesto from dried tomatoes & some cans w/ tomato pulp. There is also always a container w/ dried Herbs of Provence – & in our fridge a bag w/ grated Parmesan.
So we fried the meat in a pan, added the tomato pest & the tomato pulp, making it perfect w/ the herbs (… salt & pepper). The tagliatelle went into the boiling water …
About 20 min later each of us could dig in a bowl w/ great pasta bolognese ragu (w/o simmering the sauce for hours … peeling fresh tomatoes … or even making home-made pasta – summed up i. e. quick & dirty.)
Bye, bye Narbonne!
(We’ll be back – Narbonne Plage at the Mediterranean coast is waiting for us!)
