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We are now in Sérignan, in the Département Hérault. We left Carcassonne end of April to continue our travels in Southern France somewhat more eastward approaching the Mediterranean coast.
Sérignan is a lovely village with a rather old centre characteristically proud of a central place and lots of narrow alleyways, small and high village townhouses … Around this centre there is a belt of modern houses, more spacious, more gardens …
As you see the central place has got cafés, bistros, brasseries, restaurants all around offering seats and tables al fresco. The very best of this space are the trees shading the seating arrangements when there is blue sky and glistening sun. So you may relax having a noisette or a beer or a rosé … anytime.
(The photos show the central place in the morning – not at a market day!)
The centre is also the space for the market. Three times a week there is a local market for vegetables & fruit, cheese & olives, meat & fish & seafood as well as bread & pastries – sprawling into the adjoining alleyways. We rather soon explored this opportunity …
How does it fit into our life?
Still in Carcassonne we had an agenda for Mondays: it means having breakfast, cleaning the house & shopping – w/ some additional washing alongside. Shopping meant we drove to a French-style hypermarket in the outskirts of Carcassonne & did the basic shopping. Fresh fruit & vegetables, meat & fish … fresh bread … there is a big market in Carcassonne each Saturday … & quite a lot of small shops specialized in cheese & meat & fish … in the city center La Bastide of Carcassonne where we often strolled around.
Nowadays in Sérignan we can shop several times during the week in this fabulous market – nevertheless we rely on a trip to the French-style hypermarket in the outskirts of Sérignan each Monday for the basics while the rest of shopping is just pleasure, everyday pleasure. Of course it’s always shopping w/ the opportunity to relax a while in one of the cafés of the central place …
(The market isn’t so empty as it looks from my photos … sometimes, especially on Fridays there is scramble all over the place & streets!)
Sérignan is rather small w/ almost 8k inhabitants. There is a church from the 13th century – I don’t think you’ll need more than 10 min to cross the centre of the village when walking.
There is the river L’Orb limiting the village to the east w/ its bridges. When heading for Sérignan-Plage (mainly beach & sand & camping) you’ll have to take one of the bridges because there is not further possible crossing of the river when approaching the coast. (If you stay on this side of the village you’ll end up in Valras-Plage w/ a nice promenade & a harbor.)
The village is picturesque w/ this famous style of Southern France. When following my Instagram you’ll find quite a lot of artful designed doors & windows, doorknockers, shutters …
The alleyways are narrow – most are not suited for car traffic. In one of these alleys is our home – unfortunately w/o a garage. So we have to look for a parking space beyond the centre (which we always find).
Well … you shouldn’t think that these small village townhouses are as old inside as they look judging from the front. The house we rented opens into a quite vast open space covering 2 stories. The front is a classic wall w/ a small window while the wall to the back & into a small patio is made of glass. So it is a very bright space w/ modern furnishing. (I started looking at our neighborhood more thoroughly, peeking here & there through open doors … & noticed that there are quite a lot of townhouses obviously renovated. However, there are also quite a lot of townhouses which are empty … crumbling down … waiting for their next owner …)
One of our last market shopping served us w/ green asparagus, strawberries, fresh French bread and a bottle of rosé (… and some more delicacies …) . Complemented w/ some basics we had a nice dinner out of asparagus w/ hollandaise sauce, some ham and crispy bread. The strawberries were fine for dessert.
